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Traveling from Puglia to Florence at the end of May

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We are looking forward to spending around 10 days in Puglia before joining friends that rented a villa near Florence on June 1. We plan to fly into Puglia (probably Bari), rent a car and stay at 2 locations with day trips .

Our biggest decision is how to get from Puglia to Tuscany. One choice is to drive and spend the night somewhere around halfway. Does anyone have a suggestion of what might be an interesting small town to stay in with an easy drive. Or do you think better to fly from Puglia to Florence and rent a second car to use during our time in Tuscany.

We could also like some ideas of the two best areas to stay in to enjoy many of the treasures of Puglia.

Thanks

Posted by
28802 posts

Lecce is a lovely Baroque city, and I think it would be a good base for trips around southern Puglia. I'd try to make that my first Puglian stop so I'd be closer to Florence (or the Bari airport) at the end, when I was ready to head north.

I've never had a rental car in Italy and am not familiar with the east coast, but I'd take that route if driving, because ViaMichelin shows it at about the same driving time as going over near Rome, and the west coast is generally easier to travel through when you're limited to public transportation.

I see that the cross-country leg would take you near Assisi and Perugia, though they're well past the mid-point.

Posted by
1799 posts

The Appennini mountains running along Italy and making communications slow between the east and west coast, make the trip between Puglia and Tuscany very long. Your best choices are flying or, maybe, train through Bologna (but the best part of a full day will be spent in the process). The drive is faster through Rome, basically you could stop anywhere in the middle but, in spite of having done the drive a lot of times, I can't come out with a definite reply to your question.

Posted by
16364 posts

I have driven from Taranto to Florence in one shot, on a FIAT 126. Depending on your departure point in Puglia it is from 500 to over 600 miles. Like driving from San Francisco to Portland Oregon.
It’s all freeway, but It took all day with pit stops along the way. I took the shortest route via Caserta and Roma, but I was done with driving for a few days. If you decide to drive, do so only if you plan a couple days and to visit things along the way. The choices are many, from the Royal palace of Caserta to the mountains of Abruzzi, in case you take the A24. Just don’t do it in a day like I did. The train or the plane are faster but if it’s several of you in your party, the car is cheaper.

Posted by
3812 posts

Drive to Matera and spend the night there. The next morning continue to Salerno, drop the car off and get on a direct high speed train to Florence.

The fastest Bari-Bologna train along the Adriatic Coast takes 5 hours and 42 minutes, then it's 40 minutes from Bologna to Florence.

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