Originally we were going to go to Siena from Florence by bus, spend 2 nights and then get a car for 2 days in Tuscany. Now we are thinking of getting the car in Florence for 4 days & drive down to Siena.

These are the scenarios we have come up with:

Scenario 1 Day 1 - pick up car in Florence, explore Chianti, get to Siena in late afternoon Day 2 - day in Siena Day 3 - southern loop - Montelcino, Pianza, Montepulciano. Maybe even Cortona. - spend night Montepulciano??? Day 4 drive north, S Gimignamo, get to town close to La Spezia

maybe spend night Viareggio (beach town). This seems ok, but we would be far south in Montepulciano when we started for Spezia.

Scenario 2 Here we reverse the time in Siena & southern Tuscany Day 1 same, but we keep going to southern Tuscany - Can we make it to Montepulciano? Day 2 - southern Tuscany, get to Siena late afternoon Day 3 - Siena Day 4 - start from Siena to La Spezia - stop S. Gimignamo...Lucca?

Another possibility is to drop off car in Siena. But how do I get from Siena to La Spezia. I went to the web site Linda mentioned and there were no direct trains. Do you know what we would have to do?

We would like to get to Cinque Terre late morning or early afternoon.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks Maria Redondo Beach, CA