We will be in Florence for a few days in July as part of a ten-day trip to Italy. We plan to hire a driver to take us into the Italian countryside for a day. What would be the best place to go? Thanks for your feedback

topping

My vote is for Sienna and San Gimignano (can't spell, sorry). I took an organized tour in November to Sienna from Florence and even in November it was a beautiful drive and I loved the city. It was pouring rain when we got to San Gim. but I still thought it was amazing and would have loved to see it without an umbrella. I'm sure you'll get plenty of other ideas and none of them will be waste of time. It's all gorgeous.

Hi,

I wouldn't bother with a driver.

You can take the bus to Siena and San Gim.

You can train to Lucca/Pisa, Arezzo, Montepulciano or even Orvieto for daytrips.

PS,

You can take the no. 7 bus from the train station to Fiesole, above Florence, to see the Etruscan ruins and watch the sunset.

to Ira: We thought about the bus, but don't want to be only seeing things from a bus. Can you get out and explore freely?

Another alternative would be to go to Montepulciano and Pienza. They are close and easily seen in one day. They are both similiar old historic towns but slightly differ in the architecture and layout. Pienza has nicer shops too. This would also allow you to see beautiful views of the Crete area around Pienza - those typical scenes or rolling hills dotted with cypress trees. The advantage of a driver is that you can ask him to tailor the drive to be the most scenic. Either way - you will love any of these suggestions. I think you may even get to see the sunflowers in bloom in July...

Hi ib,

The SITA bus takes you from Florence to Siena and back. It is about a 1 hr trip.

You see some nice scenery on the way.

Ditto for the train rides. Once you get to the hill towns, you will find some very lovely vistas.

This is not the same as just driving through the countryside. If you want to do that, I think that you could just rent a car for the day and motor South of Florence to San Gim, Siena, Montepulciano, Arezzo.

See www.viamichelin.com for map.

Maybe not for everyone but we loved Vinci...Leonardo's home. There is a great museum showing his inventione and some drawings. The town is very quaint and lovely. It's only about 30 miles west of Florence.

One little known just outside the center of Florence is the American Military Cemetery in Florence. The Web site: http://www.abmc.gov/fl_pict.pdf I couldn't imagine a more rewarding spot to visit while on a vacation. Doesn't take long and you'll feel much better for it. Good luck!

- Jonathan