DavePhipps

We are driving from Bologna to Lucca on a Saturday- need to arrive by 4 pm. Any good lunch spots in scenic town midway? Open to taking our time and getting off the beaten track. Grazie!

Michael

You could use viamichelin.com and specify a "discovery" itinerary.

https://www.viamichelin.com/web/Rout...0&arrivalDate=

frencharmoire

If you need to arrive by 4pm, you need to work this backwards -- which is to say that you probably should eat your lunch somwhere no further than a one hour drive from Lucca, because even if you sit down at 12.30pm (the very earliest a restaurant will start serving you) there is a good chance -- if you pick a traditional Italian countryside restaurant -- that you won't be getting back into your car until 2.30pm (and you always need to leave a little time to get lost

Probably the most scenic route you could take is the SS64 that runs through Poretta Terme (I've never driven it, and have always wanted to take the old historic train that runs through there). You should leave Bologna on the E35 and head first for Sasso Marconi, and then pick up the SS64 shortly after that.

You might want to stop in Poretta Terme for a coffee (it will take you 2 hours or so to get there if morning traffic out of Bologna is not bad and if it is not raining). But you will need to press on further to get to a lunch spot within an hour of Lucca.

Pistoia has one of Tuscany's best density of good restaurants, and is a beautiful town to see. But if you prefer a countryside lunch, there is a "mirror" lake in Spedaletto with a restaurant

http://www.spedaletto.it/

frencharmoire

Sorry -- I dropped an "r". It's Porretta Terme.

http://wild-about-travel.com/2014/06...cenic-railway/

By the way, if you get up early in the morning, you could shop at Bologna's markets and bring a picnic.

DavePhipps

Thanks so much these are very helpful!