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[quote=Anonymous]I have Venice and Florence suggestions.

We stayed in Venice at the tiny Palazzo Bembo attic hotel.  This was just across from a public waterbus dock.  It had a small 4 person elevator that went to the lodging floor.  We had the queen suite with an additional twin bed that had a view of the St. Mark campanile. This was just down the wharf from the Rialto bridge.  There was a small grocery store suitable for residents and tourists 5 minutes down the canal in the other direction.

As I recall, there were some stairs from the entrance door to go up to get to the elevator.  Maybe one broad flight of marble steps.  I also would check that the hotel's breakfast room is serviced by the elevator.  But overall, my 80-year-plus mother would have been able to use this hotel as a base and use waterbus transfers to go many places (around to St. Marco, to museums, to Murano, etc.).

In Florence, we stayed in Hotel Torre Guelfa, which is a Rick Steves tour hotel.  Taxis can reach that hotel and it has an elevator.  It is in the historic city center (part of it is a fortified tower).  It is 15 minutes normal walk from the town square in one direction and the historic bridge in the other.  It's do-able.

Now my caution.  I took my 80 year plus mother to Paris and we just planned to let her walk at her own pace while we slowed down.  While I was texting my husband at a Paris metro stop, she stepped off a bad curb that she had noticed before.  This time she was drinking from a bottle of water and not paying attention.  She fell down and bruised her arm and broke her purse strap.  Men started trying to help her up.  In the middle of using my rusty French, trying to debate my mother's condition, trying to consider whether to go by ambulance to an ER in an unknown location, etc. one of the helpers walked away with my cell phone.  A clear crime of opportunity.  Confuse, distract, pocket.  My mom refused to go to the ER but her bruising was horrible and when she went back to the U.S. she found she had a fracture.

My worst case scenario of injured elderly mom happened and we got past it. But only because my mom was hell-bent on continuing.  I told her in the future she really needed to go on full-support bus trips.

Good luck to you, OP.  I think it's possible for you to do this trip, but you and your MIL need to be overprepared with details and to take it slow.
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