Tuscany, Austria trip -- Ideas sought

[BruteForce]

For our 20th anniversary (2010), I'm taking my wife to Tuscany, Chianti, Florence and Austria. I hope to stay in B&B's, have a rental car and use a train to travel between Italy and Austria.

If anybody has suggestions for where to stay or things to do, feel free to respond.

I just joined a site called Discover Tuscany and hope to get some answers there as well.

[ststephen]

The two recent first-hand recommendations I have are not in the areas you explicitly list, but perhaps you have some flexibility in where you go and the route you take to get there. We had some great times hiking in the Dolomites and Cinque Terre of Italy.

In the Dolomites we stayed at a Refugio high up in the mountains with amazing hikes all around:

http://www.rifugiofanes.com/posizione_e.htm

In the Cinque Terre it was a small B&B run by a wonderful couple in the town of Vernazza. I don't have a link handy but can find it if you want it.

Are you driving between Florence and Austria? If so a few nights in the Dolomites ought to be easy to fit in as it's on the way to Austria.

For Florence don't try to drive into the city, just take a train to the central area and walk.