Guest post by Judy Toth
Room at Cassafrassi Hotel in Tuscany (photo: tripadvisor-tinatot76)
Tuscany…oh, where to start? We absolutely adored Tuscany. We stayed at a rural agriturisomo called CasaFrassi Hotel near the town of Castellina in Chianti. Our accommodation was gorgeous, with a view of vineyards and olive trees and lots of relaxing amenities such as tennis, swimming, and gardens to sit in.
We did our grocery shopping in the town of Castellina in Chianti, which was about 10 minutes north of where we were staying. The beautiful medieval town of Siena was only 20 minutes away. Siena is much like Lucca (walled town) but bigger. It was a place you could wander around forever looking at churches, stores, restaurants etc. We also went to Monterrigioni (very small version of the walled town) and San Gimignano (very old, very beautiful walled town).
Lucca
Lucca was very nice. Like many of the old towns it is encircled by a huge stone wall. It is best to park at one of the many parking areas outside the wall and walk in. Great shops, plazas, and churches (of course). Lucca was one of our favorite Tuscan towns.
Florence
While we loved Florence, we didn’t get to see much. The primary aim here was to go to the Accademia to see the statue of David and to go to the Uffizi Gallery. Unfortunately, we got there on a Saturday that happened to be a holiday (May 1 is May Day) and the galleries were closed. The next day was Sunday. On Sunday we learned two new words in Italian: chiuso (closed) and sciopero (strike). The gallery workers went on a one day strike. Our last day in Florence was Monday and galleries are always closed on Monday. (We hoped that since there was strike the day before that they would consider opening on Monday. Funny, funny Americans!)
We did see the Duomo in Florence (church, baptistery, and campanile) which was gorgeous (do pace yourself, however. I looked at only a few of the churches and by the end of the trip I wasn’t sure which was which!). We also saw the Medici Chapel (small but interesting), Piazza della Signoria (great plaza with fantastic fountains and statues, just a cool place to hang out), and, of course, Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge). Ponte Vecchio crosses the Arno river at its narrowest point. The bridge is lined with leather shops, jewelers, and goldsmiths. We also enjoyed walking around the Boboli
Gardens—very pretty and relaxing.
Pisa
Pisa is a pretty small, cramped (as opposed to cozy) city. We were told that once you have seen the leaning tower and the church etc, there is not much else to see or do. That’s accurate. In our opinion, you could easily see and experience enough of Pisa in one day. We stayed there for 3 nights because we used Pisa as a jumping off point for other visits. We spent one day seeing all we wanted to see and explore in Pisa, one day to go west and visit some coastal towns, and one day to go north to see Lucca.
Coastal towns in Tuscany
The coastal towns that we saw (on the Tyrrenian Sea) were Livorno (the northern part of Livorno was pretty ugly—just a shipping port, we didn’t venture deeper into Livorno), Tirrenia (just a small beach town for locals, the most interesting part to us was exploring a golf course), Marina di Pisa (would probably be a nice place to visit and walk along the ocean in better weather: it was gray, cold, and stormy the day we were there) and Viareggio (looked like it had even nicer beaches and cottages to stay in).
Hidden gem in Tuscany
Our serendipitous find was a town called Colle di Valle d’Este. It is a tiny town, not yet on the tourist maps (although it looks like they are doing work to get prepared to attract tourists). We were there on a Saturday. We wandered around the town (not much to see at this point) and enjoyed seeing a typical Italian town enjoy their Saturday. The best part was sitting and watching the men playing bocce. They really took the game seriously (and are not used to having a ‘gallery’ so they were really hamming it up). Their wives were sitting off to the side in a circle talking. It was wonderful.
Other itineraries
We talked to many people before we left as well as people that we met on the trip. It seems unanimous that Venice and Lake Como are “must sees”. The only variation I heard on that is that some people said that Venice is the most unique place they’ve ever been and could have spent forever there. Other people said that it was the most unique place they’ve ever seen but once they saw it, a couple of days was more than enough.
We hope to hit northern Italy on a trip that we combine with either Switzerland or the south of France. Hope this helped give you some ideas of what might work for you!
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People say that Pisa’s not that great, but my wife and I really liked it. Good food and Interesting sights, too. Many people take a day trip to Pisa and rush to the leaning tower and the main church, but don’t take the time to explore. The main square has some stunning renaissance buildings, and I remember there were these two ancient towers joined by a sort of arch. Pisa also has a nice botanical garden.
You make a good point radar99. I’m one of those who just did the day trip to Pisa (truth be told, it was only a few hours!) but I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. Since that visit I’ve done some research on Pisa and discovered that it has much to offer. I love walled cities, and Pisa’s historical city center is enclosed by a 12th century walls considered one of the longest walls build in the Middle Ages. On my next trip to Italy I plan to spend more time exploring Pisa.