Tuscany

Overview

Tuscany is the Italy of the postcards: cypress-lined lanes, stone hill towns, vineyards and olive groves. It is also a working region of about 3.6 million people, with industrial outskirts and summer crowds in the famous towns. Choose a base or two and move slowly.

Think of it in three parts. The cities (Siena, Lucca, Pisa, Arezzo) are easy by train and bus. The wine country (Chianti between Florence and Siena, Montalcino and Montepulciano farther south) and the Val d'Orcia landscape need a car or a tour. And the coast and Maremma to the west and south are for beaches, hot springs and fewer Americans. Florence has its own page.

Choosing a base

Most people do best with two bases rather than moving every night.

• Without a car: Florence plus Siena or Lucca. Both have good bus and train links and plenty to see on foot.
• With a car: a few car-free nights in Florence, then 3–5 nights in an agriturismo (working farm with rooms) in Chianti or the Val d'Orcia.
• Short on time: Siena is the best single base, lovely after the day-trippers leave, with buses to San Gimignano, Montalcino and Montepulciano.

Siena

Siena, about 45 miles (75 km) south of Florence, was Florence's great medieval rival, and it still looks it: a Gothic brick city on three ridges, built around the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo. Day-trippers fill it from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Stay a night and you see the Campo empty in the early morning and full of Sienese at night.

The Duomo complex

Siena's black-and-white striped cathedral has a pulpit by Nicola Pisano, Pinturicchio's vivid frescoes in the Piccolomini Library, and a floor of inlaid marble scenes made over two centuries, usually kept covered and shown only part of the year. In 2026 it is uncovered from June 27 to July 31 and from August 18 to November 15, so if you are visiting in the next few weeks, you will see it.

During the uncovering, prices from the Opera del Duomo are:

Book at operaduomo.siena.it. Prices drop when the floor is covered. Porta del Cielo rooftop visits run in small timed groups, so reserve those ahead. Climb the Facciatone, the unfinished wall of a vast new cathedral abandoned after the Black Death, for the best view of the city.

Piazza del Campo and the Palazzo Pubblico

The town hall on the Campo houses the Museo Civico, with Ambrogio Lorenzetti's fresco cycle on good and bad government, painted in the 1330s and still pointed. The Torre del Mangia beside it is about 400 steps; visits are in small timed groups and the tower can close in bad weather. Santa Maria della Scala, a medieval hospital across from the cathedral, is now a museum with remarkable frescoes of hospital life.

The Palio

The Palio is a bareback horse race around the Campo, run every year on July 2 and August 16. Ten of the city's seventeen contrade (neighborhoods with their own colors, churches and fierce loyalties) compete each time. The race lasts about 90 seconds; the pageantry, trial runs and celebrations fill several days. Standing in the center of the Campo is free but packed and hot, with no way out for hours. Seats on the stands and balconies are sold privately and cost a lot. See festivals.

Getting to Siena

From Florence, the bus is usually better than the train. Autolinee Toscane's express buses leave from the bus station beside Santa Maria Novella and drop you in the center at Piazza Gramsci, in about 1 hr 15 min. The train takes about 1 hr 30 min, sometimes with a change at Empoli, and Siena's station is at the bottom of the hill; a series of escalators and city buses bring you up into town. Both cost under €10 (about $11) one way; check current fares on the operator's site. Siena's center is a ZTL, like Florence's.

San Gimignano, Monteriggioni and Volterra

San Gimignano is the "medieval Manhattan": a walled hill town that once had dozens of family towers and still has more than a dozen. It is beautiful and, in the middle of the day, overwhelmed. Arrive before 10 a.m. or after 5 p.m., or better, stay a night. Climb the Torre Grosa in the town hall for the view, try the local white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, and look for the gelato shops on Piazza della Cisterna. By public transport, take a train or bus to Poggibonsi and a local bus up the hill (about 25 minutes).

Monteriggioni, a tiny walled ring just north of Siena, is a 30-minute stop on the Siena–Florence drive. Volterra, on a high bluff to the west, has Etruscan gates, a Roman theater, alabaster workshops and the excellent Guarnacci Etruscan museum. It is hard to reach without a car.

Chianti

Chianti is the hilly wine country between Florence and Siena. The Chianti Classico zone, marked by the black rooster (gallo nero) on the bottle's neck, centers on the villages of Greve, Panzano, Castellina, Radda and Gaiole. The scenic road through it is the SR222, the Chiantigiana, which runs from Florence to Siena in about 1 hr 30 min without stops; plan a full day with stops.

Book winery visits ahead, even small family estates; many are working farms with no one free to show you around unannounced. Tours with a tasting are priced per person and range from modest at small producers to restaurant prices at famous estates with lunch. See wine.

The Val d'Orcia, Montalcino and Montepulciano

South of Siena, the Val d'Orcia is the landscape on the calendars: bare rolling hills, lines of cypresses, lone farmhouses. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it is best seen at dawn or in late afternoon light, in May for green fields or October for plowed earth and the wine harvest's end. You need a car or a guided tour; buses exist but are infrequent.

Distances are small (Montalcino to Pienza is about 15 miles/25 km, Pienza to Montepulciano about 8 miles/13 km), but roads wind and you'll stop constantly. To the east are Cortona, of Under the Tuscan Sun fame, and Arezzo, with Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross frescoes (timed booking), about an hour from Florence by train.

Lucca and Pisa

Lucca

Lucca is flat, elegant and ringed by Renaissance walls topped with a tree-lined promenade about 2.6 miles (4.2 km) around. Rent a bike for the walls, then see the oval Piazza dell'Anfiteatro (on the footprint of the Roman arena), the Guinigi Tower with oak trees on top, and San Michele. Puccini was born here, and there are Puccini concerts most evenings. Regional trains from Florence take about 1 hr 20 min.

Every year around the end of October and start of November, Lucca Comics & Games takes over the whole town, one of the largest comics festivals in the world. Hotels fill a year ahead; check the dates if you are traveling then.

Pisa and the Leaning Tower

Pisa's Piazza dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) sets the cathedral, the round Baptistery, the Camposanto cemetery and the leaning bell tower on one lawn. Most visitors give it two hours, which is fine, though the old center along the Arno is pleasant and very local.

Climbing the tower takes about 30 minutes, 251 steps up a worn spiral. Rules from the Opera della Primaziale Pisana:

• Book online at opapisa.it, up to 90 days ahead. Tickets are timed, and if you are late you lose your slot without a refund.
• Children who will not have turned 8 by the end of the current year cannot climb. Under-18s must be with an adult, and staff may check ID.
• Bags, including small purses, go into the cloakroom before the climb. Large suitcases are not allowed in the complex.
• Any ticket includes free entry to the cathedral, which is not tied to a time slot.

Tower tickets have been around €20 (about $22); combination tickets for the Baptistery, Camposanto and museum are sold separately. Check the official price page before you buy. The Pisa San Rossore station is the closest to the tower; from Pisa Centrale it is about a 25-minute walk. Pisa's airport is linked to Pisa Centrale by the PisaMover shuttle in about 5 minutes, which makes Pisa an easy first or last stop.

The coast, Maremma and islands

The Tuscan coast is where Florentines go in summer. Viareggio and Forte dei Marmi have long rows of stabilimenti (beach clubs that rent loungers and umbrellas by the day). The Maremma in the south is wilder, with the Parco della Maremma's beaches, the tuff towns of Pitigliano and Sorano, and the free hot-spring cascades at Saturnia. Elba, Napoleon's first place of exile, is about an hour by ferry from Piombino; book car space well ahead for August. For the Cinque Terre, just over the border in Liguria, see Cinque Terre, and for beach basics, outdoors.

Getting around

Trains

Trenitalia regional trains link Florence with Pisa (about an hour), Lucca, Arezzo and Siena, at fixed fares you can buy on the day. Validate paper regional tickets in the platform machine before boarding. San Gimignano, Montalcino and Pienza have no station.

Buses: Autolinee Toscane and Tiemme

Since 2021, regional and city buses across Tuscany have been run by a single company, Autolinee Toscane (at), which took over the routes of older local operators. You'll still see older names in guidebooks and occasionally on stops, such as Tiemme around Siena, Arezzo and Grosseto and Busitalia around Florence; the routes now belong to the at network. Check timetables and fares at at-bus.it or in the at bus app.

• Contactless: you can tap a bank card or phone on the reader when you board. On urban buses tap once. On intercity and express buses tap when you get on and when you get off; if you forget the second tap, you are charged the maximum fare to the end of the line.
• Schedules thin out on Sundays and holidays, and some rural routes run mainly for schoolchildren. Check the return bus before you go.
• Useful routes: Florence–Siena express, Florence–Greve, Siena–Montalcino, Siena–Montepulciano and Poggibonsi–San Gimignano.

Driving

For the countryside, a car makes all the difference. Rent from Florence or Pisa airport, not the city center, to avoid the ZTL. Every town, even small ones, has a ZTL with cameras: park in the signed lots outside the walls and walk in. Blue lines mean paid parking, white lines usually mean free, and yellow lines are for residents or permit holders. The speed limit on the autostrada is 130 km/h (81 mph); the toll-free Florence–Siena expressway is slower and has speed cameras. US drivers need an International Driving Permit along with their license. See driving in Italy.

Where to stay

Most Tuscan towns charge a tourist tax, typically a few euros per person per night, collected at checkout. Florence's is the highest in the region (see Florence).

Sample routes

Five days without a car

1. Day 1

   Florence to Siena

   Morning express bus from Florence to Siena. Afternoon in the Duomo complex with the OPA SI Pass; climb the Facciatone. Aperitivo on the Campo.

2. Day 2

   Siena

   Museo Civico and the Torre del Mangia early, Santa Maria della Scala, and the rest of the Duomo pass. Evening walk through the contrade.

3. Day 3

   Montalcino or Montepulciano

   Bus from Siena to Montalcino for Brunello tastings in town (or to Montepulciano for its cellars). Check the return bus first.

4. Day 4

   San Gimignano

   Bus via Poggibonsi. Arrive early, climb the Torre Grosa, lunch, and leave before the late-afternoon return buses fill. Continue to Florence or back to Siena.

5. Day 5

   Lucca and Pisa

   Train from Florence to Lucca, bike the walls, then on to Pisa for an afternoon tower slot. Fly out of Pisa or return to Florence.

Seven days with a car

1. Day 1

   Into Chianti

   Pick up the car at Florence airport. Drive the SR222 through Greve and Panzano to your agriturismo. Dinner at the farm.

2. Day 2

   Chianti wineries

   A morning tasting at Castello di Brolio or another estate, lunch in Radda, an afternoon visit to Castellina.

3. Day 3

   Siena

   Park outside the walls and spend the day in Siena. Back to the farm for dinner.

4. Day 4

   San Gimignano and Volterra

   San Gimignano at opening, then the drive west to Volterra for the Etruscan museum and sunset from the walls.

5. Day 5

   To the Val d'Orcia

   Drive south via Monteriggioni and Montalcino. Check into a farm stay near Pienza.

6. Day 6

   Pienza, Bagno Vignoni and Montepulciano

   Dawn photos near San Quirico and the Vitaleta chapel, pecorino in Pienza, a soak at a spa or the springs at Bagni San Filippo, cellars in Montepulciano.

7. Day 7

   Onward

   Continue to Umbria (Orvieto is about an hour from Montepulciano), or drive to Chiusi and take the train to Rome or Florence.

What trips people up

• Trying to see Siena, San Gimignano and Chianti in one day from Florence. Tour buses do it; you'll see the inside of the bus. Pick one or two.
• Afternoon closures. Shops and many wineries in small towns close from about 1 to 4 p.m. Plan lunch, not errands.
• Heat. July and August highs inland often top 95°F (35°C). Do sights early, rest after lunch. See health.
• Fake "Chianti" tours. Check that a tour actually visits wineries in the Chianti Classico zone and how many tastings are included.
• Palio days. Book Siena rooms months ahead for July 2 and August 16, or avoid the city those days.

For more on timing, see when to go; for routes that combine Tuscany with Rome and Venice, see planning your trip.