We will be in a small town, Loro Ciuffenna mid November for 7 days. What sorts of things should we do and see. We have been to Tuscany many times but want to do very small towns and include a wine tasting or two, a few hikes and other "off the grid" things, mingle with the locals.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8124 posts
Well you sure picked a small town about 40 miles southeast of Florence. With a car, you certainly can get off the beaten path easily from there. We love rambling from village to village in Tuscany with just a road map.
Have a great trip. I think you'll be getting there just as the harvest has ended.
Posted by
98 posts
Loro Ciufenna seems like a nice little town. We stopped for an excellent lunch at La Torre and wandered about for a bit. I'm afraid I can't say much more than that other than I sure wouldn't mind going back.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15144 posts
Wow. How did you find Loro Ciuffenna on the map? I just know the place because my parents’ neighbors and best friends were from there (before “emigrating” to Florence).
Well you can hike up to the Croce di Pratomagno (crucifix on mountain peak), visit Vallombrosa, Consuma, Arezzo, Chianti Area, shop at Prada outlet in Montevarchi or at the Mall at Rignano. Visit the singer Sting (formerly with the Police) at his house near Incisa and ask him to sing a song for you.
I hope you speak Italian because you won’t find too many anglophones there, that’s for sure.
Posted by
seattle
2047 posts
Recommend Eyewitness Guide Back Roads Northern and Central Italy. It shows many great places and drives. We have used it for several trips and never been disappointed.
Posted by
Monterey County, CA (formerly Verbania Italy-Lago Maggiore)
1626 posts
Check out a kindle book called Tuscany by Car- the complete guide. We used to explore the Maremma area of Tuscany. After you purchase book, you can download POI to your Gps and/or phone.
Posted by
Boston
1690 posts
I've used this excellent website to discover some different Tuscan attractions from a Medici eel damn to Brunelleschi-designed city walls: https://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/itineraries/index.html
Posted by
18 posts
I have been in Italy few months ago...and I joined an e-bike Crete Senesi Tour with a tour operator which always tries to find particular places out of the beaten path. I'm following now their blog (I want to go back to Tuscany next year), and I would suggest you to do the same because there are several interesting things to learn about Tuscany, and particular things you might experience.
https://www.tuscanyquintessence.com/blog/
Since you are looking for small towns and wine tasting, I would suggest you to click on Badia a Passignano blog.
Veeeery interesting.
Enjoy :-)
Posted by
Colorado Springs
2813 posts
Another vote for the "Backroads" books by DK Publishing. We've just finished a 10 day trip around Tuscany and Umbria and relied on it extensively for off the beaten path excursions while based in Siena, Montepulciano and Assisi. Can recommend them highly.
You can usually find used copies on Amazon for just a few dollars.