conference in Lucca, what else?

Pisa would be an easy day trip from Lucca. The Medici villas are also relatively close by (easy drive). If you do Pisa while in Lucca, that would free you up to spend more time in Florence, Siena & Cinque Terre in your other 5 days. Lucca itself is a gem of a town to explore on your own with a good guide book (the Rough Guide to Tuscany & Umbria has a great Lucca section). Beautiful Romanesque churches, renaissance buildings, the walls, Piazza Ampiteatro (based on the Roman ampitheater)... All easily walkable. Great shopping and antiques on the Via Fillungo (silk-thread street). You also have to climb the Torre Guingi with its oaks growing on the roof. Part of the pleasure of Tuscany for me is finding a neat place and just spending as much time as we like there, without the pressure to move on to the next item in a tour itinerary. We don't like guided tours as a result, so can't make any recommendations there. Some ideas in picture form: http://www.lodgephoto.com/galleries/italy-tuscany-lucca/ Cheers, Mathew

Nancy - The hotel is not actually in Lucca but un a very lovely area probably about 45 minutes to an hour north of Lucca. The area is very hilly and very scenic but a bit removed. The hotel is close to Barga. There is a train staion at Castelvecchio Pascoli. If you don't want to drive by yourself, I would be tempted to take the extra time and add it to the end of your trip. Tkae the first day at the hotel to veg out and relax and recover from possible jet lag. Explore the immediate area close by. On the second day you could try exploring the valley via train. The next spot north, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana looks interesting. http://www.castelnuovogarfagnana.org/index.php?pag=34 Lucca is about 45 minutes south by rail and would make a good day exploration.

My guess is that is not that walkable. There appears to be a lot of way up and way down terrain in between. But I would also guess that the hotel might have a shuttle. I would email them and inquire.

The concierge at the hotel might be able to help you out with things like whether they have a shuttle down to the train station (and back), the train schedules, whether they have day tours for folks whose significant others are in conferences, etc. I just checked the website for the hotel and it looks like a very large resort that hosts large conferences. So they are likely to have helped many times spouses with a day to fill. The resort http://www.ciocco.it/Il_Ciocco_Hotel/Il_Ciocco_Hotel___Home..html is on twitter@IlCioccoHotel . Your train station is about an hour by train from Lucca
http://orario.trenitalia.com/b2c/nppPriceTravelSolutions.do?stazin=Lucca&stazout=Castelvecchio+Pascoli&datag=18&datam=10&dataa=2011&timsh=12&timsm=00&car=0&stazin_r=Staz_DA&stazout_r=Staz_A&datag_r=01&datam_r=01&dataa_r=2011&timsh_r=01&timsm_r=00&trencounter=0&nreq=5&solotreno=0&npag=1&sort=0&trencounter_r=0&nreq_r=5&solotreno_r=0&npag_r=1&sort_r=0&traintype=&traintype=&lang=en&channel=tcom If you have not driven in Italy, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the traffic signs, ZTLs, and how street parking works.

Thank you for your replies! Ron, is the train station at Castelvecchio Pascoli walking distance from the hotel, or would I need to get a taxi to the station?
From what I've been reading I am thinking we should get a car for this portion of our trip.