Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
Florence and will not visit this trip.

I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to do
would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.

Thanks,

Les Wright

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

"Les Wright" skrev i meddelandet
news:[email protected]...
    > We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
    > Florence and will not visit this trip.
    > I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
    > the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to
do
    > would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.
    > Thanks,
    > Les Wright
About lodgings in Tuscany
www.scaiecat-spa-gigi.com


--
Luigi
www.scaiecat-spa-gigi.com

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

Les Wright wrote:
    >
    > We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
    > Florence and will not visit this trip.
    >
    > I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
    > the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to do
    > would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.

My husband and I are planning a trip in Tuscany next week; I'll report
back.

Barbara

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

    >Les Wright wrote:
    >>
    >> We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
    >> Florence and will not visit this trip.
    >>
    >> I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
    >> the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to do
    >> would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.

Check out my web site (web.utk.edu/~kit/italy) to see what we did last
summer in Tuscany with a car. Specifically, look at days 6-9. I
would highly recommend the Hotel Santa Caterina in Siena. Siena was a
nice location for day trips to nearby towns.

K. Kit

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

In article
,
"Les Wright" wrote:

    > We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
    > Florence and will not visit this trip.
    >
    > I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
    > the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to do
    > would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.
    >
    > Thanks,
    >
    > Les Wright
    >
    >



I love Siena -- a great town for evenings strolls and it seems something
medieval is always going on [check to make sure you don't stumble into
the Palio though which is around this time and if crowds are our idea of
a nightmare avoid it then] twice I have sipped campari at midnight
under a full moon on the campo -- tres romantique -- and the cathedral
is stunning [perhaps I think so because it was the first of its type I
had seen] and climb the bell tower

well worth two nights

while the Cinque Terre has become lamentably touristy since Rick Steves
made it a must for American tourists -- it is still a lovely way to
spend a day. Park in la Spezia near the train station -- train in and
spend the night in Vernazza if you can -- take the train to one end of
the trail and spend a day on a leisurely hike from one village to
another [you can quit and hop the train where you please to go back] If
you only have time for half the hike, the trail leading from Montarossa
to Vernazza while the most rugged [still very manageable] is the most
scenic i.e. the view of Vernazza from the trail is really something
You could easily do the hike in half a day but that would entail fewer
stops for coffee etc

Stressa on Lago Maggiore is not far from Milan and a lovely place. We
stayed in a hotel on one of the Borromean Islands -- and the others are
also lovely to visit.

There are dozens of other great spots

You won't want to miss the Etruscan tomb sites e.g. Tarquinia just north
of Rome -- Catch those on the way out of town -- and there are several
other wonderful stops north of Rome e.g. Saturnia where you can sit in a
wonderful hot waterfull lolling in tubs carved by the water from the
limestone [there is a free park with this water fall [change by the car]
or you can stop at one of the spas in town. Pitigliano is a wonderful
old town worth a visit. The Etruscan sites near Solvana [a lovely small
town] are also well worth doing and entirely different than the tombs
north of Rome in Tarquinia and Cerveteri.

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

On Wed, 23 Apr 2003 00:35:43 GMT, "Les Wright"
wrote:

    >We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
    >Florence and will not visit this trip.
    >I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
    >the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to do
    >would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.

Siena is a good base of operations for driving and a great little city for
sightseeing, itself.

I would recommend Montepulciano and Cortona as two very charming hill towns.
Montalcino is also nice, but I would prefer one of the former unless I just
wanted to buy wine -- if you want to buy Brunelo then Montalcino is a must.

I also strongly suggest buying a Michelin red map. They designate scenic routes
with a green stripe, and it is invaluable for a driving trip. They have never
failed me.
--
"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
- Abraham Lincoln

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

Mason Barge wrote:
    >
    > On Wed, 23 Apr 2003 00:35:43 GMT, "Les Wright"
    > wrote:
    >
    > >We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
    > >Florence and will not visit this trip.
    > >
    > >I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
    > >the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to do
    > >would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.
    > >
    >
    > Siena is a good base of operations for driving and a great little city for
    > sightseeing, itself.
    >
    > I would recommend Montepulciano and Cortona as two very charming hill towns.
    > Montalcino is also nice, but I would prefer one of the former unless I just
    > wanted to buy wine -- if you want to buy Brunelo then Montalcino is a must.

I just reserved three nights in a hotel in Montalcino. I was thinking of
Montepulciano, but Montalcino seemed more centrally located for my
tentative itinerary. Why did you prefer Montepulciano as a place to
stay? (I had planned to go there for a day trip, anyway, also stopping
in Pienza.)

Barbara

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

Jenn wrote:
    >
    > In article
    > ,
    > "Les Wright" wrote:
    >
    > > We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
    > > Florence and will not visit this trip.
    > >
    > > I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
    > > the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to do
    > > would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.

    > I love Siena -- a great town for evenings strolls and it seems something
    > medieval is always going on [check to make sure you don't stumble into
    > the Palio though which is around this time and if crowds are our idea of
    > a nightmare avoid it then] twice I have sipped campari at midnight
    > under a full moon on the campo -- tres romantique -- and the cathedral
    > is stunning [perhaps I think so because it was the first of its type I
    > had seen] and climb the bell tower

    > ... while the Cinque Terre has become lamentably touristy since Rick Steves
    > made it a must for American tourists -- it is still a lovely way to
    > spend a day. Park in la Spezia near the train station -- train in and
    > spend the night in Vernazza if you can -- take the train to one end of
    > the trail and spend a day on a leisurely hike from one village to
    > another [you can quit and hop the train where you please to go back] If
    > you only have time for half the hike, the trail leading from Montarossa
    > to Vernazza while the most rugged [still very manageable] is the most
    > scenic i.e. the view of Vernazza from the trail is really something
    > You could easily do the hike in half a day but that would entail fewer
    > stops for coffee etc

Another option is to take boats from town to town. You can get a ticket
that covers the whole itinerary and get off at any stop and take a later
boat run by the same company. You get a very nice view of the coast from
the sea. However, I would imagine it is unbearably crowded in the
summer. We were there on a rainy day in October and found it a bit too
crowded.

By the way, the Cinque Terre is in Liguria, not Tuscany.

    > Stressa on Lago Maggiore is not far from Milan and a lovely place. We
    > stayed in a hotel on one of the Borromean Islands -- and the others are
    > also lovely to visit.
    >
    > There are dozens of other great spots
    >
    > You won't want to miss the Etruscan tomb sites e.g. Tarquinia just north
    > of Rome -- Catch those on the way out of town -- and there are several
    > other wonderful stops north of Rome e.g. Saturnia where you can sit in a
    > wonderful hot waterfull lolling in tubs carved by the water from the
    > limestone [there is a free park with this water fall [change by the car]
    > or you can stop at one of the spas in town. Pitigliano is a wonderful
    > old town worth a visit. The Etruscan sites near Solvana [a lovely small
    > town] are also well worth doing and entirely different than the tombs
    > north of Rome in Tarquinia and Cerveteri.

Actually, of the above, only Solvana is in Tuscany. It's a lovely little
town. My husband and I stopped there once, but we never made it to the
Etruscan tombs. There is a very lovely Romanesque church and many little
craft shops. Plus we had a wonderful lunch in a restaurant there. The
bishop was in Solvana for the mass the day we were there and we sort of
followed him and a gaggle of priests into this restaurant. As I told my
husband, the clergy are even better than truck drivers at picking
restaurants.

Barbara

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

"Barbara Vaughan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Mason Barge wrote:
    > >
    > >
    > > I would recommend Montepulciano and Cortona as two very charming hill
towns.
    > > Montalcino is also nice, but I would prefer one of the former unless I
just
    > > wanted to buy wine -- if you want to buy Brunelo then Montalcino is a
must.
    > I just reserved three nights in a hotel in Montalcino. I was thinking of
    > Montepulciano, but Montalcino seemed more centrally located for my
    > tentative itinerary. Why did you prefer Montepulciano as a place to
    > stay? (I had planned to go there for a day trip, anyway, also stopping
    > in Pienza.)

I think Pienza makes a good base for visiting southern Tuscany and it has a
nice hotel, Il Chiostro di Pienza. Also if you're driving, Pienza is easier
to get in and out of by car. We stayed in Montalcino and enjoyed the wine!
Were less entranced with Montepulciano. Anyway this whole area (San Quirico
d'Orcia, Bagno Vignoni, San Antimo) makes an interesting subtrip.

Marianne

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

Barbara Vaughan wrote:
    >
    > I just reserved three nights in a hotel in Montalcino. I was thinking
    > of Montepulciano, but Montalcino seemed more centrally located for my
    > tentative itinerary. Why did you prefer Montepulciano as a place to
    > stay? (I had planned to go there for a day trip, anyway, also stopping
    > in Pienza.)

I know I visited Montalcino on a day trip four years ago, but I have no
memories of the place. I remember the trip to the brunello vineyards and
the trip to Sant'Antimo. However, I don't remember the town. On that
same trip, we also visited Montepulciano for one day. This town
obviously made a significant impression on me because I could describe
specific churches, piazzas, and shops and shops -- all of which proved
accurate when re re-visited Montepulciano last summer.

Since we stayed in Pienza, I can't recommend a hotel in either of the
"Mont" alternatives. In Pienza, we stayed at the Hotel Corsignano, a
1960s hotel of no particular charm with large rooms, charming, attentive
personnel, immaculate housekeeping, and convenient parking. The
breakfasts were excellent. I can recall two hotels in Pienza on the road
connecting the highway to the town; the second one was more upscale than
Corsignano. Although both these hotels offer convenient access to other
points in Tuscany, they are mere steps from the walls of the city. An
excellent trattoria -- Da Falco -- is located within walking distance of
the hotels.

In general, I like Brunello better than Vino Nobile. However, I fell in
love with the Briareo Vino Nobile from the Redi winery. Unlike most of
the other Montepulciano wineries, Redi is located outside the walled
pedestrian area. Redi also makes the best Vin Santo I've tasted.

Among the three places I've mentioned, you must:
o attend services at Sant'Antimo when the monks are singing Gregorian
chants
o investigate *all* the churches on the two pedestrian walking streets
of Montepulciano including the leggo-front church, the church which
incorporates an earlier Roman structure, and an extravagantly Baroque
church.
o tour the Duomo and Palazzo Piccolomini in Pienza

Must buy:
o Pecorino di Pienza -- unless you already have a favorite, you'll have
fun tasting the differences between the cheese depending on the degree
of aging or the conditions under which it was aged

Karen Selwyn

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

On Wed, 23 Apr 2003 17:47:29 +0200, Barbara Vaughan
wrote:

    >Mason Barge wrote:
    >>
    >> On Wed, 23 Apr 2003 00:35:43 GMT, "Les Wright"
    >> wrote:
    >>
    >> >We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
    >> >Florence and will not visit this trip.
    >> >
    >> >I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
    >> >the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to do
    >> >would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.
    >> >
    >>
    >> Siena is a good base of operations for driving and a great little city for
    >> sightseeing, itself.
    >>
    >> I would recommend Montepulciano and Cortona as two very charming hill towns.
    >> Montalcino is also nice, but I would prefer one of the former unless I just
    >> wanted to buy wine -- if you want to buy Brunelo then Montalcino is a must.
    >I just reserved three nights in a hotel in Montalcino. I was thinking of
    >Montepulciano, but Montalcino seemed more centrally located for my
    >tentative itinerary. Why did you prefer Montepulciano as a place to
    >stay? (I had planned to go there for a day trip, anyway, also stopping
    >in Pienza.)

Montalcino is VERY small. It is a nice town and quite charming though.
Montepulciano just has more vistas, quaint buildings, etc.
--
"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
- Abraham Lincoln

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

Love your site Kevin! Thanks for posting, that's exactly the type of thing I
hope to find each time I visit this newsgroup.

-S.S.

"Kevin Kit" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > >Les Wright wrote:
    > >>
    > >> We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time
in
    > >> Florence and will not visit this trip.
    > >>
    > >> I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc.
in
    > >> the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things
to do
    > >> would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.
    > Check out my web site (web.utk.edu/~kit/italy) to see what we did last
    > summer in Tuscany with a car. Specifically, look at days 6-9. I
    > would highly recommend the Hotel Santa Caterina in Siena. Siena was a
    > nice location for day trips to nearby towns.
    > K. Kit

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

Mason Barge wrote:
    >
    > On Wed, 23 Apr 2003 17:47:29 +0200, Barbara Vaughan
    > wrote:
    >
    > >
    > >
    > >Mason Barge wrote:
    > >>
    > >> On Wed, 23 Apr 2003 00:35:43 GMT, "Les Wright"
    > >> wrote:
    > >>
    > >> >We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
    > >> >Florence and will not visit this trip.
    > >> >
    > >> >I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
    > >> >the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to do
    > >> >would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.
    > >> >
    > >>
    > >> Siena is a good base of operations for driving and a great little city for
    > >> sightseeing, itself.
    > >>
    > >> I would recommend Montepulciano and Cortona as two very charming hill towns.
    > >> Montalcino is also nice, but I would prefer one of the former unless I just
    > >> wanted to buy wine -- if you want to buy Brunelo then Montalcino is a must.
    > >
    > >I just reserved three nights in a hotel in Montalcino. I was thinking of
    > >Montepulciano, but Montalcino seemed more centrally located for my
    > >tentative itinerary. Why did you prefer Montepulciano as a place to
    > >stay? (I had planned to go there for a day trip, anyway, also stopping
    > >in Pienza.)
    >
    > Montalcino is VERY small. It is a nice town and quite charming though.
    > Montepulciano just has more vistas, quaint buildings, etc.

Well, I was looking for something charming and quiet, so maybe I've hit
it right.

Barbara

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

"Les Wright" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > We will be traveling from Rome to Milan July 6-12. We have spent time in
    > Florence and will not visit this trip.
    > I would like to hear of your favorite towns, villages, side trips, etc. in
    > the Tuscany region. Any suggestions on sites, hotels, favorite things to
do
    > would be appreciated. We will be traveling by car.
    > Thanks,
    > Les Wright

I'd recommend Lucca - nice medieval houses, an oval Piazza on the site of
the old Roman Ampitheatre, nice churches, a nice walk round the town walls.
Also a medieval tower with some trees on top which is something you won't
see anywhere else!

Re: Tuscany--Itinerary help
 

On Thu, 24 Apr 2003 23:31:02 +0100, "Michael Castens" wrote:

    >I'd recommend Lucca - nice medieval houses, an oval Piazza on the site of
    >the old Roman Ampitheatre, nice churches, a nice walk round the town walls.
    >Also a medieval tower with some trees on top which is something you won't
    >see anywhere else!

A lovely and fascinating place. I will add, though, that Lucca is quite large.
--
"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
- Abraham Lincoln