A Drive Through Tuscany

Tuscany is less of a place and more of an idea. A set of sights, sounds and smells that collectively amount to images of rolling hillsides and vineyards drenched in the brilliant sunshine. Spending any amount of time in Tuscany is time well spent. Start your journey in Florence and meander through hill towns before overnighting in Siena. Use your return trip to Firenze to jaunt over to Pisa. Here’s a sample plan for a drive through Tuscany.

Start in Florence

For our drive through Tuscany, we chose to rent a car in Florence and make our way on the wine road to Siena. We spent the night before in Florence, exploring the Duomo, perusing the gold and silver shops on the Ponte Vecchio and marveling at Michelangelo’s marble sculpture of David at Accademia Galleria. Our day in Florence concluded with the tastiest four-cheese gnocchi at Gato e la Volpe. The next morning we picked up the keys to our rental car and made our way south through the hill towns of the Chianti region towards Siena.

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Less than an hour into our journey we stopped at Greve in Chianti. Here we had a quick panini sandwich and then continued to wind our way south through Radda in Chianti and then finally Siena. Driving in Italy is fairly easy. If you’re confused about which exit to take at the roundabout, just circle around again until you’re confident. Speaking from experience, other drivers are annoyed by this behavior, but we never got lost! The pace of Tuscany is slow, enjoy it. We stopped several times in route to Siena simply to savor the views of cyprus lined villas and ripening grape vines.

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Siena

By mid-afternoon, we reached Siena and settled into our accommodations. On our list of sights to see in Siena was il Campo and the 300 foot City Tower as well as the Duomo. The half-circle shaped il Campo is home to the Palio di Siena horse races. Twice a year, in July and August, ten horses and their riders race three times around the square (about one mile). The victors claim bragging rights for their neighborhood, a tradition that’s held true since the 14th century. We didn’t see any horses, but we did enjoy a glass of wine at one of the il Campo cafes and then had dinner at nearby Trattoria la Torre. Our evening was spent strolling the streets and poking our heads into various shops. We ended our evening with a stop for gelato and people watching at il Campo.

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Route to Pisa

After breakfast in Siena, we were back on the road to Florence. Along the way, we made pit stops in Volterra and San Gimignano. San Gimignano with its medieval towers and fairytale cistern is known for a white wine called Vernaccia di San Gimignano. We stopped in a wine shop and the owner was happy to let us have a taste while we selected our take-home bottle of wine. San Gimignano is a bit touristy. We found nearby Volterra to be less traveled and a bit more authentic. We sampled more wine in Volterra plus toured a Roman amphitheater as well as the world’s oldest Etruscan gate before heading back to Florence.

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Pisa

Though our drive did not include a stop in Pisa, it’s easily doable. Our visit to Pisa came via train while in route to Cinque Terre (see our entire Italian trip itinerary below). However you get there, Pisa is worth a visit. We spent our time scaling the famous Leaning Tower before grabbing a bite to eat and then the train to our next destination. Pisa was a once-wealthy sea-faring city that used its money to build the Field of Miracles and the now-famous Leaning Tower. We booked our ticket to the tower online ahead of time and climbed the 294 steps to the top. The tower has been leaning almost since the first stone was laid in 1173. The marshy, uneven soil (Pisa was built on a river delta), and the weight of the limestone and marble are to blame for the 5-degree angle in the tower. The tower is now stable and tourists flock to the city to take their turn holding up the leaning tower in photographs.

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Our drive through Tuscany was part of a larger two-week journey that took us across Italy. We relied heavily on travel books by Rick Steve’s. We used his guidebooks for trips to Amsterdam, Belgium, Germany and Greece and have not been disappointed. Here’s a full itinerary of how we spent our time in Italy.

Two week Italy Trip Itinerary

• Day 1/Day 2-Depart Minneapolis and arrive in Florence the following day
  • we had yet to discover multi-city airline travel. I highly recommend multi-city flights to save time.
• Day 3-train to Rome
  • Piazza del Popolo, Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain
  • dinner near Piazza Navona then-late-night stroll to Four Rivers Fountain, Pantheon and Trevi
• Day 4-Colosseum, Roman Forum and Pantheon
• Day 5-Vatican City
  • Vatican museum tour with stops in Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica
• Day 6-Pompeii
  • stop in Naples for pizza on the return trip to Rome
• Day 7-train to Cinque Terre
  • stop in Pisa for a tour of the leaning tower
• Day 8-Cinque Terre
• Day 9-train to Venice
  • St. Mark’s Square, Doge’s Palace, Bridge of Sighs and gondola ride with drinks at Harry’s Bar
• Day 10-train to Florence
  • stop to see Rialto Bridge and tour St. Mark’s Basilica
• Day 11-Tuscany
  • rent a car in Florence and stop in villages on route to Siena
  • overnight in Siena
• Day 12-More Tuscany and return car in Florence
• Day 13-Florence
  • Galleria dell’Accademia, Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio and Duomo
• Day 14-depart for home

Choose the following links to read more about our adventures in Rome, Cinque Terre and Venice.

Happy Adventuring, Rochelle