What's the best way to experience Tuscany? Take a tour or drive out on our own?

Question

How hard is it to take public transportation to the wineries from Florence? Recommend any sites?

Answer 1

If the cost of renting a car is not an issue, I'd strongly advise that you drive (or better yet, ride a bicycle!!)

Tuscany is a beautiful region of winding roads and hill towns.  Getting from small, picturesque village to the next by train would be difficult and many of the smallest, but most charming places are not easily accessible by train.  

If you want to do wine tasting in Tuscany, then you will certainly need to drive.  Many of the most elegant wines in the region will be made in vineyards that are located outside of towns.  They will be old family properties.  

If I could only visit two places in Tuscany (apart from Florence), I would go to Siena and San Giminiano.  Those two towns are, for me, the most delightful and typically Tuscan towns.  

And as for wine, the best thing to do is get a map of wineries from the tourist information in Siena or another town and just go and try them.  When you go out for dinner or lunch - get them to suggest some local wines.  And when you find one you like - go visit that winery too.  

There are so many vineyards, you can spend many wonderful hours just making your way slowly from village to village.

Enjoy!

Answer 2

Journeying on to Florence  through  the Tuscan  countryside: Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Arezzo and other delightful towns dot the road to Pisa where who are guested of the Agostini family Villa di Corliano. The family - and 2 resident ghosts - still welcome guest at the Villa, much as it they were at the height of its fame in the 1770’s.

The stay at Bagni di Pisa (health giving waters are still offered to an international clientele) and visit Pisa during one of the city’s festivals, staying at the Agostini Palace to enjoy the best view of the festivities http://www.provincia.pisa.it/pisalive/it...

The Villa has hosted many illustrious guests such as Gustavus III of Sweden, Christian II of Denmark, the Royal Family of Great Britain, Benedict Stuart Cardinal of York, General Murat, Luigi Buonaparte, Paolina Borghese, Carlo Alberto of Savoy, the poets Byron and Shelley, and various other personages from the history books.

The area of the Pisa hills was already an attraction for enlightened travellers in the first half of the 1700s with the growth of the thermal spa of San Giuliano, which became a fashionable spot for the well-off classes. The mansions on the road along the hills, already renowned as places of gentle idleness and relaxation in the heart of the countryside and also for their small industrial facilities for the transformation of agricultural products, soon assumed the characteristics of true leisure resorts, just like those narrated by Carlo Goldoni and which we can continue to enjoy today.

The Relais dell’ Ussero at the Villa Agostini della Seta di Corliano is on the road which runs along the foot of the hills from Pisa to Lucca, passing through the small town of San Giuliano Terme. The Villa is a historical fifteenth century mansion surrounded by a centuries old park. It is a property of great charm in which the owners offer, in 12 rooms and 2 suites, a relaxing stay immersed in the beauties of the local countryside.

Guests, if they like, can join in the day to day activities of the villa. They can have relaxing strolls in the park, potter around in the gardens, chat or have dinner with the owners in the farmhouse of the villa – today a high class restaurant http://www.ladycarlotta.it/

They can also organize all the necessary details for your meetings, convention, weddings at 1700’s small pivate church or at 1400’s sky garden or at the park of the Villa or at the oldest Italian cinema http://www.lumierecinema.it/ restructured with modern audio visual technologies on 2004 near the Vecchio Dado Resturant http://www.vecchiodado.com/ and the Caffè dell’Ussero (founded on 1775). Last but not least for a very good ice cream at the old “diacciaia” (now De Coltelli gelateria) http://www.decoltelli.it/



Relais dell’Ussero a

VILLA di CORLIANO

Residenza d’epoca - Historical House Hospitality

http://www.ussero.com



last but not least … legend has it that in the Villa della Seta at Corliano along the road running at the foot of the mount between Pisa and Lucca, there still moves the apparition of Teresa della Seta Bocca Gaetani, of famed beauty, descendant of an ancient Pisan family and given in marriage, in 1755, to the Count Cosimo Baldassarre Agostini. It seems that the noblewoman appears every now and then in the rooms of the mansion, moving tapestries and ornaments. Other times she has been known to slam doors and open windows. Some of the local peasants recall her arriving on certain nights by the light of the full moon. She appears on the drive of the park leading a coach and six, and then stops on the bend of the Ragnaia (“Cobweb corner”, so-called from the old name for the nets that hunters formerly used in the woods to capture small birds) to cast a glance towards the home where she once lived happily. The ghost, obviously of good nature, has been heard other times hurrying along and giggling in the underground passages of the villa, beneath the large wine cellars. The years go by and stories are told and retold, and there are still those who recall the evening in which there was the sound of an almighty clatter as one of the crystal chandeliers of the hall crashed to the floor. Those present dashed to the hall, only to discover on arriving there, that the chandelier was very much in its place. And still today odd episodes occur …

Answer 3

A little bit of both. I always drive from city to city, but when we get to our "albergo", we contact concierges about possible tours.  Check with the concierge about public transport.

Answer 4

I found that many of the wineries were really out in the middle of nowhere.  My husband and I drove and will be doing the same on our second trip.

Answer 5

You really need a car in Tuscany.  Train transportation is very good but with obvious limitations.  I don't like tours and being stuck with what somebody else chooses.  

Wineries are located far from train stations, between towns.  Having a car will permit you to visit not only wineries but also the great olive, cheese, and specialty produce places.  And market days in the smaller towns are not to be missed.

Check out Parker Villas.com   There was much information.  We stayed in a "villa" really a house in the small hill top town of Montefollonico -- which was lovely and quiet and we had many great day trip outings. Montepulciano was much bigger, more shopping, more hotels, and an internet cafe.  So many good choices.  You are bound to have a great time.  

http://www.montefollonico.it/

http://www.montepulciano.com/index.eng.p...