Italy: Siena, (Montepulciano vs. Lucca), Cinque Terre, Florence

I've never been to Montepulciano so I can't give you a comparison.

We just returned from 10 days based in Florence with daytrips and overnighters (keeping our base in Florence for convenience).

One of our overnighters consisted of going from Florence to Lucca with a quick one hour stop in Pisa to see the Tower. We used the little-known Pisa San Rossore train station and that saved a lot of time as it's 10 minutes from the Tower.

We found Lucca to be a quiet, beautiful little city with many nice, clean squares. We wandered thru the main street of the town and when we got to the other end we rented bikes and rode around the town on the wall.

I climbe the Torre Guinigi for great views of the town and surrounding countryside.

We really enjoyed our few hours there.

From Lucca we continued on to La Spezia (not much of a tourist town) where we stayed over for our one-day visit to Cinque Terre.

What a change of pace that was. Spectacular sunset views, Riomaggiore, dinner outdoors facing the ocean. We hike three segments (between three town starting from the south and then back to the second) and took the ferry to Portovenere.

I can tell you that this segment will give you several sights you'll remember.

No train in Volterra or San G. so you won't be training back from those places.

It would make more sense to start in Montepulciano, then Siena, then CT if you are flying out of Florence.

I think you will like biking in the Siena province (includes Montepulciano, Pienza, Montalcino,etc.)better than Lucca. There are lots of bike races/events that go through the area.
http://www.cicloposse.com/

Your bike trips are pure fantasy--those will not work. Have you checked the train connections. The south Tuscany biking would make more sense.

First of all, there are no museums of any importance in either Montepulciano or Lucca, so don't fear anything.
Montepulciano is pretty, but has become way too touristy for my taste, which affects dining options in the first place, but of course also the general atmosphere. The architecture is less important than the townscape (a steeeeeep hilltown), with the notable exception of S. Biagio (outside the walls), which is a really remarkable Renaissance church.
Lucca used to be Tuscany's most boring town, but has changed very favourably over the last years and is now actually a jewel - so forget about any older reviews! It's now a lively yet elegant place, and the architecture of the three major churches has always been absolutely great (all three are Romanesque, and S. Michele in Foro, above all, is certainly among Italy's best Romanesque facades); then there's that square that has been built into the town's ancient Roman theater (which is still partly visible outside), one of Tuscany's most beautiful squares no doubt; Torre Guinigi, mentioned above (one of those medieval tower houses that S. Gimignano is so famous for). And the food is just excellent in Lucca, if that matters for you.
So while I'd prefer to see both of them, if the choice is really Lucca vs. Montepulciano, my vote for Lucca.

Completely agree with franco and bobthenavigator... Lucca is great and the bike trips are a no-no due to the steep roads and scorching heat (unless you're a very athletic duo)

Another thought on your bike & hike tours... you're always planning to return after dinner. Are you aware that you cannot dine at 5 or 6 pm in Italy? You'd be considered, and what's worse: treated like a complete nutcase, even in restaurants that are open at that hour, which is rarely the case. Many serious restaurants don't even open before 8 or 8.30 pm, and don't necessarily expect you to eat that early - dinner time, in most of Italy is 9 pm, and dinner will take 2 or 2.5 hours. Hiking/training back after that?

We stayed in Montepulciano last month and it was lovely. The place that you mentioned looked wonderful. The roads looked narrow for biking but I assume you have done a lot of biking and you will be fine. We saw cyclists in Tuscany and outside of Montepulciano. We also stayed in Manarola two years ago at La Toretta. I highly recommend although it is a difficult reservation to get without lots of lead time. You might want to go to a cycling web site (or lonely planet forum) for more biking information. And someone said something about eating early because of being on bikes, but sounds like you are not riding back but taking trains back to your hotels.

As far as you are aware of how hot it is in Tuscany in August, early Sept., go ahead and plan biking trips, if you are used to doing it. I'd definitely do some research on bike riding in Tuscany.

Wow! Thank you to everyone for you thoughts and commments / recs! We have a biking Italy book with suggested rides- and are fairly athletic people so hopefully we will survive-! We didn't have alot of options as to when to take this trip so we will have to make the best of it!

Also, I am a little worried now that the choice to go to Montepulciano over Lucca was the wrong one. We already have a great hotel in Montepulciano with a wine tour booked (and we are big into wine) but some of these comments have made me second guess that decision.. Anyone with very strong opinions either way?

Also, Has anyone been to Arrezzo? Any thoughts on whether it is better to go there or san gimignano/volterra?


Does anyone have driving directions for the best route from montepulciano to the cinque terre?
Maybe with a stop in lucca for lunch?

Macdogmom- thanks for the bode of confidence about montepulciano! I am very excited about the place we are staying... It looks great. Any thoughts on where to eat when we are there? Did you go to Pienza?

The difference between Arezzo -- which is lovely and less touristed these days than San Gimignano and Volterra -- is the steepness of the climb. Arezzo is not a hilltown, even though it sits on a slope. Both San Gimignano and Volterra sit at the peaks of mountains.

You mentioned in your original post that you were contemplating hiking through all five towns of Cinque Terre in one day and then marching onward to Portofino, It's simply not possible. What you could do is hike the length of le Cinque Terre (usually takes 5 hours) and then take a train to Santa Margherita Ligure or Camogli to hike inside the Portofino park. But you would need to be very mindful of sunset times and boat schedules. There is no light inside the Portofino park once the sun goes down, and trails -- which can be cliffside walks -- would be too dangerous to walk.

If wine is a big deal for you, the area of Montepulciano is considered to have the better wine (as opposed to Lucca). I would not let the choice of a hotel govern your decision however. There are beautiful hotels in beautiful settings in every corner of Tuscany.

Mappy and ViaMichelin have pedestrian and cycle features to plot your route.
http://en.mappy.com/#p=itinerary_homepage
www.viamichelin.com

Many of the postcards you see of Tuscany are from the Montalcino/Pienza/Montepulciano area.
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/tuscany/cypress_roads.htm
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/33/46602034_8247e4b1d4.jpg

The views from this wine bar in Montalcino are great. You can do wine flights of the Brunellos and other Tuscan wines.
http://www.osticcio.com/

The best restaurant in Montepulciano (and actually, in that entire part of Tuscany) is Borgobuio (www.borgobuio.it). But believe me, food is a particularly strong point in favour of Lucca - in Lucca, nobody would talk about Borgobuio. Excellent choices there are Mecenate (www.ristorantemecenate.it) and Giulio in Pelleria (no website, Via delle Conce, 45, closed Sunday & Monday).
As far as wine, do you know Tuscan wine? To be honest, as a wine lover, I'm going to Umbria, not Tuscany; and if Tuscany, only the far south (Pitigliano) for some hearty rustic wines. The famous Tuscans, IMO, are either way overrated or way overpriced or (mostly) both at the same time. Of course, if you are specifically into Tuscan wine, then you cannot skip Montepulciano since Vino Nobile is perhaps the one of the three "big" Tuscans that has been least distorted by enological "plastic surgery". Still distorted enough, for me; winemakers in Chianti, Montalcino and also Montepulciano seem to have been so embarassed by the natural taste of their wines that they deliberately and completely altered their character so to achieve confoundable "international-style" products, a pretty industrial concept of viticulture.

I agree I'd rather be in Umbria for wine, but I don't think all Tuscan Chianti (or any Morellino di Scansano) is overrated. If anything, they are underrated in many cases, but you do have to get the real unadulterated stuff.

PS: I am not a fan of Lucca as a food destination, and I'm not alone!

(Franco, here is a link to a 3-part interview Fred Plotkin recently did for the NYTimes regarding food all over Italy. Fun read. Scroll down a bit)

http://www.fredplotkin.com/fredplotkin.com/Italy_for_the_Gourmet_Traveler.html

I heartily vote Montepulciano over Lucca-much more dramatic visually and the countryside is wonderful. Maybe we visited Lucca before it became a jewel though.

zeppole, agree about Morellino di Scansano, but that's not one of the "big three". It's from the far south of Tuscany, and not far from Pitigliano...
I know you don't love the food of Lucca, but you should really try the two places I recommended above, and come back to tell us what you thought. I bet you'll change your mind!

Ok, franco, but I'm waiting for the humidity to pass -- unless you tell me these restos in Lucca have the best insalata di farro I'll ever taste!

Thank you all for your thoughts... I'm thinking we are not going to starve anywhere we go in Italy so I'm gonna stick with my gut and go for the wine and scenery in Montepulciano. Also, I like the less touristy option of Arrezzo - I think we will go with that. Thanks again all! Any other imputbis always welcome !

kybourbon... mappy is awesome! Thank you, we will be using this alot in the future!

Good choice---we will be there again next May.
Look at the bike route south of there to Montichiello and over to Bagno Vignoni.