Holidays in Tuscany, Italy

These pages describe some of the highlights of the Tuscany area of Italy, including Pisa, Florence (Firenze) and Siena. They are based on my experiences of driving around the area, and you will find this information useful if you are planning a holiday to the Tuscany region.

Pisa

For me, Pisa is the greatest highlight of the area. It's a beautiful city, spacious, and surprisingly not as tourist-infested as Florence. The main attraction is the world famous Leaning Tower of Pisa (il torre pendent) which has to be seen to be believed. What took me by surprise was that the tower (which is in fact the bell tower for the catherdral) is set in a beautiful park area, il campo di miracoli, or field of miracles. Also in the park are the cathedral itself and the baptistry, as well as a museum and a huge tomb building. All three of the main buildings are incredible to look at, with detailed carving and sculpture. It's great to spend a while sitting outside on the grass, before entering into them to see the contents. I most appreciated the intricately carved and quite enormous pulpit in the cathdral. One good feature is that the tower is once again open to visitors, as it is no longer in danger of collapse. You'll take a lot of photos here.

Driving to Pisa

I tried driving to Pisa from Siena along a back-road, and it took two hours and I got lost plenty of times. I did the return journey using the FI-PI-LI road, which is the main highway from (FI)renze to (PI)sa then (LI)vorno. I went basically from Pisa to Firenze then to Siena, and it took about two hours again. Getting in to Pisa is reasonably straight-forward, and we found ample parking at a reasonable price along the banks of the river, within easy walking distance of the main sights. You can expect to pay inflated tourist prices for the food and accomodation though.

Distance from Pisa to Firenze (Florence) = 90 km = 56 miles = 1 hour 20 mins

Distance from Pisa to Siena = 155 km = 96 miles = 2 hours

Florence - otherwise known as Firenze

Florence is a crazy city, and it can be a bit too much to take in. It is full of narrow cobbled streets, busy roads, tall buildings, amazing architecture, sculpture and paintings, as well as far too many tourists. For some reason it is very easy to get lost in Florence, and almost everyone seems to be clutching a map, whether they are Japanese, German or even the local Italian tourists. There are so many highlights that it becomes tedious, as you see one great work of art after another. Take plenty of time to sit in a cafe or on a monument and do some people watching. I was also warned that this is a bad city for pick-pockets, and I can believe it, as there are some pretty shifty looking people around.

The temperature and humidity in Firenze can get a bit unbearable in summer. Accomodation tends to be of the hotel variety, and hotels in Firenze can be quite pricey for rather average rooms. We stayed in the "Hotel Aeroport", which was nothing to write home about.

Driving to Florence

Florence is well served by the FI-PI-LI road from Pisa and the SI-FI (Siena-Firenze) road coming north from Sienna. There are several exits you can take around the ring-road, depending on where you are trying to get to. If you want the airport, go around until you are north west of the city, and you see a big ugly modern church building with a green metal roof. The sign-posting to the airport is pretty dire, especially if you make a mistake and get off the main highway by accident! Believe me.

Firenze is a large city, so expect to park in the outskirts and get a bus into the centre. Bus tickets are available from tobacconists, but they are experimenting with a new revolutionary system of actually selling the tickets on the bus (!) The tickets cost 1 Euro at kiosks and 1.5 Euro on the bus.

One thing to look out for is that some of the main highways into or out of Florence have a toll system. As you enter a section of the road, you must go through a gate that only opens if you take a ticket. When you later leave the road you pass through another gate where you must present your ticket and get charged according to how far you have driven. It doesn't cost much, but if you accidentally get on one of these roads in the wrong direction, and then have to turn back and come back along it, it is pretty annoying having to pay out a Euro or two for your mistake!

I hired a car a Firenze airport, from Hertz. We wanted a childseat, and they had one, but it was slightly broken. The car hire people all speak good English. The car itself was very good, and not a bad price at all, but when we got home after the holiday we found that they'd charged us a penalty fee for not filling the tank with petrol before returning it, even though I had filled it up on my way to return the car, only minutes from the airport. I phoned Hertz and complained, and they gave us a refund on this.

Siena

Siena is a lovely city, not too large or crowded, and with a pleasant town square, a vulgar (in my opinion) cathedral, and plenty of nice buildings and courtyards to explore. It has some very steep streets, but they all either encircle the town square, or radiate out from it, so it is easy to find your way around. You can take some very picturesque photos of ancient tall buildings with shuttered windows, carved fountains in sunlit courtyards, and decorative flower displays. Many people say they prefer Siena to Firenze, but I don't think they are comparable at all, they are just so different.

Driving to Siena

Siena is easy to get to along the SI-FI road, and has a ring road with several exists. We headed for the football stadium, in the north of the city, as it is reasonably well sign-posted, and found a place to park (on a parking meter) that was withing walking distance of the town centre. The entire town centre is restricted to traffic, so there is no point in trying to drive there directly.

Distance from Firenze to Siena = 78 km = 48 miles = 1 hour 10 minutes.

Monteriggioni

Monteriggioni is a picturesque little village built inside a fearsome brick wall. It's on top of a hill a few kilometres North of Siena, just off the SI-FI road. It's worth an hour's visit, but there isn't really anything there except a cafe and some tourist shops.

San Giovanni Terme in Rapolano

The word "Terme" means volcanic hot springs, and there are a few in Tuscany, as it is a mountainous area. We really enjoyed San Giovanni Terme (there are other Termes in Rapalano, but we think this one is the most developed. You can sit in pools of hot sulpherous water, which are not as smelly as some I've been to in New Zealand. There are several pools cascading into one another, at varying temperatures, and one is in a covered building. There are also sun-loungers and parasols provided, so it is a little like a holiday resort. We loved this place, and interestingly we met only Italians there, so if may be rather undicovered. Watch out for the funny effect that the waters have on your jewellery though!

The Terme has a cafe, but nowhere to buy any real food, and they don't provide towels, as far as we could discover, so take food, water, and whatever else you'd take for a trip to the swimming pool. The water is said to be good for various ailments, but I found that it got into my lungs a bit, and dried up my skin. Oh well, it was a good day out, and just 25 kilometres from Siena. To get there from Siena, get onto the ring-road (called the "Tangentiale") and go around anti-clockwise until you get to the east exit, headed for Arezzo. You then need to stay on this road, and finally turn off into Rapolano, drive right through the middle of the town, and turn right, heading out into the countryside again, up a hill. Just when you think you've gone wrong, there is the sign for SanGiovanni, with the whole place looking like a hotel (which it is).

Our Accommodation -- Antico Uliveto

We found our place to stay on the Internet (where else?) through the agritourismo network. The place we chose was called Antico Uliveto, and it was beautiful. It is located a few kilometres north of Sienna, near Moneriggioni. It is really a farm, with Olives, grapes and other crops growing on the hillsides. There are two sets of accommodation, and we had a downstairs flat (the Rose appartment) with one bedroom, a kitchen/diner and a bathroom. It was quite spacious, clean, and amazingly cool during the day and night, regardless of the weather. The staff were very helpful, spoke good English, and were friendly too. The farm sells wine and olive oil, and can organise activities for you. It's pretty isolated, you have to have a car, and you'll need to drive a few km for everything, shops, restaurants, the lot, but it was a very pleasant holiday experience. I'd recommend it.