Day trips in Tuscany
Sep 21st, 2009, 11:06 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 41
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day trips in Tuscany
In 2 weeks, my boyfriend and I are going to Italy! I am so excited! We are starting out in the Cinque Terre for 2 days and then heading to Tuscany. We are staying at the Poggio Etrusco in Montepulciano for 3-4 days. We plan on taking some day trips to other towns while we are there. I have heard that Lucca and Siena are beautiful and definitely should not be missed. Can anyone recommend any others that we should see? Or any restaurants that we should try while we are in Lucca and Siena?
Thank you!
Haruko
Thank you!
Haruko
Sep 21st, 2009, 11:31 AM
#2
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 9,023
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Can anyone recommend any others that we should see?>
Well every hill is crowned by dreamy hill towns - Siena is a bigger one and one that i think is so so great. Lucca is not on a hill but is one of the finest walled towns in Europe and one of the best preserved, what with its gaggle of old towers folks once thought they could escape the rabble and the plague from. Yet unless you have a car Lucca is quite a poke from Montepulciano. Volterra, San Gimignano and on and on are also neat.
Well every hill is crowned by dreamy hill towns - Siena is a bigger one and one that i think is so so great. Lucca is not on a hill but is one of the finest walled towns in Europe and one of the best preserved, what with its gaggle of old towers folks once thought they could escape the rabble and the plague from. Yet unless you have a car Lucca is quite a poke from Montepulciano. Volterra, San Gimignano and on and on are also neat.
Sep 21st, 2009, 11:32 AM
#3
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 422
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Lucca is quieter and less touristic than Siena - try a tandem ride on the city walls, check out Palazzo Pfanner if you like gardens and have a meal at Buca di Sant' Antonio.
Siena is a busy place with the Campo at its heart - the Duomo is not to be missed for its interior. Try Ristorante Mugolone near the Campo for an evening meal.
San Gimignano is worthy of consideration but is also very much on the tourist trail; Volterra is a very pleasant town with more of a local feel. Pisa is difficult to recommend unless you are big into towers of the leaning variety but has to be a bit of a quick must-see all the same.
Siena is a busy place with the Campo at its heart - the Duomo is not to be missed for its interior. Try Ristorante Mugolone near the Campo for an evening meal.
San Gimignano is worthy of consideration but is also very much on the tourist trail; Volterra is a very pleasant town with more of a local feel. Pisa is difficult to recommend unless you are big into towers of the leaning variety but has to be a bit of a quick must-see all the same.
Sep 21st, 2009, 11:57 AM
#5
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,422
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Lucca would be more easily visited from le Cinque Terre than Montelpulciano -- but I wouldn't bother if you are having beautiful days in le Cinque Terre, not because Lucca isn't beautiful (it is) but because Italy is filled with beautiful, beautiful places in triplicate and thensome, and you simply can't do it all. (But if you do go to Lucca, the restaurant Buca di Sant'Antonio is superior, and no one does Lucchese cuisine, or Italian hospitality, better. Make it your lunch spot.)
You may not believe this, but when you are in Montepuliciano, you can head out in any direction and see very beautiful places. In fact, you don't have to move at all! That said, Siena (which is not far from Montepuliciano) is best for tourists fascinated by well-preserved art and architecture. The towns of Arezzo and Cortona are smaller, and Pienza, Montalcino (a wine town) and San Quirico d'Orcia are ever smaller. If you are interested in the deep history of the region, the town of Chiusi as a truly excellent small museum of Etruscan art (with English labels, very user friendly) and the totally non-touristy and flat walled town of Buonconvento has a museum devoted to the people who shaped the Tuscan landscape that draws so many international tourists today.
If you like frescoes, you should take time to visit the Abbey in Monteoliveto Maggiore, and the town of Arezzo, both within an hour of Montepulciano. If you like Gregorian chants, google up Sant'Antimo, also close by. Hot springs, commercial, public and au naturale are also close at hand.
San Gimingnano and Volterra are better seen, not as day trips from Montepulciano, but en route (by car only) from le Cinque Terre to Montepulciano -- and even then you are more likely to get a touristy "day-tripper" experience, with many bus tours sharing the space.
Any standard guidebook to Toscana can show you what is within easy reach of Montepulciano. It's an area very popular with day-tripping English-speaking tourists.
You may not believe this, but when you are in Montepuliciano, you can head out in any direction and see very beautiful places. In fact, you don't have to move at all! That said, Siena (which is not far from Montepuliciano) is best for tourists fascinated by well-preserved art and architecture. The towns of Arezzo and Cortona are smaller, and Pienza, Montalcino (a wine town) and San Quirico d'Orcia are ever smaller. If you are interested in the deep history of the region, the town of Chiusi as a truly excellent small museum of Etruscan art (with English labels, very user friendly) and the totally non-touristy and flat walled town of Buonconvento has a museum devoted to the people who shaped the Tuscan landscape that draws so many international tourists today.
If you like frescoes, you should take time to visit the Abbey in Monteoliveto Maggiore, and the town of Arezzo, both within an hour of Montepulciano. If you like Gregorian chants, google up Sant'Antimo, also close by. Hot springs, commercial, public and au naturale are also close at hand.
San Gimingnano and Volterra are better seen, not as day trips from Montepulciano, but en route (by car only) from le Cinque Terre to Montepulciano -- and even then you are more likely to get a touristy "day-tripper" experience, with many bus tours sharing the space.
Any standard guidebook to Toscana can show you what is within easy reach of Montepulciano. It's an area very popular with day-tripping English-speaking tourists.
Sep 21st, 2009, 01:19 PM
#8
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 23,813
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
We stayed for a week in Montepulciano and loved every minute. Be sure to go to the Cafe Poliziano for coffee and sit out on the tiny balcony hovering over the Tuscan valley . I'm attaching some information about the town and surrounding area here for you.
http://www.vrbo.com/global/siteFrame.aspx?l=33620&k=1
(ignore the apartment prices -- they're out of date)
Also, go down to the church -- San Biago, I think it's called -- and wait till it's empty. Then stand in the middle, directly under the dome and clap your hands once, hard. You'll hear it echo around the church 17 or 18 times.
http://www.vrbo.com/global/siteFrame.aspx?l=33620&k=1
(ignore the apartment prices -- they're out of date)
Also, go down to the church -- San Biago, I think it's called -- and wait till it's empty. Then stand in the middle, directly under the dome and clap your hands once, hard. You'll hear it echo around the church 17 or 18 times.
Sep 21st, 2009, 01:19 PM
#9
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,422
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think there are plenty that can turn into disappointing experiences when there are wall-to-wall busloads of tourists, when the local culture has been completely supplanted with postcard vendors and the local cuisine with menus and wines designed to meet the peevish demands of foreign visitors -- etc.
And I don't know why "hilltowns" are inevitably more worthwhile than valley towns in Toscana. I realize that to some tourists they are, but I'm puzzled as to why.
And I don't know why "hilltowns" are inevitably more worthwhile than valley towns in Toscana. I realize that to some tourists they are, but I'm puzzled as to why.
Sep 21st, 2009, 01:42 PM
#10
Lucca didn't click with me, and at 2 hours one way it would be out of my range for a day trip from Montepulciano. Ditto Volterra, also 2 hours one way, which I found much more interesting than Lucca. In contrast to both, Siena is only 60-70 minutes one way.
For a second day trip, I'd go in a different direction to Todi. One way to go would take you along part of the shore of Lake Trasimeno and through Deruta if you wanted to stop to buy some ceramic. Lunch at Ristorante Umbria in Todi.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32131098@N00/22993965
Return to Montepulciano by way of Orvieto and perhaps have dinner there.
For a second day trip, I'd go in a different direction to Todi. One way to go would take you along part of the shore of Lake Trasimeno and through Deruta if you wanted to stop to buy some ceramic. Lunch at Ristorante Umbria in Todi.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32131098@N00/22993965
Return to Montepulciano by way of Orvieto and perhaps have dinner there.
Sep 21st, 2009, 07:22 PM
#11
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 23,813
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
zeppole, I felt exactly that way in Siena. It wasn't the town itself but it was a very hot day and it was just packed with tourists. I realize I was a tourist myself but I felt like we couldn't move an inch!
I think people prefer the hilltowns because of the incredible views.
I think people prefer the hilltowns because of the incredible views.
