Originally Posted by
whynotniwot
Thanks for all of the suggestions.
Yes we have 13 days and no real agenda. My wife likes cooler weather and small towns. She is not real keen on large cities. She likes water. Hence why we were looking at the coast and Lake Como. Livorno was only mentioned because our friends stayed near there in an apartment for a week. We are in no way tied to that area.
What we normally like is to stay away from large touristy areas.
This trip we were thinking it would be preferable to park ourselves in just a couple of spots and use them as bases to do day trips. I am open to other ideas.
I like your idea of more or less staying put and getting into the rhythm of a place, rather than trying to squeeze Italy into 13 days. You have some research to do. A coastal place near the water encompasses a lot of territory, so it's a little hard to say.
Of all of the beautiful coastal and lake front areas, I'd forget about Livorno. There is beauty every where you turn in Italy, but Livorno is a big commercial cruise port. It's about as different from what you say you want as could be. I think you have some research to do, but a medium size town near water doesn't narrow things down much. That describes a lot of Italy.
In essence, you are going at a great time to see a lot of places because you are somewhat off season. So, you can do a lot of things that would be nightmarish in July and August, but great in October.
Not to push Venice, but if you want water, and lots of side trip availability?