re: Is it too late to book a trip to Italy for June 26-July 13?

Go to San Gimignano and do a class with Dondoli.
He is a larger than life character. World Champion Gelato Maker.
He has the worlds happiest cows to produce the milk.
Wife and I took his class and had a great time.
Short day trip from Florence to San Gimignano is definitely good stuff.
Youtube video

Last night, My wife booked her multi-city trip with flights from new orleans to rome and coming home from paris to new orleans. Her and her sister is going Italy and then into France for about 21 days. Flights weren't bad at all. I have been looking at them for about 2 months as they farted around to decide on things, and it's only a couple hundred dollars more than it was if you bought them in February. From our Airport, the two cheapest was American and Delta. We went with Delta.


Edit: I wonder how many miles she has to get before they start giving her those endless supplies of free beverage coupons everyone was telling me about on here. lol

Take a look at Volterra and Lucca, they are not mentioned that often but I thought they were some of the best towns in Tuscany.
Volterra has 4-5 very interesting small museums that cost next to nothing. You can stroll the entire town from end to end in 20 minutes. Roman Amphitheatre and Etruscan cistern and ruins are very interesting.
Great cafes and many interesting sites throughout the town. The bell tower in the city hall is very cool.
Lucca has a huge wall that encloses the entire old town. It is very peaceful and you can get lunch in the old colosseum that was turned into a piazza. The train station is right outside the wall so you can catch the train from downtown Florence in probably less than on hour.

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Florence - Visit Oltrarno, this is where the locals live, much less of a touristy vibe. Also do Pitti Palace and watch the sunset at Piazzale Michelangelo, take a bottle of wine with you as well. Day trip to Siena would also be a great idea, Bologna is not far away either.

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Funny the first time we went to Florence we never noticed Piazzale Michelangelo, we accidentally took a wrong turn our last trip and passed right by it. Was glad we made that turn. Absolutely a great view of the city.

Firenze Card

You want to get this for Florence in the summer. No line for the Uffizi and super short lines (of other card holders) for the Duomo and Accademia (David) in the summer are worth the price.

Scavi (under St. Peters)

You are probably too late for arranging this through the official site. We could not go on this as a family, on my last trip to Rome, due to my son being 1 year too young. It is high on my "must see" list for my next Rome visit.