Anybody been to Italy?
My family wants to travel there this summer and would like to rent a home in the country somewhere where it's beautiful and peaceful but not too far from civilization (1-2 hours from a big city?). This is a SPLURGE for us and I thought staying in a vacation home would be more relaxing than staying in hotels. I did it before in England and it was cheaper and we got to feel like we were almost natives. We shopped where real people shopped, attended local fetes and 'boot sales' (swap meets really), and got to know some neighbors too.
So I know almost nothing about Italy. My kid is graduating high school and we want to have one big family vacation before we ship him off to college.
Anybody know of a nice town/region we should consider? Ideally, one that 's not TOO hot?
Thanks a bunch!