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Visiting Italy

We will be in Greve, Italy this summer and want to take various train trips to other Italian cities during our 2 week stay but I cannot get information from the Italian Train website as to what the tickets will cost and what times they run from Figline Valdarno ... can someone help? Thank you. Plus, can someone let me know what places we SHOULD NOT miss! Thank you.

Posted by
15041 posts

From Greve you should visit places with a car (I presume you will have a car, because it's not advisable to rely on buses in the Chianti). Greve is not an optimal location for day trips by train and Figline is out of the way. With the time it takes you to drive from Greve to Figline (and that road is full of curves), you can drive everywhere else in Tuscany (Florence, Siena, San Gimignano and any Tuscan town in the provinces of Florence or Siena). Choose the places to visit below:
www.borghiditoscana.net

Posted by
10 posts

Yes, we will have our car but the owner of the Villa stated that the train station was only about 20 minutes drive from the Villa ... and we really didn't want to drive into Florence and some of the larger cities .. we will be going into the smaller villages and towns by car though. We really wanted to miss all the pain of going into Florence, if you know what I mean.

Posted by
10 posts

If Figline is so far .. is there another train station that is closer? Thank you.

Posted by
15041 posts

Unless the Villa is between Greve and Figline, it will take you longer than 30 min to get to the Figline station. Then you have to wait for a train (there is one every 20-30 min on avg) and ride the train for another 30 to 50 minutes (depending on the type of train) to Florence. In 30-35 min., less than the time you need to get to Figline, you could drive from Greve to Florence at Piazzale Michelangelo. Take the road through Ferrone, then after Falciani get on the freeway, exit and follow the blue sign directions to Florence. Drive through Galluzzo and proceed to Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence (get a navigator or check on Google maps). It's an easy drive with free parking at the Piazzale. Then, after taking some pics from the Piazzale, you could walk down to the city center. At the end of the day, take a taxi (or bus no. 13 from the Station) up to Piazzale Michelangelo, retrieve your car and drive back. Easy drive, hardly inside florence, nowhere close to the ZTL. Or if you take the SS222 you could go to viale europa and park in Piazza Francia, behind the Holiday Inn (pay park at the machine). From there you can take the bus no. 23 in via Danimarca to downtown (or there is a taxi stand right there in Piazza Francia). At the end of the day go back to the Holiday inn (bus or taxi), to your car parked in Piazza Francia on the back of the Holiday Inn and drive back to Greve on the 222. Either option will be much faster than driving to Figline and taking the train from there. The driving options I gave you to Florence are easy and you are nowhere close to the restricted traffic zone (ZTL).

Posted by
10 posts

Thank you so very much, you are a STAR! Will you have the same answer of. Drive rather than train to the following? Sienna, Turin and other areas?

Posted by
15041 posts

From Greve you should use the car everywhere you want to go for your day trips. The train is not practical because the closest station is in Florence and by the time you get there, you can probably drive to your actual destination for your day trip in Tuscany. Turin is way too far to do as a day trip from anywhere in Tuscany. From Greve to Turin it's over 450 km. With a high speed train from Florence you could get there in about 2.5 hours, but then you need to add the time from Greve to Florence SMN station, which is at least 45 min. with no traffic. So in the best of circumstances the travel from Greve to Turin is, when everything is said and done, at least 4 hours. By car all the way to Turin wouldn't be any faster.

Posted by
10 posts

Thank you again ... I will be back with more ... we are so excited ... and your information is making it all the better .. take care.

Posted by
10 posts

Robert, do you have any information on car hire at Florence airport? Also, one of our friends would like to know if there might be some type of 'hire limo' that would take her from the airport in Florence to the Villa (which is www.poggerina.com)??? Thank you. G

Posted by
15041 posts

First I checked the location of that villa on the map and it's actually closer to Figline than to Greve. You are probably half way between the two, about 20 min. from each. All major Rental Car companies have a presence at Florence airport. You can search on any site you wish (autoeurope.com, kayak.com, expedia.com, travelocity.com etc., and also the individual car rental companies' websites). As far as airport transfers with a driver, there are many companies that provide that service. I have never used one, because I generally use a car from a family member or a rental car. To find a company enter the following words on Google:
NOLEGGIO CON CONDUCENTE FIRENZE (or Figline or Greve). Lots of companies pop up and you can also make reservations on line. Noleggio con Conducente (or N.C.C.) is Italian for (literally) Car Hire with Driver. They are often called 'Airport Transfer Service' in English.

Posted by
10 posts

Thanks again for such wonderful information, I will forward to my friends .. we are actually driving over from the UK.