Driving loop around Florence
 

Hi All,

We will be in Florence for 5 nights in April. We would like to rent a car for a day and are thinking of heading to San Gimignano and Siena for the day. Can you recommend a driving loop for us? I have reviewed the posts on this site and read my Rick Steves book, but I can't find much on driving a loop in the area.

Thanks!
Alanna

i think that if you are going from Florence to San Gimignana and Siena, that IS your driving loop for one day. How much time were you plannign on spending in each place?

Thanks DRM. We would likely spend the morning in one city (2-3 hours) and the same time in the other in the afternoon. I guess I am interested in seeing more countryside and am thinking that we "loop" around instead of taking the same road to/from San G and Siena.

You could come back from Siena a bit east of your route out, via SR222 through Castellina, Radda, Panzano and Greve. North of Strada, you should follow the signs for Impruneta and then Florence. This is a fairly ambitious itinerary; as you are already in a city (Florence), you might want to skip the cities and do a loop through the countryside - the Chianti Consortium has a great, highly detailed map that shows all of the scenic roads, as well as wine estates that offer tours, tastings and/or meals.The time that we spent in villages like Volpaia, Case Poggio and Lamole were a highlight of our last trip.

I'd plan on SanGim and Volterra. It's direct and both towns are worth it.

Thanks all. DRM, good point about us already getting a taste of a city with our visit to Florence. I will do a little more research on the countryside towns that you suggested and as I think that is a great idea!

Alanna

We did a similar loop a couple of years ago with the same intent - to see as much of the countryside without too much doubling back. We wanted to avoid the autostrada - not because of the "horror" stories (it's not even close to being that bad), but just wanted to drive through the small towns. We left Florence going south on S2, took a jog to the west for San Gimignano, back to S2 for Siena with a stop at Monteriggioni (lovely walled village)along the way. Back to Florence we drove the aforementioned S222.