Christopher Winner: It depends on your bathing habits. The sea in Liguria near La Spezia is always chilly. Late September can be lovely but it's a borderline line time. And Cinque Terre is north Italy, more subject to the spell of early autumn. The Cinque Terra site is useful cinqueterreedintorni.it/eng/htm/scheletro/index.asp?lang=E and in English. It has a good list of possible accommodations. You don't need an itinerary as such. Find a place to stay and use the train to travel between the rocky towns. If you prefer, you can "walk," but the walks qualify as serious hikes. Regarding your booking, just book a room with two beds, "due letti." It may take you a while to find a place that doesn't insist on offering separate rooms to grab additional revenue.

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South Milwaukee, WI: Hi Christopher, We plan to visit the southern part of Italy in early October. We'd like to fly to London and take an EasyJet flight over. In order to see the ruins and the "real" culture of Italy (how people really live), what cities do you recommend that we see and stay in? We'd like to include Sicily in our trip too. We'd love to stay in a B&B or someone's home. What city should we fly in and out of? We will have a week to explore. Also, is EasyJet's on-time and cancellation/changes reputation good or bad? Thanks, Wende

Christopher Winner: Dear Wende: Nice idea. Easyjet and Ryanair both have a slew of flights into Rome Ciampino airport (that's where I'd land). Or, if you prefer you can land elsewhere: London to Milan or Pisa., and come to Rome by train or car. Regarding B&B's, see b-b.rm.it and bbitalia.com/html/english.htm -- they offer a good (if primitive) selection of possibilities in the capital. There's also a useful link to other cities and towns. Consider this idea: Fly to Rome; rent a car; drive southeast to Campobasso in Molise, then to Naples, along the Amalfi coast, then head south toward rugged Cosenza, Basilicata (amazing hilltop towns: Melfi, Rivello, Acerenza) finally to Reggio, where you take the ferry to Messina. From Messina, drive west toward Palermo. This idea can also been translated into train travel, but the deeper inland you go (off the tourist route) the more dicey the train connections. An alternative to the route I've mentioned is driving east toward colorful Puglia (Foggia, Bari, Taranto, Lecce) in Italy's heel. Different people will promote different itineraries. But if you want to include Sicily, the heel takes you a little off track. In any event, the distances shouldn't be measured in American terms. Crossing Italy at its narrowest point is only a four-hour drive.

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Portland, Oregon: We will be staying in a villa outside Orvieto for 2 weeks in September. We would appreciate help with planning day trips using Orvieto as a base, whether by train or car. Our primary interests include architecture, food and wine, interesting walks and hikes, photography, and shopping. Thanks!

Christopher Winner: Oh my! Orvieto puts you in striking distance of just about everything. You have Rome an hour away; Florence (and all of Tuscany) to the north. Have a look at orvietoonline.com -- it's not well organized but has good raw information. Visit Perugia, which is lovely and underrated. You also have Arrezzo, Montalcino, Todi, Bolsena. It's an abundance of riches, really. Since you'll be there for two weeks I'd highly recommend a rental car. The trains simply don't get you efficiently back and forth to and from the smaller towns.

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Pleasantville, NJ: I am thinking on going to Italy next year. I like to travel doing my own itinerary because I like to experince the "local" flavors in places, but for Italy I was thinking to take a group tour becasue I never been there before. Would I be disappointed by the restriction of the program schedule?

Christopher Winner: Blunt answer: yes. A program schedule can be annoying. However, if you've never been to Italy and want to get a taste of it, a group tour isn't necessarily a bad idea. Otherwise you need to focus on one or two cities and leave it at that. Or, for that matter, stick to Rome or Florence. The answer to your questions depends fundamentally on how adventurous you are and how daunted you might feel, alone, in a place that doesn't speak your language. Good tours take you off the beaten track, to smaller cities. I'd strongly recommend a tour that doesn't focus all its energies on trying to show you all of one city. That can be exasperating. A bus tour, north to south or vice versa, might fit the bill.

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Atlanta, GA: I'm taking my first trip to Italy in November, and have heard that one of the best ways to get around is by train. Is that true, and is traveling by train expensive?