Honeymooners in the Florence vicinity
 

Hey there,

Long story short, we're leaving on our honeymoon in 8 days and were booked in Villa La Palagina hotel located in Figline Valdarno, outside of Florence. We THOUGHT we were actually staying in Cortona based on some verbiage in the original travel docs and comments from our travel agent...After looking at a map (should've done that eons ago but didn't--shame on us!) we realized we are staying south of Florence off the A1/E35. It looks like the place is on a smaller roadway leading to Greve. We WANTED to stay in a Tuscany hilltown figuring it would be romantic and honeymoon-ish...Cortona sounded great....

We have a couple of days to get things changed but wanted feedback from those of you in the know. We will have a rental car for the 5 days we'll be in/around Florence.

Thanks for your help! We need advice; neither of us have been to Italy although we've both been to Europe multiple times :-)
Debbie

Buon giorno Debbie,
The place looks very nice but that would not be my choice of locations in Tuscany. What is your strategy? Do you want to see the best hill towns, or merely meander the wine routes of Chianti? Actually, Cortona is not your best location either. If you want Chianti, with easy access to Florence, then centro Chianti is best---Greve or Castellina. If you want the best hill towns and scenery then you want further south--south of Siena near Montalcino or Montepulciano. Tuscany is large and diverse and location is key. Tell us more about your priorites. Life is a compromise.

HI--altho we do not know Cortona we did stay in the general area that bob (above) refers to and it was wonderful!!Just in case it helps you, I am recopying a post I sent to someone else a while back...Date: 03/30/2004, 05:50 pm
Message: hi-- we stayed here(see website below). even though it says "greve" for the location, it is really closest to a tiny and lovely town named panzano. when you open the website, and then click on "location", a map will appear, and then when you click again on the map, the map will enlarge to show the details of the towns' locations. this b&b was lovely and we stayed there atend of may. altho it gets very hot there, the night air is so cool that there is no need for a/c. even during the day, it was always cool and lovely in the hotel. here is the website---BTW unlike many websites, the place is much more charming in its actuality than on the site. The rooms look a little austere on the site and in person, it feels like the country villa that it is...you will need a car if you want to travel to the other towns, although there is a hiking trail that goes from behind the inn to the town center of panzano. one side of the inn is on a little road, with some local traffic going by, we(who are quite noise-sensitive) were not bothered by it. while there, we easily drove to greve, radda, castellina and sienna. the roads are narrow, winding and unbelievably scenic. http://www.venere.com/it/toscana/gre...nti/villarosa/

If you want a hilltown as a base, my suggestion for a first timer to Italy would be Siena.

From Siena, you could daytrip to the south to Montalcino, Pienza, Montepulciano which are charming hilltowns and also be in a good location for Chianti country and Greve, Castellina, Radda, etc.

From Siena, you are also well located for daytrips to San Gimignano or Volterra or even Pisa...depending on your wish list.

We have used Siena, Montalcino and Castellina as base locations and each has their positives, but that depends on what you have your heart set on doing and seeing.

Have you set aside additional time for Florence? You might want to consider splitting your time betwen Florence and a hilltown...

Good Luck.

Hi!
Thanks for getting back to me. I've beem so consumed with our wedding, which is in two days, I haven't had a minute to check my post til now at 5.30am.

Bob--Priorities! We want it all. LOL. To be honest, we want to see Florence and definately will but we were also trying to be well placed in order to maximize our time and options outside the city. I teach social studies so the idea of staying in a historic hilltown is so exciting to me. Howie, my fiance', enjoys wine and history so we will definately need to balance things out. We've done a good bit of reading and there is so much that appeals to us that we're having problems narrowing down what we want and realistically can accomplish. This is where you come in. I've seen your posts through the years and I recognize you're quite the expert. In the meanwhile, I'm going to call the travel agent this AM and see exactly what our options are. How would you recommend we plan out our days. I was thinking that perhaps keying into some really special places and taking our time might be better than trying to hit several towns. It will then give us an excuse to come back for another vacation ;-)

SW--Thanks for your info. I'm going to ask about Villa Rosa and compare...

Lorac--Thanks for your advice. Sienna was one of our first choices but I've been told it's gotten really touristy, at least during the day. Would you agree?

Thanks for taking the time to help. We really appreciate it!
Debbie

Debbie,
You'll have a fantastic time in Italy wherever you go - just relax into it and enjoy the Italian atmosphere. My top recommendation is defiantly Siena. My wife and I have been twice over the past four years and would go back at the drop of a hat. Yes, during the day there are a lot of tourists but not so many that it gets unbearable. Check out the walks detailed in the Fodors guidebook to get off the beaten track. But if you can, stay later into the evening and just hang out in the Campo as the sun goes down and the locals come out for their evening walk. Top tip for Florence is the view from the top of the Duomo ? a must do.

Hi Peter,
Did you stay in Sienna itself and if so where would you recommend? (We're trying to spend under $200US/night.)

Thanks!
Debbie

I third (or is it fourth) Siena. We LOVED LOVED LOVED Frances Lodge, right outside Siena. Great hosts, great location, free parking with a close bus into Siena itself (about a 5 min. bus ride). It should be in your price range as well. Their website is Franceslodge.it If you have any specific questions, feel free to email me at [email protected].

You will be right near my favorite restaurant of all time, Canto del Maggio in the town of Penna on the other side of the A1. Give it a try. http://www.cantodelmaggio.com/

You will get what your heart desires in any of these towns...they are all magical in their own way. These are my thoughts:

If you want art, art, art: Florence is a must
If you want art in a more intimate setting: Siena
If you want a larger hilltown: Montepulciano
If you want a tiny, quaint hilltown: Pienza
If you want a a medium hilltown: Montalcino
If you want a town with a delightful piazza: Greve

For your hubbie-to-be, there is great wine in all these towns. And vineyards galore.

In Siena, we stayed at Palazzo Ravizza which is inside the walls and has parking. Rooms in the back have beautiful views.

If I were selecting a room in June, it would have to have air conditioning. If this is important to you, be sure to ask.

Keep in mind that all these places are great. Even if some are more touristy than others, people are usually there for a good reason. And most people head home after the day, and the nights can be magical.

Good Luck and Congratulations!

Hi Debbie
I am just starting travel plans to Florence, and funny enough found an apartment in Figline Valdorno as an option. We are considering staying there and I am wondering how your trip went, if you did end up staying in Figline Valdarno, and if you would be willing to offer some advice for our honeymoon.
So I am not sure if you check this regularly but your post came up when I searched this town and I thought I would give this a try.
Thanks
laura

Hey Laura!
I haven't been on Fodors much lately but clicked on this post forgetting I started it!

To answer your question: we ended up leaving things alone and stayed at the Villa La Palagina. It was a lovely 16th century villa on the outskirts of Figline, with 2 pools, amazing views, nice breakfasts and delicious restaurant (on the pricey side) for dinner and even has Sting as a famous neighbor (but no, we didn't see him!). It's not too far from Greve which several posters feel is a good, central location for Chianti.

If you just want to relax, your apartment is as nice as our villa and has the same great views, than it's not a bad place to be; however, if you are like my husband and I and want to see and do lots of stuff, perhaps you might want to check out other options.

There are pros and cons to staying there. Like I said, we absolutely looved the views and the peacefulness of the area. My husband enjoyed driving those windy roads, even though he had choice words about the Italians who thought nothing of passing on a blind curve :-) It's about 20km from Florence but I need to mention we hit hellish traffic jams several times.

As much as we enjoyed the villa, if we were to do it over, we would probably spend a couple of nights in Florence itself and then stay somewhere in Chianti. Greve has more to offer and is relatively close to Figline.

If you have any other questions, ask and I'll do my best to answer them. We loved Italy and were so sad to go home! We're already talking about going back!!

Debbie

We just got back from Italy and was in Florence for a few days and went on a sunset stroll to a vineyard and then a woman cooked us an amazing dinner in her house - look under www.accidentaltourist.com for the Sunset Stroll. Worth every cent and it was one of the best experiences of our lives!

Debbie

I am so glad you checked and that your honeymoon turned out so well. Thank you very much for the information.

We are both artists and are looking forward to making that our focus in Florence. However, the thought of some days being peaceful, as you mentioned seems like it would be a nice addition to our trip.

One question if you don't mind. The apartment rental mentioned that a train runs straight into Figline Valdarno. Did you guys happen to use the train during your trip? I tried to find it online but did not have any luck. I wonder what the price might be, and if it is convient to avoid the traffic.

Danak
That is a wonderful suggestion. I will most definetely check it out.

Thank you both for the information.

Hi,
Can't help you with the trains to Figline...We only used them to arrive in Florence and to get to Venice. We picked up a rental car in Florence and that's how we got everywhere.

I didn't realize you would be carless and you need to consider that Figline isn't as compact as some other towns...Figline's main piazza has a couple of restaurants but not much more. We ate dinner in one of them our first night but never went back b/c there are more interesting (and better preserved) towns to visit. (The food was ok, nothing special, but was probably the cheapest meal we had in Italy!) The the Centro/downtown area is depressed and doesn't have much for tourists. There is a grocery store on a main road but I'm guessing it might be far from where you're staying. We liked Figline but we spent the bulk of our time either relaxing at the villa which felt like it was in the middle of nowhere (but in actuality was 10 min. drive from the main part of town) or touring around Tuscany.

Bobthenavigator is one of the Italy experts on this board. He tried to steer us to stay in one of the other Tuscan towns but we didn't listen. It worked out for us but we had a car and our villa was like a semi-private resort. I'm not sure you will have all the amenities at your apartment that we had and I'm wondering if the apartment may be in a less scenic part of the town.

We're not artists but loved the art in Florence! Don't wait on lines for the Uffizi or Accedemia. Spend the extra 3E to make reservations and bring cash! We almost forgot that they don't take credit cards!

Enjoy your trip! It's such a wonderful place!!

Debbie

Thanks again Debbie...your information and shared experiences will greatly help us plan our trip. I am really glad I checked this board!
Laura