Incidentally, in Civitavecchia to get from the cruise port to the train station/bus depot, it's a 10-15 minute walk down Via Garibaldi--though that might not be fun with luggage--or quick taxi ride for ¬9 to ¬13, depending on how many people/bags there are (the taxi stand's phone number is 011-39-0766-26121). There are sometimes shuttle buses, but those are usually timed to coincide with local ferries to Sardegna, not cruises.

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Seymour, CT: My wife and I will be "exploring" Tuscany from November 3 through November 12. She would like to stay in Siena at Piccolo Hotel Etruria and use that as our base of operations (she wants to be able to stroll through the city at the end of each day.) I think it is more practical, in as much as we will have a car, to stay at a hotel with free convenient parking on the outskirts of town. Any thoughts?

Reid Bramblett: The benefits to being in the thick of things far outweigh the inconvenience of a short hike to your car. Stay in the center of town. Italy is not a culture where you drive right up to your house, and from there to a parking lot at work or one at the shopping mall. It is a place where people get in their cars only if they have to connect two dots that aren't easily connected by foot, bus, or train.

Just consider the short walk (no more than 20 minutes) to and from your hotel and one of the city's many large, municipal parking garages to be part of you morning constitutional and your evening passeggiata. The closest lot to that hotel is the "Il Campo" one, just inside Porta Tufi (though ask at the hotel if they have a deal with any particular lot)

Stuck in a hotel outside the walls may be more convenient to your car, but you'll find yourselves cut off from the very liveliness and fun of the Italian daily rhythms. Do yourselves a favor and stay in the center of town. Besides, you'll need to work off those vast Italian meals and fine wines somehow!

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Clyde, NY: One of the travel books I've been reading suggests staying in a convent in Rome as an alternative to a hotel. Is this a good idea? We don't expect luxury of course.

Reid Bramblett: And you won't get it! No, seriously, shacking up in a convent is a perfectly acceptable (and far cheaper) alternative to staying in a proper hotel, and ranks as one of Rome's great travel bargains. You don't even have to be Catholic to do it--though you do often have to be willing to sleep in separate twin beds (like sit-coms before the Brady Bunch) and accept a room décor that begins and ends with the giant Crucifix nailed to the wall. Also, many convents impose a curfew at night, ranging from 10pm to midnight--and considering that most Italian don't even sit down to their famously marathon, 3-hour dinners until 9pm, that might cramp your nightlife style.

Still, at prices. Way back in yesteryear (2002, I believe) the magazine printed an article of mine about cheap Roman lodgings that included a couple of convents. You can access our back archives on the website (BudgetTravelOnline.com), but to make things easier, I'll just paste the text of those two convents here--though keep in mind the prices will have changed.
Fraterna Domus Via Monte Brianzo 62. Tel. 06-6880-2727. Fax 06-683-2691. domusrm@tin.it. 18 rooms. Double E78; students E30 per person. Breakfast included.

If you don't mind monastic simplicity, tiny bathrooms with curtainless showers, and a decor that begins and ends with the small Crucifix nailed above the bed, this hospice just north of Piazza Navona run by a lay sisterhood may be the ticket. The beds are firm, the tile floors kept next-to-godliness clean. The bad news: an 11pm curfew, but one sister confided that you might get a front door key if you stay a week. They also offer excellent full meals for a paltry ¬12. Suore di S. Elisabetta Via dell'Olmata 9. Tel. 06-488-8371. Fax 06-488-4066. ist.it.s.elisabetta@libero.it. 35 rooms, 25 with bath. Double E51 without bath, ¬66 with bath. Breakfast included.
Kindly Polish nuns have welcomed guests to their convent just south of Santa Maria Maggiore for over 100 years. The rooms are spare and simple, but comfy, with a painting or two in addition to the requisite Crucifix, and terraces off a few. Like a prudish 1950s sitcom, the narrow twin beds are kept strictly separated in all rooms. Baths are old, but well cared-for. Guests can wander the panoramic roof terrace and the peaceful palm-shaded garden of orange trees, roses, and kiwi-vine arbors. Kids under 12 stay at a discount. The big drawback: an 11pm curfew. Book well in advance.

For more resources on staying in convents and monasteries, as well as two dozen other lodging alternatives beyond hotels (most of them cheaper), you can visit beyondhotels.net (which is really just a subsection of my own reidsguides.com website).

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Bellingham, WA: We are planning a family trip to the Cinque Terra area of Italy and would appreciate any advice that you can provide on a place to stay. We would like accommodations with some cooking ability, near public transportation, and with 2 or 3 bedrooms. We will be renting for at least one week in late September, early October 2006. Thanks for any help you can give!

Reid Bramblett: So many locals abandoned these five fishing villages in the decades between the middle 20th century, when he mass exodus to the cities began all across Italy, and the mid 1990s, when Rick Steves really put the Cinque Terre on the map, that most of the towns are half-abandoned.
A few local entrepreneurs leaped on that, snapped up dozens of buildings and apartments in their hometowns, and are now renting them out for much less than the local hotels charge (anywhere from 20 to 60 Euro per person per night)--and usually that gets you a full apartment, with a kitchen and everything. It's your best bet for finding a 2 or 3 bedroom joint for a week-long stay.

Incidentally, you're going at a great time of year--well after the crushing crowds of summer have vanished. You'll see miniature elevated monorails carting grapes off the terraced vineyards to make in the local excellent white wine, and nets stretched under the olive groves to cushion the fall of any fruits (bruised olives make for acidic oil, and affects the "virginity" level the bottle can claim).

In popular Vernazza, the centermost of the five villages, ring up the Trattoria Gianni Franzi (0187-821-003 or fax 0187-812-228) to arrange a room. In the more bustling town of Riomaggiore, anchoring the south end of the Cinque Terre, you'll have even more luck, for there are two stellar agencies with lots of properties scattered all across the village. From their pink-striped awning, brothers Luciano and Roberto Fazioli, Via Colombo 94 (tel. 0187-920-822; fax 0187-920-904) rent about two dozen rooms and apartments, many with stellar sea views. Down near the docks, Mario Franceschetti runs a rental room business called Mar Mar (tel. and fax 0187-920-932; marmar.5terre.com), handling eight apartments that sleep 2 to 6 people, as well as a B&B (and a laundry with Internet access and kayak rentals). You might also find resources at cinqueterrenet.com and aptcinqueterre.sp.it.

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Reid Bramblett: Alright. Well, that's it for my hour. Sorry I couldn't get to all the questions, but you know we do this every week on a different destination, so tune back in. I hope everyone out there headed to Italy (and to Maine, Poland, Vegas, Zurich, Madrid, Reno, and any of the other places highlighted in the current issue of Budget Travel magazine) has a fantastic time. For anyone who's interested, I'll also have some posts from the road of my recent adventures in Sicily available at reidsguides.com in the coming week--just can't get enough of that Italy. Arriverderci!