Tuscany travel

John, when you say "visit" are these day visits for will you be staying overnight in these areas. For Fiesole, all you need to do is take the No 7 bus from the main train station and it will take you to the center of the city. San G. has no train station. Great bus service to/from Florence or Siena. Great train service to Lucca from Florence or Pisa. Just note that bus services are severely reduced on Sundays except for the SITA bus from Florence to Siena or San G. Renting a car works well for getting around the more rural areas of Tuscany. Just don't drive in any historical areas of Florence. The entire historical area is one large Zona Traffico Limitado (ZTL). Most Italian cities and towns have these ZTLs within their city walls. However, you can usually find parking in lots just outside the walls. Pisa, Siena, Arezzo, Pienza and Cortona are such cities in Tuscany. There many others as well.

A car rental is the more efficient option for the smaller villages, since bus service may be infrequent. However often North Americans travelers include among small Tuscan towns some provincial capital cities which are not that small and where the car is not necessary, or even a hindrance since their historical city centers are largely closed to traffic. For those provincial capital towns, the train or bus is just as good or better. Besides Florence, which is Tuscany's capital and is a large city, the following "not so small towns" can be easily visited by bus or train from Florence (which is the regional hub for Tuscany): Siena, Pisa, Lucca, Arezzo, Prato, Pistoia, etc. The following famous "truly small towns" are more efficiently visited by car:
San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggioni, Pienza, Montepulciano, Montalcino, Chianti hill towns, and many others. Fiesole is basically a suburb of Florence on top of the hlll, therefore bus no. 7 will take you there very easily. You should try to stay in Florence to visit Florence and the provincial capitals mentioned above by train. Then you should rent a car in Florence and head out to the country side to visit the smaller towns. That way you will minimize the car rental period, since car rental is expensive in Italy. You should rent the car in Florence and head out the morning you rent. Then base yourself in the countryside (near Colle Val D'Elsa is a good central area) to take day trips to the smaller towns and villages.

We did it last May but a GOOD GPS is critical. Second, parking can be an issue even in the smaller hill towns and time of year is critical.

I have driven Tuscany twice. I agree that driving in larger cities (Firenze, etc) is a hassle but you can find parking outside and catch transit somewhere. I have visited moderate cities like Siena, Perugia, Arrezo, Montepulciano, Orvieto, etc, by car. There are several parking lots avaialbe and with a short walk you are in town. Don't be too afraid of this. Small town visits are must by car. You will enjoy Tuscany much more by driving in my opinion.

Thanks to all for great info on touring the small towns ( my wife laughed when she heard about the No 7 bus to Fiesole as she remembers using this bus 40 years ago as a student)...your comments confirm my plan for limited car rental to tour the little villages. Any body been to Loro Ciuffena to hit Bottega di Chiassaia bakery? Worth the trip? Beyond Boboli gardens, would love to hear comments back about great gardens to visit here or heading to Liguria region...cheers.

I stayed 2 nites in Loro Ciuffena on a Rick Steves Village Italy trip and it was one of my favorite places - lots of parking (even for our tour bus) and plenty of places to walk around the town. I can't remember if I went to that specific bakery.

John,

We are two seniors who just got back from a week in Tuscany and loved it. We choose to get a car in Firenze and drove to our place south of Siena, Il Canto del Sol in Monteroni d'Arbria, a great place to stay. The hosts and accommodations were the best of our month in Italy. We chose that location because it was central to the locations we wanted to visit. Day 1 ( San Gimignano-Voltera),2-Siena, 3-Pienza and Montepulciano, 4-Assisi, 5-Chianti towns, 6-Cortona. When we got back to Firenza we ditched the car and used one of our days in Firenze as a day trip to Lucca and Pisa. You don't want a car in any big city in Italy. If you are planning to visit small towns, a car is necessary and enjoyable. Parking is available in all the towns we visited. A good GPS is mandatory. I don't know how anyone could drive using a map. Picking up and returning a car to Firenze was a bit of a challenge, because you have to avoid the ZTL's if the rental company is near the train station. We were able to do it with instructions from the car rental company on how to return and avoid the camera's. There are other options outside the ZTL to pick up cars, but we wanted a place close to our Firenze hotel and the train station so we didn't have to haul bags very far. Use Autoeurope.com, they have the best options and rates. Have fun. Italy is wonderful.