Italy end of August - where to stay and who to book with

[EllaSaturday]

We are looking at our first proper holiday abroad. DH and DC (10 and 8) want to go to Italy. DH fancies a villa with pool somewhere he can do days out to nice historic towns. And there must be pizza and gelato. I am happy for a villa type thing in a small holiday park or maybe agriturismo. But nothing too big and no caravans.
Where would you recommend for the last 2 weeks of August? And where would I go to book? Been trawling the internet and gone villa-blind...

Lake Garda, lots of small towns to explore, Verona/Venice are within reach, water sports and swimming. Will not be so busy late August as European schools will have returned. Not many villas lakeside though. Perhaps two centre with Dolomites or another lake.

and theme parks like Gardaland.

Where on Lake Garda would you stay?

Depends what you want to do. Riva and Torbole are sailing and windsurf hotspots and the north is more mountainous, south like Peschiera more gentle lakeside bathing and quicker access to Verona and theme/water parks. You can get from one resort to another by ferry boat but it takes a few hours north to south even on the fast ferry.

One of the little villages on the lake would be nice. We’ve stayed in Malcesine for example. Short walk to the lake (so no need for a pool), nice restaurant and pleasant people.

It’s stinking hot in August. Do you like the heat?

Airbnb
last summer we did Naples, Rome and the seaside.
two of the ones we hire I would gladly go back to.
The other one has been removed from the site.

Have done Airbnb in other countries too. Its fab.

We are stuck with end of August. Hence the need for swimming! Don't mind the geat mysekf but DS1 doesn't like it too hot

End of August will still be busy, Italian schools go back mid September. That said most will be at the beach, so if you do prefer the countryside to the coast why not try Umbria or Marche in central Italy? Garda is nice too but it will be heaving in August.

Best b&b we ever went to: la casa medioevale. Very child friendly, nice garden and pool. Driveable to Florence, Lucca, sienna. Great pizzeria and gelateria in the village. Worth a look.

We stayed on garda last summer in garda town it was lovely the town is so pretty and the hotel where we stayed had apartments

Sorry, lost part of my post.
Umbria and Marche are like Tuscany with the historic towns on hilltops but cheaper. Also, great food, great wine, activities for the kids like rafting (we went with DD and friends at 8-10), ponytrekking and cave trails, as well as medieval festivals in the hill towns. Plus Marche has a long coastline so you can have a day at the beach, although being the Adriatic coast it is a bit tacky, but no more so than Venice lido and Jesolo which are nearish Garda.

Why not do a week in Italy and then move on to Croatia. You could stay anywhere on the Istrian coast of Croatia, such as Umag, Porec or Rovinj. Ferries run between Venice and Croatia, it's about 3hrs from Venice to Umag

Or do the seaplane from Italy to Croatia .....
we did the seaplane from Split to Hvar
it was amazing

Oh I never would have thought of Croatia!

Ah, have a look at Stari Grad on Hvar.

Not much in the way of swimming pools, but the sea is so amazing to swim in, who needs one :-)

Rome is great!!

Try looking in travelicita.com/Best_Destinations/Article
you'll find tips for tours and good prices for flights and hotels.

We went to Puglia last year and fell in love with it. The schools go back around the 1st of Sept so the beaches were empty but the temps were still high. The food was amazing - my mouth still waters thinking of it. We stayed in a villa with a pool that was in the hills above the town so we definitely needed a hire car while we were there. But because it was beginning of Sept we only paid 1100€ for 10 days. Flights to Bari are cheap and it was only 45 mins from the airport.

I’ve been to Croatia twice & now that I’ve been to Italy, I feel Croatia is the poor touristy cousin. Croatia is heaving in September since Bavarian schools don’t go back till mid Sept so lots of Germans go in those 2 weeks. There are very few Sandy beaches which becomes a bit boring for kids.

I would choose Italy every time - I can try to find the link to the villa if you want but it was remote & needed a car to drive 20 mins to the beach. That’s why it wasn’t so expensive but it did come with fig trees!! And very helpful owners

Tuscany for Florence/Siena and beautiful towns and villages. You would need to hire a car. We stayed in an apartment of an agriturismo which had a pool. We got it from a website called to-tuscany, I think. We flew Ryanair to Pisa. It can be expensive in August though.

Jecan, would you be able to find where you stayed, it does sound lovely. And car hire is fine for us, as is some travel to a beach.

Bowlingshoes, looking at the site, thanks! Lots of choice there (but might need to win the lottery for some!

Ella, not sure if this is too late but here's my thoughts.

In 2015, we had a week's holiday right at the end of August/beginning of September in Italy. We stayed in Umbria and it was breathtakingly beautiful. So many ancient hilltop towns to choose from! We were near Perugia which was a pleasant surprise and I would recommend to visit Gubbio too.

We stayed in Casa San Gabriel, owned by a british/Australian family. They've converted an old farm into a self-catering villas (three villas), and they produce their own wine, olive oil and have alpacas! There is a pool with amazing views across the valley. It was hot but not at all crowded where ever we went. Always found parking and never had to queue anywhere. Even Assisi was a ok considering it's a major pilgrim destination.

It was one of those holidays where you get a delayed realisation how amazing and beautiful it all was.

The self-catering link:
casasangabriel.com

Did you book anything Ellasaturday? Lazise was my favorite town in lake Garda...but a campsite might suit you better? My lads much preferred canevea water park to the 3 rides they actually made it on due to queues in Gardaland..we would skip gardaland if we went back. The cable car in Malescine is fab...but go early or late in the afternoon...3.30pm or so....and you will walk straight on. Sirimione was gorgeous but heaving...and we don’t mind heaving usually...I would, highly recommend recommend doing an Agriturismo in Tuscany and we stayed in a fab apt in Rome if anyone needs recommendations

We loved Sicily. A few years ago we went to Rome for a few days then took the train all the way to Taormina in Italy, stayed there a few nights and then hired a car and explored a few other areas in Sicily. Amazing food and some lovely quiet beaches