Our cruise docks in Livorno in October. We will visit Pisa (haven’t been there), but have already spent a good deal of time in Siena and Florence. Are San Gimignano and Volterra good destinations? We have 12 hours to explore from the Livorno port.
Thanks!
From what I’ve heard about cruise operations, I wouldn’t try to do two towns. Of those you mentioned, I think Volterra is the more interesting. In addition to the charm of Tuscan towns, it has a good Etruscan museum. In fact, within it you can see a huge span of Italian history, Etruscan and Roman sites, medieval walls, and Renaissance art and architecture.
We are planning to take a train from Pisa to San Gimignano or Volterra, so hopefully that would work in 12 hours.
Thank you
Your best bet would be to rent a car. The roads are crooked in that region, however they're well paved, well marked and easy to drive.
Trains just don't go to the many great sights. The train goes to Certaldo from Florence, but it's maybe 6-8 miles over to San Gimignano from there. I don't remember any train going to Volterra.
You can just see so much more by automobile in Tuscany. And by using a car, you can possibly avoid the crowds in San Gimignano that come by buses. Volterra is large enough where crowds are not an issue.
A lot will depends on your ability to get a rental car quickly after disembarking. I presume there will be lots of Cruiseiders trying to rent a car. Both Avis-Budget and Hertz have offices at the Cruise terminal in Livorno.
Once you are on the car and off the lot, the drive to Volterra shouldn't be longer than 1.5 hours, maybe 2 hours to allow for photo stops along the way. The drive is easy, part freeway, part 2 lane highway straight and flat along the Val D'Era (Era Valley) and then a few curves to go up to the center of town (Volterra sits on top of a hill). If you also want to add San Gimignano, then it's almost another hour drive from Volterra, and it's a curvy highway. Coming back from San Gimignano di Livorno it's at least another 1.5 hours (if you don't stop).
So if you want to include both it is going to be a busy day.
If you don't have a car, then it's complicated to include both, actually I don't recommend it because the two places are not well served by public transport.
Volterra: this is probably the easier target without a car. Basically take a train from Livorno Centrale to Pontedera (along the Livorno-Pisa-Florence railway), then at Pontedera there are buses to Volterra. This is the best way to Volterra by train-bus. Do not go to Saline via train, because there are really no significant bus service from Saline to Volterra, and even the trains to Saline are not frequent at all.
San Gimignano, could be reached from Livorno but takes time. You need a train from Livorno to Empoli (still along the Livorno-Pisa-Florence line), then at Empoli you take a train toward Siena. You need to alight the train at either Certaldo or Poggibonsi, where you take the bus for the last leg. It's convoluted trip, so it takes a lot of time.
Obviously visiting BOTH Volterra and San Gimignano via train/buses in the 10 hour window, is practically impossible, therefore you need to choose. I would choose Volterra over San Gimignano, simply because it's easier to get there from Livorno using train+bus.
I would recommend visiting Volterra over San Gimignano but both are worthwhile. You need a car to tackle this itinerary.
Thanks, everyone for the advice.
If you mean you will try to do Pisa-Volterra-San Gimignano in the time your ship is docked, then will be very impractical. You'd do better to head to Lucca from Pisa and spend a few hours. I'll leave it to you to check trains or buses, but I'm betting service to Lucca will be much easier.
Yes, both San Gimignano and Volterra are worth a visit. When we stayed in Greve and had a car, we did a day trip to San Gimignano in the morning and Volterra in the afternoon. Based on our experiences, I'd devote a day to both if we go back. I'd especially like to spend more time in Volterra.
Choosing between the two, I'd go with Volterra.
San Gimignano is one of the hot spots for package tours, so the area is overrun with tour buses, the merchants have have turned into souvenir hockers and the restaurants/cafes are slinging, heated-up frozen food. It has a beautiful skyline but, once there, it checks all the marks of tourism gone wrong. Volterra is a bit further off the beaten-path, so that right there eliminates a lot of the check-list tourists. Great vista views, interesting paths along the hilltop village and interesting architecture of the church and piazza.
If those two are too far...consider visiting Lucca. Pisa I found deeply overrated, its a fine town but, the leaning bell tower is about the only draw. Lucca conversely I found has a lot of character, the old town is surrounded by a massive wall, that you can rent a bike to ride around. Lucca was a rival of Florence, they beat them in battle and to this day, the locals like to tout how much better their food is over the Florentines. There's also a very cool wine shop there Enoteca Vanni, that has very deep wine tunnels that goes back to the Eutruscans.
Thanks for the input. We are going for Pisa and Lucca. We’ll have to see San Gimignano and Volterra another time.
Happy travels!
I think you’ve made a good choice. In Pisa, don’t omit entering the other buildings of the Field of Miracles, the baptistery, and the cathedral. Both are stunningly beautiful. There is one more small building where, if I remember correctly, v.i.p.s were interred. It also houses a statue of Leonardo Fibonacci, a 12thc. mathematician.
We were in Volterra a few days ago (and Montepulciano the day after) and while the parking in Volterra is excellent (4 story underground parking) the roads are terrible - well kept but narrow with even narrower swings. Next time we will go by bus.
Lucca sounds like a better idea for you.
