Milan-Rome-Milan 7 days: sights to see, roads to drive, places to stay?

Question

I'm driving from Milan to Rome and back to Milan in a 7 days and am looking for suggestions for:
1) Places to visit perhaps including the odd thing which isn't a fantastic cathedral or art gallery?
2) Roads to drive - entertaining roads with good views that I might miss if I just ask Google or a sat-nav for the fastest/shortest route.
3) Any unmissable short walks en-route? (up-to than 4 hrs)
4) Places to stay / eat.

More details - I'm hiring a Fiat 500 in Bergarmo (near Milan) at 2pm Tuesday and need to return it at 11am the following Tuesday. So far the plan is to drive down to Rome visiting Fiesole, Florence and Sienna on the way. We'll stay in a hotel on the outskirts of Rome on Friday and Saturday night and then head back to Bergarmo via Assisi. I'll book the hotel in Rome but at this time of year I'm guessing I won't need to prebook others? I don't think we'll have time to go to Pisa or Venice too.

Suggestions/comments/warnings? I'll take the Lonely Planet guide and I'm using Google but it's hard filtering the choices, or knowing if the route misses things or is too ambitious. We'll share driving but don't want to kill ourselves.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

http://www.hotelfelice.com

Answer 2

all i can say is
wow :)
and can i come?
have such a lush time
xxx

Answer 3

I'll help with the Tuscan leg of your journey:
Do not miss Siena, it is possibly the best palce I have been to ever- nice little shops, little streets and great Ice-Cream.

In San Giamanno: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=San+Gimignano&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=uk&ei=kOapSYeXJYzFjAfz7ZD0Dw&ll=43.482819,11.390076&spn=0.489245,1.757813&z=10 -There is a torture museum which is really coolio.

I would also reccomend getting yourself to Chianti there are numerous windy mountain roads to explore, and I would find yourself a nice restaurant and B&B in the hills and enjoy the amazing collection of Restaurants.

I'd also reccomend trying to get to a Serie-A game, if you're into football you can't beat the atmosphere at a game of Calcio.
As a fan of the Robur, I'd go for a Siena game of course!

Answer 4

I, too, am a "quick traveler". I went from Pisa to Florence, Florence to Venice, and Venice to Rome in three days, with a group of eleven people. I HIGHLY recommend getting a GPS system that has the ability to function on European roads. The system will help you immensely, telling you exactly where to go and when to go. It also tells you when and where any tolls are coming up. I don't know if you have ever been to Italy, but driving on the autostrade is extremely difficult. Italians are great, but dangerous, drivers, and trying to read a map while on the roads is going to be a danger in itself. Do not worry about missing any sites if you take a GPS, Italy's beauty is truly everywhere, wherever you go you will see something new and different.

You should not have to pre-book hotels at this time of year. I came back from a trip to Italy two weeks ago and we did not even have bookings for our hotel in Rome, and we were just fine. If you are looking for a hotel to stay at that has quality, but is still cheap, i recommend an Ibis Hotel. Ibis is a hotel chain that has hotels all throughout Europe and are fairly cheap, but still have fairly good service. I stayed at one in Rome and there are many more throughout Italy.

Since you are staying for a fairly short time, i recommend that you don't worry about exactly where to eat. Having to eat at a specific place by a specific time will have you rushing more than you already are. Just find a place near where you are- you'll definitely be able to find something. I think that while in Italy, you would prefer to have a quick, decent meal that fills you and then head out site seeing again, than to have to sit in a restaurant for hours eating a 4 course meal and missing something you would have seen if you were not eating.

Have a good trip :)