Tuscany

Posted by katydoc (Florence/Tuscany) on 05/20/23 09:32 PM

We would like to spend several days visiting Florence and then several days in the Tuscan country side (probably either to the west or south of Florence. When we are outside of town we will have a car. We are wondering if there is a town convenient to Florence where we could stay and bus or train into the city fairly quickly and then use that same place as a jumping off place for then traveling to towns. If you have a recommendation or two that would be great and would appreciate knowing about how much travel time would be required to get to the city.

Thank you!

Posted by David

Huntsville, AL, USA

05/20/23 11:09 PM

8176 posts

I like the area around San Gimignano and Certaldo. Poggibonsi is close by and it's on the main road south of Florence. There are Agriturismos throughout the area. We found it a very central location to go to different hilltowns that interested us--including Volterra and Siena. And Poggibonsi has great modern supermarkets if you end up in an apartment on a farm.

We stayed in Florence over a long weekend and then hit the countryside for a few days-turning our rental car in at Orvieto Hertz. Then we took a 70 minute train into Rome Termini.

Posted by katydoc OP

Florence/Tuscany

05/22/23 12:49 AM

11 posts

Thank you David! I see that you are responding from what was my hometown (Huntsville) for all of my youth! I appreciate your feedback..

Posted by Suki

05/22/23 02:03 PM

11235 posts

The charming Chianti villages are located on historic Rt 222 between Florence and Siena. Stay in Siena.

Posted by DougMac

Rural Georgia

05/22/23 02:52 PM

2123 posts

Help me understand your plans. It reads like you'll be in Florence for several days, then in the countryside the rest of the time. I'm not sure why you need to be able to get back to where you just left.

We stayed in an agriturismo just outside of Greve and chose that location to be able to hop on the bus into Florence. It worked out great, it was about 40 minutes to Florence and there is an early bus that takes commuters to the city. There's free parking in Greve close to the bus stop. It worked out great for us, but since we'd been to Florence before, we only went in for the day and spent most of our time in the countryside, staying near Greve as our home base.

If I was to stay in Florence, then go into Tuscany, I'd look for a home base closer to Siena. That is more centrally located. We wanted to go to Montepulciano, which was just a little too far from Greve but wouldn't be from near Siena.