Anyone vacationed in Tuscany?

[Fingolfin269]

We're looking into a trip to Italy next summer that will span a couple of weeks. I'm thinking about flying into Venice and spending 2 or 3 nights there, finishing up in Rome and staying 4 nights there, but that still leave a week in between. Many people talk about going to Florence and spending a lot of time there but I was thinking about just finding some place in Tuscany to just set up shop for a week. Rent a car, drive around the country side, visit some vineyards, etc. Have any of you done something similar to this? If so I'd really like to hear about it. I'm interested in hearing suggestions on places to stay in Tuscany primarily as I've likely found where we would stay in both Venice and Rome.

So yeah, this is all fluid at the moment. I'm definitely open to suggestions, reasons this plan of mine is not a great one, etc. I've done some research but readily admit I'm pretty ignorance when it comes to Italy.

Cliffs:
1) Italy trip
2) Start in Venice - 2 or 3 nights
3) End in Rome - likely 4 nights
4) Looking for what to do in between. Florence is typical suggestion but maybe a house somewhere in Tuscany instead?

Probably pertinent info...

1) This trip will take place late June/early July 2014. Likely 2 weeks (13 nights in Italy)
2) I'd like to keep the rental in Tuscany in the $1250-$1500 range but can stretch it if the place makes sense.
3) Two people on the trip but if there's a nice house in our price range we're ok with something that accommodates more.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I've been to Tuscany a couple of times (once for work, once for pleasure). I stayed in Florence for a few days and we really loved it. I'm also interested in hearing others' experiences driving to some of the smaller towns as my wife and I want to go back in a couple of years (Ireland is next year, in all likelihood).

 

[iamwiz82]

Well if you're thinking of getting a place there don't bother. There's really nothing available.

 

[feralkid]

There are no houses to rent in Tuscany.

 

[Fingolfin269]

What am I missing here? The use of the word "house"? Need to book far in advance?

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentals-g187893-Reviews-zfs2-Tuscany-Tuscany_House_Rentals.html

 

[iamwiz82]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maestro

 

[Fingolfin269]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maestro

Jesus I should have paid more attention to Seinfeld when it was on originally.

Either that or this is the slowest played pseudo parody thread in the history of ATOT...

 

[Fingolfin269]

Bump for the morning crew... and hopefully more Seinfeld jokes that go over my head.

 

[bignateyk]

You sound like you're on the right track. I've been to Italy 3 times.

Venice: Don't go on a weekend. It'll be so crowded you won't be able to move. It only takes 2 days to see everything there is to see in Venice.

Rome: 4-5 days is a good relaxed pace to do everything.

Florence: Unless you're in to art, go see the countryside. Florence itself is a smog-filled shithole. You'll enjoy going horseback riding through the countryside, touring vineyards and olive farms alot more. You can see the cathedral and the arm museum in a single afternoon.

Other suggestions: Cinque Terre is worth seeing if you're up in that area. It's a beautiful area and you can hike from town to town and get drunk on the way.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Florence: Unless you're in to art, go see the countryside. Florence itself is a smog-filled shithole. You'll enjoy going horseback riding through the countryside, touring vineyards and olive farms alot more. You can see the cathedral and the arm museum in a single afternoon.

Couldn't disagree more -- Florence is very nice and I'd encourage the OP to walk around and visit shops, restaurants, etc. The main problem is the screwed up way they admit people to the Uffizi -- it is a typical illogical, screwed up Italian way of doing things.

OP, July is also a bad time to go but I think we've discussed this before and IIRC, you or your wife is a teacher and you pretty much have to go in the summer, right?

 

[Fingolfin269]

Couldn't disagree more -- Florence is very nice and I'd encourage the OP to walk around and visit shops, restaurants, etc. The main problem is the screwed up way they admit people to the Uffizi -- it is a typical illogical, screwed up Italian way of doing things.

OP, July is also a bad time to go but I think we've discussed this before and IIRC, you or your wife is a teacher and you pretty much have to go in the summer, right?

Yep that's right. To be honest our discussion a couple of years ago about the Rome heat in July is really the only reason we haven't been yet. Opted for Maui instead. There really isn't any other option for us though in terms of timing unless we take a shorter trip. But I don't want to pay that much to fly round trip for a week. So, yep, late June/early July is pretty much it.

 

[DigDog]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2251355&highlight=
was discussed intensively before in that thread. full of good suggestions, give it a read.

also, september is WAY better than august to visit.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Florence is great but the city is tiny and you can see everything in a day or two. Florence has a ton of tourist traps as well that you gotta be careful of. I guess Rome does too but I lived there so I mentally ignored them.

 

[Fingolfin269]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2251355&highlight=
was discussed intensively before in that thread. full of good suggestions, give it a read.

also, september is WAY better than august to visit.

Thanks for that. It seems you're from Rome and have pretty good knowledge of the country in general. Here's a statement you made in the thread that I'd like to ask a bit more about:

in tuscany the places to visit are siena, arezzo and firenze but what most turists do is pick one of the smaller towns and "settle" there, make friends, drive around, and sample the food n wine.

This is exactly what I want to do but would probably limit myself to ~1 week. I can find a house using vrbo.com but am really looking for advice on what you would consider to be the best area. I'd probably like to be somewhat near Firenze so we could make a day trip there but would like to venture into some of the more secluded areas as well. Being near Firenze is definitely not a requirement. If there are better spots where you can see much more based on being centralized then I'd definitely prefer that.

On another note, I see Scotland the Brave in your location. I assume that's where you live now? We visited the UK for vacation this past summer and spent 5 nights in Scotland. I love it there and we plan to go back for a more extended stay in Scotland a few years from now.

 

[Clemenza]

Florence is great but the city is tiny and you can see everything in a day or two. Florence has a ton of tourist traps as well that you gotta be careful of. I guess Rome does too but I lived there so I mentally ignored them.

Also, don't get arrested for being the "Monster of Florence."

 

[zinfamous]

There are no houses to rent in Tuscany.

My advice would be to stay in Florence or Sienna and make day trips to the various towns. It's a lovely part of the world and far too much to do in a short amount of time.


You could spend a month or longer in Florence and feel like you haven't seen half of it...at least that's how I feel about it.

Also consider venturing into Umbria to the east of Tuscany--some very cool, similar towns with Roman ruins, arenas, stuff like that.

It sounds like you will be there close to the annual harvest time, so there will likely be a bunch of festivals in various towns to celebrate, so look into that and plan. One town in Umbria--Peruggia, has an annual chocolate festival (where I consumed the only palatable grappa in my memory), so that might be worth checking out, too. It's also around that time, IIRC.

If you can, I'd advise renting a car for better freedom. The buses are actually pretty cheap, though. And you probably don't want to depend on the trains all the time, as you will invariably be stranded by a scheduled strike that would wreck a day or two.

 

[zinfamous]

Couldn't disagree more -- Florence is very nice and I'd encourage the OP to walk around and visit shops, restaurants, etc. The main problem is the screwed up way they admit people to the Uffizi -- it is a typical illogical, screwed up Italian way of doing things.

OP, July is also a bad time to go but I think we've discussed this before and IIRC, you or your wife is a teacher and you pretty much have to go in the summer, right?

Yeah--Florence is phenomenal, really-and if you are into art in any way, it is impossible to see everything within a week. Literally impossible.

I misread the OP and thought it was a fall trip, which would make everything easier, so advice in my previous post is mostly void (wrt: various festivals)

July-September is a wretched time to visit--hot, muggy, overcrowded. Especially if you want to see the Uffizzi, one really has to book in advance to skip the lines. When I was there, I could just walk in any time of day I wanted, without waiting....this was October-January, though.

Venice will be especially smelly and overcrowded, but it's certainly worth visiting. Take the ferry out to Murana, Burano, and the last one...forget the name (there is very little on this last one, excepting a few trees and one old cathedral) to see a less crowded part of the city. Burano, especially, has some good restaurants, if you like seafood.

yeah, and your plans sound fine, really. You're already considering the home base somewhere in Tuscany with a rental. pretty much perfect. I'd suggest a day for Sienna, a day for various other towns like San Gimingano, Arezzo, Assisi, Montalpuciano, and a few others whose name I can't quite remember...Oh, Lucca if you have the time. Give yourself at least 3 days in Florence if you can. You have to try and visit L'Academmia (Il David), the Museo del Duomo (has one of Michelangelo's pietas--actually my favorite one), the Uffizzi (Botticelli, Carravagio, as well as a Da Vinci and Michelangelo), The Armory--er, guild hall museum, forget what it is called--but it has Donatello's absurdly famous David, as well as a Bacchus by Michalangelo. And of course Santa Maria del Fiori, Santa Croce (for Michalangelo's bones and his amazing tomb--you'll also find Enrico Fermi and, I believe, Marconi there), San Lorenzo (first ever painting with perspective--Giotto), the Medici tombs (and still mroe Michelangelo, where he made the tombs, and you can even see scrawlings he made on the walls while he was working there, planning out various other pieces--basically, if you have a hard-on for Michelangelo, Florence will indulge that)....walk around old town, the Ponte Vecchio...it goes on and on.

basically, anyone that says there is too little to do and see, has never actually seen Florence. far more than what is in Rome, if you ask me

 

[DigDog]

@Indy - you don't need to put the smiley face, no italian gets offended for being told our way is screwed up - it is. And this is a major factor to consider when organizing visits.

@Fingo
quite simply, i don't know. The more rural, the better, i guess. The point being that, Tuscany is wonderful when you aren't looking for anything in particular. Any given restaurant there is going to have fantastic food, amazing steaks (bistecca alla fiorentina), great wine incredibly cheap, hotels will have affordable relax, any place you visit will have great architecture, be it a random monastery, any museum, and so forth; the whole region is mediaeval, you simply *cannot* avoid visiting ancient stuff, whether you try to or not.

You really would be committing a crime by going and not having a florentine t-bone steak.

Also, tuscans are pretty business-minded, i'm sure it's feasible to just go there and ask for a rentable accomodation, more so if you know anyone there.

Florence: Unless you're in to art, go see the countryside. Florence itself is a smog-filled shithole.

Not far from the truth. Sure it's lovely, but it's a city - it's far more inhospitable than any little town which sees much less business trade, prices are high, many businesses are designed to gouge tourists (it's not a joke);

and to be honest, i think that exploring a mountaint-top monastery is a much more fulfilling experience than seeing the great David while being herded through a corridor with a whole bunch of japanese tourists.

Think of TN. If your close friends came to visit, would you let them do the tourist thing, or show them "the real deal" ??

Ask around when you get there, it's the best way. There's plenty of english speaking retirees (not old people, just wine lovers) who know their way around. (they don't call it "chiantishire" for nothing)
Also in smaller towns people will be more approachable than in Florence, where ppl just won't give a f* about yet another tourist.

As for the specifics, i don't know. Any place might be as good as the next.
I sincerely doubt you can find a bad place in tuscany. If you google it, anything on the map between Firenze and Arezzo is ideal, as one side is mountainous, and you'll have more peace and better food.

 

[Murloc]

I've been there several times but only in the Grosseto province (part of the maremma).

If you stop by that area (too far from florence I guess), Pitigliano is definitely a place to see

Also there are the saturnia thermal baths, where you can also bathe for free in the river (there are hot water falls somewhere) if you don't want to pay.

If you can't find houses, agriturismi are a good idea. They're basically hotels but on the farm, they vary between very traditional to hotel-like. They often have stables so you can do some horse-riding.

 

[feralkid]

It only takes 2 days to see everything there is to see in Venice./QUOTE]



Don't believe a single word of this nonsense.

 

[feralkid]

Florence: Unless you're in to art, go see the countryside. Florence itself is a smog-filled shithole. .

Get a life,
Asino.