Will be staying in Lucca for 2 nights (after visiting Rome) with my family in early April. We have one day to visit a city or town in the area and I can't decide on where to spend it. I'll be with my wife, our 3 kids (ages 16, 13, and 10), and my wife's mother. At this point my wife and daughter are pulling for Florence (they heard the shopping is good), so I'm not sure why I'm even asking. But is it possible to visit Pisa, then Florence in a day, or maybe Florence and Siena? Thanks for any advice.
Posted by
Green Bay
20146 posts
Pick one. Forget Pisa. Listen to your wife and you will have a happy life.
Posted by
California 🦋
5220 posts
Sam has a good point! Florence is a great choice but I'd stay in Florence & day trip to Lucca instead ;-)
Posted by
Chicago
8063 posts
For one day I would do Siena. But then I don't find Florence a great place to shop and would not waste one day in Florence shopping. Jedem das seine. Unless you know your way around FLorentine shopping you are likely to end up with overpriced leather or Chinese imports. (I did buy a lovely set of wedding rings there but it was on our third trip and we had a pretty good sense of good places and values and what things were really worth. What I got is unlike anything I had been able to find anywhere else with lovely workmanship.)
Siena is a great one day town -- you can see the highlights, they will be interesting to every age in your group and they won't involve long lines. It is also small, beautiful and manageable. Florence's great treasure is the Renaissance art heritage and seeing that may not thrill everyone in your group, involves a lot of time and planning if you only have one day. It is just an overwhelming place with only a day. But if it is going to be a shopping day be sure you have some good advice about where.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
Florence for shopping but stick to legitimate shops, not all the open-market stalls sell Italian goods, although some serve as "street markets" for regular stores.