this is not off-the-beaten path but you guys should definitely go to cinque terra--beautiful five tiny fishing towns on teh italian riviera and you can hike between the five towns. it's gorgeous.

and the hiking is not too hard--anyone could do it--and since it's between towns you don't have to backpack with your stuff.

and you can take the train back.

yes to cinque terra, there are a lot of festivals in italy that many do not attend. i used to live in perugia, the green heart of italy, and they have a jazz fest that is-a-maz-ing and for around ten days...im pretty sure it is in july because that is when i was living there...and im afraid of google so you can sort that out. anywho, i would not go too far south if i was one that liked comfort. head to the mountains in the north and swing-by venice...never off-the-beaten path; however, there is a hostel in an old mission across the canal from st marks (right?) that is cheap and has a tower that you can see the entire stretch of venice from...glorious.

It's become more touristy lately, but there's a town outside of Sienna named San Gimignano that's a wonderful day trip.

go to l'isola d'elba-- elba is a tiny island off the coast of tuscany, you take a short ferry from portofino i think into portoferraio on elba and can rent a car for super cheap and just drive around the whole island, go see where napoleon lived and a bunch of tiny fishing villages. there are a ton of small towns around siena and florence -- anywhere you go in italy is amazing, you cant go wrong! buon viaggio!