Florence or Tuscany

If this is your first time to Florence, then I would stay in Florence for the whole time. If you find that you've seen what you wanted, you could always take a day trip into the countryside or take a day trip to Siena. Don't know if you plan to also go to Venice, but if it's not in your plans, you could even do a day trip from Florence to Venice.

Florence is in Tuscany like San Francisco is in California.

Linda could not say it better. So your question really is: Florence only or Tuscany without Florence?

Four days is not really enough time to warrant splitting your Tuscan stay between city and country.
Stay put in Florence and make use of the excellent transport connections.

I had been wondering the same thing. Yes, Florence is in Tuscany, however, there are parts of Tuscany like the countryside and vineyards that you don't see if you stay just in Florence. We will be in Florence for four nights in September and were wanting to see the areas of Tuscany where the vineyards are. We also wanted to see Pisa and Sienna. We booked The Best of Tuscany Day Tour which brings you to Pisa, Sienna and a vineyard wine tour in Tuscany. (The tour is from 8am-8pm and includes lunch) It received fabulous ratings on trip advisor and other sites. I think it's the perfect way to see the countryside and other sights and then we get to spend the rest of our days in Florence to enjoy its many sights and the shopping such as the leather market.

The first question I have is:

Do you have a car or do you rely on public transportation?

If you don't have a car and plan to use trains and buses, you should stay in Florence the entire time and visit both Florence and Tuscany's countryside/smaller towns from that location in Florence.

If you have a car, you should stay outside of Florence in the countryside or some small town in Tuscany and visit everything from that location.

No splitting stays.

Karen, "better" is a relative term so responses will probably be mixed but I'll ditto the above: if you will not be renting a car, I would spend all 4 nights in Florence and explore the region by train/bus. You really don't have all that much time to work with, and you can easily make a day trip or two on your own via public transit; you do not need a tour.

Florence is the capital of Tuscany and the cradle of the Italian Renaissance. It has a ridiculous amount of art and architecture that's deserving, IMHO, of more than 2 nights/ a day and 1/2 (by the time you get packed up and moved from a previous location.) Once there, you can always jump a train or a bus to Lucca, Fiesole, Siena, Pisa, etc. if and when the spirit moves you.

Italian trains are great, and you can take in a lot of scenery from the windows!

Having spent time in the countryside (Chianti) last time we were in Italy I would normally say go see that part of Tuscany, BUT, with it only being 4 days I would agree with others and say stay in Florence. We are going back in 3 weeks and were have the same 4 days and we are just going to spend it in Florence. I think that way you can come and go as you please in the city, buy stuff and bring it back to your hotel or go for a walk in a city. The countryside is amazing but you will need a car and the traveling will cut into your time in Italy. Go back someday and spend 4-5 days in a farmhouse, you won't regret it.

You don't necessarily need to have your own car. If you have the means, you can always hire a driver for a private tour, or join a small group tour for one of the days. There are lots of options for a day trip outside of Florence. Depends what interests you and what you want to see.