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Strategies for
Seeing Tuscany
Strategies for Seeing Tuscany
8
Strategies for Seeing Tuscany
Castelnuovo Abetone
Parco
Naturale diGGarfagnana
SS12
Massa
delle Alpi a r f a g n
ana
Apuane
Borgo a. Mozz.
Pietrasanta
0
SS64
Scarperia
Bagni di Lucca
Pistoia
Collodi Montecatini
Terme
A11
Pescia
A12
Viareggio
Lucca
E80
Capannori
Torre del Lago
A1
Prato
Monsummano
Terme
Arno
Vinci
0
Borgo
S. Lorenzo
Vicchio
SS67
15 Mi 15 Mi
15 Km
15 Km
EMILIA-ROMAGNA
Monte Falterona,
Campigna, e Foreste
Casentinesi
Camáldoli
Fiesole
Rufina
Stia
SS70
E45
(Firenze)
Empoli
Ponte a Ema
Montelupo
La Verna
Pisa
Poppi
Grassina
Impruneta
Pontedera
Bibbiena
S. Miniato
Castello
Strada in Figline
PN Tenuta
Caprese
Chianti Valdarno
Michelangelo
Vicchiomaggio
Ponsacco
di Tombolo
Sansepolcro
Castelfiorentino
Els Panzano Greve
Livorno
a in Chianti in Chianti
SS71
Certaldo
SS439
Montevarchi
Casciana
Radda
Arno
SS222
Monterchi
TUSCANY Poggibonsi
A1
Terme
in Chianti
SS1
San Gimignano
Arezzo
Castellina Gaiole in Chianti E45
Castiglioncello
Colle di
in Chianti
Volterra
V. d’Elsa
Castelnuovo
Castiglion
Monte
Berardenga
Monteriggioni
E80
Saline di
San Savino Fiorentino
Volterra
SS1
Siena
E78 Lucignano SS71
SS73
Cecina
Pornaranze
Radicondoli
Cortona
Bólgheri
Asciano
Marina di
SS326
SS223
Larderello
Bibbona
Castagneto
Abb. di Monte
Sinalunga
Carducci
Castiglione
Oliveto Maggiore
SS439 S. Galgano
Ligurian
del Lago
Buonconvento
Montepulciano
Sea
L. Trasimeno
Massa
Pienza
Montalcino
Marittima
Chianciano
S. Quirico d'Orcia Bagno
Terme Chiusi
Populonia
Vignoni
Roccastrada
Rocca
Sarteano A1
d'Orcia
SS2
Cetona
Orcia
Follonica SS1
Castel
Piombino
Radicofani
Radicófani
Golfo di
d. Piano
SS223
E80
Follonica
UMBRIA
Abbadia
Vetulonia
Arcidosso
E78
Portoferraio
S. Salvatore
S. Fiora
E78
I. d’Elba Punta Ala
LAZIO
PN Tenuta di
S. Rossore
Calci
Florence
Grosseto
T
uscany isn’t Tokyo or New York; racing around the region trying to “see” everything runs against the grain and the pace of the
place, and might prevent you from really experiencing it. It’s tempting to want to make tracks, given that there is so much to see within
a relatively small region easily traversed by car. But structuring a
relaxed itinerary makes for a memorable trip. In this chapter I provide some suggestions for maximizing your time in Tuscany.
Rule #1: Keep your expectations reasonable.
Consider the experience of two couples I know who recently visited the
region. One fashioned an aggressive
itinerary that encompassed most of
the major towns I cover in chapter
6. And while they were able to say
they saw town after town, church
after church, and artwork after
Previous page: Vineyards in the Chianti
region.
artwork, they spent 2 or 3 hours a
day stuck in the car, fighting traffic,
the heat, and crazy truck drivers.
The other couple decided to take on
less turf and, naturally, didn’t see as
much; they even missed Cortona
and some of our other favorite
towns. Instead, they spent an entire
afternoon in a Montepulciano cafe,
splitting a chilled bottle of Orvieto
Classico, staring over a wrought-iron
balcony at a church in the distance.
9
Strategies for Seeing Tuscany
The countryside near Panzano, in Chianti Country.
In hindsight, they considered that
stop the pinnacle of their trip, writing, “We wouldn’t have traded that
lazy Tuscan afternoon for the
world.”
Rule #2: Remember, distances between towns are
short.
Visiting Tuscany is as easy as traveling around a small U.S. state or midsized Mediterranean island. You can
drive from Florence to San Gimignano,
Lucca, or Siena in less than an hour.
The entire Chianti wine country is
only 48km (30 miles) from north to
south, and 32km (20 miles) at its
widest point. What’s more, it begins
only 4km (21⁄2 miles) south of Florence. You can even drive from Florence west to Pisa in an hour. Once
you veer off the autostrada, the
roads become slower, but unless
you’re going to the most remote
hamlet in Tuscany, they’re generally
well maintained and signposted (if
sometimes erratically). The only
problem in summer will be occasional heavy traffic caused by thousands of other visitors aiming for
the same hilltowns as you.
Rule #3: Decide whether to
hotel hop or stay in one
place.
Checking in and out of hotels is
often a tedious hassle—involving
luggage transfers, packing and
unpacking, registering and checking
out, and other technicalities that
can drain pleasure from a vacation.
Because most Tuscan towns are
within easy reach of one another,
you can set up camp in the same
Passing the time in a Tuscan outdoor cafe.
Strategies for Seeing Tuscany
10
Pick Your Point of Entry
The logical start to your Tuscan adventure is Galileo Galilei
airport in Pisa. Keenly priced flights connect it with most of
Europe—and there’s a direct flight to New York’s JFK 5 days a week.
However, if you’re already touring near Milan, Venice, or Rome,
there’s no need to think about connecting to Pisa by air. All are well
linked to Tuscany by rail or autostrada. Rome and Milan are alternative, hassle-free intercontinental air gateways—both about 3 hours
from Florence by train. From Rome, a 277km (172 mile) drive north
to Florence on the fast-moving A1 takes you right past some of the
highlights of southern and eastern Tuscany: Break your trip in Montepulciano, Cortona, or Arezzo. Milan is slightly farther—298km
(183 miles) northwest of Florence—but worth the minimal extra distance if you find a cheaper flight there. A drive down to Florence can
easily be broken in Pisa or Lucca. For more about reaching Tuscany
by plane, and the options for getting between airports and your final
destination, see the “By Plane” section in “Getting There/Getting
Around,” in Savvy Traveler (p 187).
hotel for 3 nights—in Siena, for
example—and venture to smaller
towns nearby on day trips. From
Siena, you can easily visit San
Gimignano, Pienza, Montepulciano,
or even the Chianti wine country
without wasting too much time in
the car. You’ll save a lot of wear and
tear on your soul with this tack,
reserving your energy for hotel
changes required by longer hauls.
Rule #5: Every now and then,
let the train take the strain.
Rule #4: Plan your excursions
around lunch.
Rule #6: Don’t follow these
ideas to the letter; use them
as building blocks for your
trip.
If you’re driving from town to town,
plan to reach your destination by
noon. Restaurants usually serve
lunch until 2 or 2:30pm, but you’ll
need time to park (which is often
tricky) and to locate the address of
your restaurant (ditto). If you don’t
want to follow a schedule, pack a
lunch before setting out and follow
your bliss to the ideal picnic spot
somewhere under the Tuscan sun.
There’s no shortage of them.
It’s cheaper, greener, and hassle free
arriving in your Tuscan town for the
day by train. The Italian network is
inexpensive, accessible, and easy to
use—even for beginners. Not every
town is handily reached by rail, but
the highlights of the region’s northwest like Lucca, Pisa, or Prato are all
made for seeing by train.
This guide was designed to help you
piece together your own dream getaway. You can plan your time in Florence using one section and then
hop about Tuscany, in the next few
days, using another. It’s like an a la
carte menu—select one item from
column A and another from column
B, according to your own tastes and
interests, to make the most of our
advice.