Rick Steves off the beaten track

In one of Rick's videos he looked at a few great small towns in Itally.

He suggests visiting the area around Volterra, south-west of Florence—one of his favorite towns in Italy. You'll find there a great museum of Etruscan artefacts and jewellery. And wild boar is a speciality in this area! There are also many alabaster carvers and a museum featuring alabaster carvings.

A great place to stay when outside the big cities of Italy are agrotourismos—working farms that hire out rooms for travellers, akin to B&Bs.

Another beautiful and interesting city to visit is Chiusure, which holds an artichoke festival each year.

Pienza ia another beautiful small town worth visiting.

Montepulciano, noted for its wines, is a great area to visit for the wine enthusiast.

Rick Steves audio tours

I have followed Rick Steves since buying his Europe Through the Back Door for my first trip to Europe in 1983.

Over the years, I have bought many of his travel guides and, more recently, listened to his many podcasts.

Rick also has an extensive collection of free audio tours that can be downloaded onto your phone for use as an audio guide on tours in and around cities all over Europe. For Italy he has 26 audio tours available (10 for Rome; 5 for Florence; 4 for Venice; 3 for Assisi and Siena; 2 for Naples; 1 for Milan and 1 for Pompeii). These are best used by downloading the free Rick Steves Audio Tour app and downloading the audio tours you would like to use.

He has spent over 30 years touring Europe and provides so much useful information on European travel to get the most out of your vacation time.

Amalfi Coast

Just south of Naples on the west coast of Italy, the marvellous collection of seaside towns that comprise the Amalfi Coast are one of the marvels of Italy.

Rick Steves has a great video on touring the Amalfi Coast.

Here is a beautiful hi-def video of the Amalfi Coast. And another video here.

Florence

The important sites in Florence:

David in the Galleria dell'Accademia.

Brunelleschi's Dome

Uffizi Gallery. See Rick Steves on best way to avoid line-ups to get into this and other museums.

Museum of San Marco - Fra Angelico

Bargello Museum (see an interesting video here)

Duomo Museum

Lunch:
Get a great sandwich at the place that is popular with locals and tourists: All'antico Vinaio located on the Via de'Neri 65R (hrs: 10:00-22:00). They make huge sandwiches with a local flat bread called "schiacciata" (somewhat like focaccia), with ingredients like ham with truffle cream or artichoke cream. The all-time favourite sandwich to order is the La Favolosa (trans. - "Fabulous") which consists of Florentine salami, pecorino cheese, artichoke cream and roasted eggplant. Their "summer sandwich" has mozzarella, basil leaves, stracchino, pistachio, pistachio cream and sun dried tomatoes on a focaccia bread.

The other place to try is Fratellini which also has great sandwiches. Tuna, capers and salsa verde on a
ciabatta bun, although on the video I saw the person said it tasted salty!

Florence with Brunelleschi's Dome predominant

Accommodations:
Rick Steves recommendation: Hotel Torre Guelfa, Borgo Santi Apostoli 8 (€115).

Cinque Terre

Just south of Genoa, the Cinque Terre is a collection of town that is is a must see on any tour of Italy.

Rick Steves shows the Cinque Terre and the enjoyable walks from one town to another. See his video here.

Vernazza — of the towns of the Cinque Terre

Naples

From Rick Steves, visit Naples then visit Pompeii. Return to Naples to visit the museum of Naples to see the extensive collection of works of art recovered from Pompeii.

While in Naples take a walk up Vesuvius. There are regular tour buses from Naples to Vesuvius.

And one must try the authentic Neapolitan pizza!

Nearby Sorrento has the great classical hotel - Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria.

Togs

Milan is the fashion centre of Italy and, arguably, of Europe. A good place to buy a new suit. Among the best tailors of Italy are Brioni, Canali, and Ravazzolo.

Start planning

I've started a blog for planning my trip to Italy. I want to see Florence, Rome, Venice, the Amalfi coast, the Cinque Terre, Capri, and Pompeii and Herculaneum. 
I am interested in the great art works to be found in Florence and the art and architecture of Rome.

For museums to visit in Italy see the museum "must see" list on my Art page.

Rick Steve's has lots of videos on travel in Italy:
Rome: Eternally Engaging

I discovered that there are lots of guides available through a website I've just discovered called "Tours by Locals". It has information on private guides all over the world, not just Italy, including reviews by users.

Rail map within Italy and beyond: