Lucca and Volterra

First of all...don't drive in Florence. This explains why.

https://www.italybeyondtheobvious.com/dont-mess-with-ztl-zones

If you must have a car, make sure you park outside the ZTL zones and take a bus or taxi into the city. It will be about a 10-15 minute ride.

Lucca and Volterra also have ZTLs, just park outside the city walls. Parking signs are prominately displayed.

The cities you are thinking about are close to each other. They are lrss than 60 miles part in a triangle. Easy day trips from each other and Lucca is easily reached by train from Florence, and vice versa. You might want to pick places further afield to see more. Even consider Umbria, Orvieto, Cortona, Assisi, etc. Which putssouthern Tuscany within easy reach.

How many days do you plan on staying in each city? How long is your total trip? Where will you be flying into and how do you plan to get to the region?

I agree with others, a car is a hindrance in Florence. We stayed at an agriturismo 18km south of Florence and took the bus into the city. If you are planning to stay more than one night in Florence, either do it first and pick up a car or do it last and return the car.

I also agree that these cities are so close that it would be easier to pick a single location and take day trips from there. We stayed the entire week in an agriturismo and took trips to Florence, Siena, Volterra, San Gimignano and the outskirts of Montepulciano. Lucca was a little further away and we had planned to do a trip to it and Pisa, but just ran out of time. We decided to spend a day just wandering instead of pushing for a long day.

Thanks all for the very helpful tips. In reply to DougMac's questions the plan is a 7-10 day trip flying into Florence from Paris. Clearly a car in Florence is out so we'll get a car for our travels to the other cities. The idea of widening our choice of cities (mileage-wise) might make a lot of sense...perhaps Cortona or Sienna rather than Volterra...any thoughts?

I visited both Lucca and Volterra last summer and loved them. A few of my favorite experiences were renting a bike and riding around the walls of Lucca and wandering the streets of Volterra and visiting the artisans in their shops there. It was so neat to see and hear the artists talk about and demonstrate their crafts while they worked; highlights were an alabaster shop and a printmaking shop. Great food in both towns, too. Have a wonderful time!

Been to Lucca for a day and spent a few days in agriturismo outside Volterra. Visited other nearby towns by just driving around. We really liked Volterra. Beautiful town and had some great meals there.

The day we were planning to go to Florence, the train was on strike. I was thankful that we had a car. Driving into Florence is fine, just be mindful of the ZTL. The signs are obvious, and it's easy to avoid. We parked in a garage near the train station, was no problem.

That being said, if train is an option it's the better one. Driving to Volterra is tons of fun, highly recommend. Those rural Tuscan roads are a blast.