We are heading to Italy in September.
We are flying into Rome and want to have a home base north of Rome in the Tuscany region.
We are deciding between Florence or Pienza.
We want to do day trips from wherever we base ourselves.
We have been to Siena and Florence before.
We would appreciate thoughts and feedback on pros/cons of each.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16235 posts
The deciding factor would be whether you intend to rent a car or not.
With a car, you should stay out of Florence or Siena. Both have severe traffic restrictions in their city centers for non residents. Traffic and parking is a problem. With a car you should stay in a small town or even in a countryside villa, hotel, agriturismo. Pienza is certainly one good choice, but there are countless others.
If you do not intend to rent a car, then Pienza, or any other small village/town is a poor choice. Without a car, Florence is the best choice because it's the public transportation hub of Tuscany. Siena would be the second best choice.
Posted by
278 posts
Hi,
Re parking.
We are home based in Siena this time with car rental.
Our hotel contracts with a valet service and parking spaces are provided through them. I know not all accommodations offer this but ours does.
So it's possible to base in Siena but look at what they offer to resolve parking before booking.
Posted by
Boston, MA
1832 posts
They are a couple of hours away, Pienza not a good option for day trips to northern Tuscany towns but makes more southern towns like Orvieto easier.
If you won't have a rental car and want to do day trips as mentioned above Pienza would be a terrible choice and Florence the best choice so will assume you will have a car.
Florence if you have a car likely means staying on the outskirts of town not right in the city center.
So it really comes down to what other towns you want to visit and what you want to do in general since you have already been to the area. If seeing the countryside is a main goal, Pienza puts you right there while Florence does not.
On a trip this fall we stayed a few nights in both Florence and Pienza, they are very different. We did have a car and had not been to Florence before so most of our time in Florence was to see Florence (picked up the rental car same day we left Florence)
When we go back to the area we would again rent a car and I envision we would stay in Pienza again or Montepulciano ; possibly Siena and visit some of the hill towns we did not get a chance to this time. Florence I would want to do a day trip to again but probably not stay multiple days there again.