Buongiorno! We are stopping in Livorno in May (on a cruise throughout Italy) for 2 days and have rented a car. We intend to spend a day in Florence. The second day we would like to travel for 6 hours or so through Tuscany, perhaps into Siena? Any suggestions for stops along the way, great photo shoots or fabulous olive oil or wine? It's a short trip but we want to do it the best we can! Much appreciated!
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
I'm not looking at a map, so I can't recall distances to different places. Here are a few places we visited.
We really enjoyed San Gimignano. It was very medieval. It was a great visit, even though it is touristy.
Also really liked Orvieto, in Umbria, which sits on cliffs, has a major Cathedral and underground tunnels dating to the etruscans.
Pisa is a very short touristy visit, but we had to get the obligatory pictures holding up the leaning tower.
Lucca is one I would skip in the future. It has a nice wall (newer style, not medieval) but not much else.
Posted by
aiken, sc, United States
53 posts
make sure you get a gps. careful driving in sienna, very hilly. (i've done it. scary) drive to montepulciano and walk through the city. good wine tasting. stay at agratourismos if possible. best value.
have fun!
bill
Posted by
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
241 posts
If getting off a cruise ship in livorno, AND renting a car, consider skipping florence altogether. If you have that car use it for exploring the countryside. If you want to do Florence, take a train there. Once you get off the main autostrada between livorno and florence, and particularly off of secondary highways, your driving will get slooowww.
Posted by
Kyle, TX, USA
92 posts
Our family loved San Gimignano. It was lovely in December and would probably be gorgeous in May. Park in the pay lots outside the wall and just browse. Photo ops from the wall surrounding the city are great. Several shop owners have relocated there from Florence and prices on leather good were the best we saw. Several wineries are on the road from Florence, but we didn't stop this trip. But the San Gimignano Vernazza wine was our favorite.
Posted by
seattle
40 posts
We went to Volterra as a day trip from the cruise port and loved it. We are hoping to return this year- much less touristy than San Gimignano. It's listed in Rick's book.
Posted by
Milwaukie, Oregon
1056 posts
From Florence if you're planning only 6 hours to drive, you can't go all that far, as the roads that are the most scenic are twisty and hilly. Volterra is a cute Tuscan town with great Roman ruins, a great etruscan museum and lots of alabaster for sale and it's not all that far from San Gimingnano, which is featured on a lot of photo sites. As you drive you'll see signs "vendito diretto" (direct sales) for olive oil and wine, so you can just stop where something looks interesting. But six hours is really not much time.