Montecatini Terme: Food, sites, drives?

Hello, I was in Montecatini Terme for a few days a few years back. Yes, its full of hotels and on the main railway line between Pisa and Florence. There is a funicular railway there that goes up to the tiny hill town of Montecatini Alto, a sweet little place, and I remember having terrific ice creams at a café up there - nice chilled place but only took up half a day to visit (even at my relaxed pace). When you get to M. Terme I am sure you will be able to get a map of the town from your hotel which shows this funicular railway on it + all the various spas in the town which you can visit (expensive spas in my recollection).

We used the main rail line to do visits to Pisa and to Lucca, rather than taking a car. Its also on the line into Florence so I would do that by rail rather than taking a car into Florence. Rome seems a bit of a distance to travel for day trips from M. Terme.

My favourite hill town is Orvieto, which I think is on the rail line between Florence and Rome and may be doable.

Katy

Nearby you can visit Vinci (birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci), both Leonardo's house and the Leonardo museum. You might need to drive there since the bus options may be scant (also Leonardo's house is a bit out of town in the countryside).
Near Montecatini, easily reached by train or bus, you can also visit Collodi, birthplace of Carlo Lorenzini (nom de plume: Carlo Collodi), the author of Pinocchio ('The adventures of Pinocchio). He grew up in the Villa Garzoni, where his mother was a maid, which is a beautiful villa with fantastic gardens with water displays. In the same town there is also the Pinocchio park. Between Montecatini and Florence, you can visit Pistoia and Prato. Both have a very interesting historical center, and Pistoia will be Italian Cultural Capital next year. Lucca, Pisa are also easily reached by rail. From Lucca I also recommend the Lucca-Aulla scenic railway, which you could also use on the way to the Cinque Terre. See my comment in the post below some time ago:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/cinque-terre-pisa-lucca-florence-are-we-crazy-to-try

This is great thank you both! Indeed, we are aggressive with Rome but figured we might only get one shot. So we will have about 10 hours there (train booked, and previous thread on here helped a great deal in planning that)

We do plan to use the train to get to Florence, and of course Rome (via Florence) but we will have a rental to explore with as well when appropriate. I wanted to take the train to Cinque Terre as well but it seems to be about a 4 hour trip, so I think I'll drive to La Speiza and park then train, or something similar.

Cheers!

Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Cinque Terre, and Siena are all doable by car, I'm not sure I'd go all the way to Rome for a day trip. Many of the popular hill towns are also easily reachable by car for day trips: Cortona, Volterra, Arezzo, San Gimignano to name a few. Volterra and Lucca were my favorites, and Florence of course. Do some research on each of the towns to see which appeal to you the most.

We stayed at the Hotel Grand Bretagne and really enjoyed it. This was quite a long time ago so can't speak to current status but it still gets pretty good reviews. It's right by the train station if you're going to do any day trips by train from there. Easy to walk into town to the spas if you intend to visit any of them while you are there. Fun to just walk around and admire the buildings.

Florence, Pistoia, Lucca, Pisa, may be best visited by train as those provincial capitals are well served by rail and all have significant traffic and parking restrictions in the historical center. Once you factor in city traffic and time to find parking, the train will be faster and more convenient than the car. Everything else is faster by car, including Siena, which although has traffic restrictions also, however it would be a challenge to visit from Montecatini.

Ciao!
Pistoia is really close and it's a little fascinating city you must visit.
Then visit Colle di Buggiano, Massa e Cozzile (three little villages).
enjoy Tuscany!

I saw in your response to a previous post that you plan to go to Florence on a Saturday, and among the things you'd like to see is the David. Be sure to make reservations for that in advance, or you may find yourself on a very long line. With a reservation, you skip the line. On the other hand, if you don't want to be tied down to a reservation, and the line is long, you might be satisfied by seeing the copy of the statue in the Piazza di la Signora.
Sounds like a fun and flexible trip!

While it is nice to see the spot where Michelangelo's David was meant to be, it's no substitute for seeing the original. You will find several copies around the city.

Suggestion:

Drive to La Spezia and park in the garage at the railroad station. Then take the train to 5 Terre. It is quicker than taking the train all the way from Montecatini Terme. You can drive out to Portovenere, park, and take the boat to 5 Terre also, an interesting way to see the towns, from the sea.

We did Siena for a day from Montecatini Terme. Also, as above Montecatini Alto for dinner. Cute hilltop town.

We did a quick tour of the Terme itself, interesting place with stunning architecture.

Vinci is worth a visit. You can drive to Pisa over the back roads from Lucca to the south.