Montepulciano
Indice
Surely, the image that comes to your mind when you think of this area of Italy is an idyllic picture of green hills and rows of cypress trees. And so it is. What most people don’t know is that Tuscany also encompasses 397 km of coastline.
Yes, there are trains and buses to move between the main towns and cities, but it’s not your thing. You can’t ask the bus driver to stop in the middle of nowhere to take a picture of some hills with cypress trees… you can ask your boyfriend to stop, even if he grumbles in Aramaic because you have stopped 3 million times.
Car rental tips: I always, always, always book rental cars in advance. It saves me time at the destination and saves me from surprises such as there being none available that day.
By the way, despite everything your friends tell you about Italian driving and their madness behind the wheel, in this part of Italy they drive decently. They don’t cross traffic circles in the middle, nor do they overtake on the shoulder (a priori), so relax.
Well, the locations of the mythical photos you have seen on all sides of cypress trees, hills, Renaissance chapels and beautiful mansions, are all in the same area, the road from Montepulciano to Montalcino.
Tuscany route by car
Start by visiting the Piazza del Duomo, a fascinating place, where you can discover the Duomo di San Gimignano, I recommend you to go inside. In addition, visit the Torre Grossa and the Civic Museum and the Museum of Torture, with some very interesting exhibitions.
You can start by visiting the Piazza Grande, as well as visiting the interior of the Fortezza Medicea, the Duomo San Donato with its incredible architecture and the 14th century Teatro Petrarca.
In addition, I recommend this guided tour of the Uffizi Gallery, including priority entrance to the gallery and a guide who will explain the most popular works of art of the Renaissance, from artists as prestigious as Botticelli or Da Vinci, you will discover very interesting facts!
Siena is known for its exquisite gastronomy, how about tasting its most typical dishes? With this Gastronomic Tour of Siena, you can fall in love with its flavors, for a very affordable price you can enjoy 4 stops with a food and wine tasting, a pleasure for your palate!
Greve in chianti
Etruscans, Romans, Medici, Renaissance, Brunelleschi, Giotto, Galileo, the Palio, Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Michelangelo, …there are enough words to list just some of the symbols and geniuses of Tuscany.
But in addition to a nature and a landscape that have attracted poets, writers, Tuscany has nurtured geniuses of painting, sculpture, architecture, literature under the protective wings of the patrons par excellence of the Renaissance, the Medici.
Gastronomically, even if we are less familiar with the sweet Panforte and Chianti Denomination of Origin wines, they are no less virtuous. They enjoy a well-deserved reputation and have a specialized route, although they are not the best Tuscan wines.
Florence is the center of attention, but we cannot forget Siena and Pisa, rivals in Tuscany’s economic and political past. And what about Lucca, Pistoia, Volterra, San Gimignano, Livorno, Carrara… A thousand and one routes to get lost under the Tuscan sun. For more information you can visit the Tuscany travel website.
Siena
Currently to travel to Italy they only make two requirements if you are vaccinated: to have the complete vaccination schedule (with booster) and fill out the traveler’s tracking form (dPLF, here I leave the web). The final dose must have been administered at least 14 days before the departure of your flight. If you are not vaccinating, present a negative PCR test 72 hours before your entry to Italy or antigen test 48 hours before (this is March 2022, you know how this changes).
– Florence- Agroturismo Cignan Rosso, Castellina in Chianti ( 62 km), We drove along the well known Strada Regionale 222, the winding and beautiful road from Florence to Siena. We passed through Montefioralle, Greve in Chianti and Castellina in Chianti. This agritourism has been our base for 3 days to visit more places in the area such as Siena, San Gigminiano, Volterra or Monterriggioni.
As you can see the distances to move around the area are not very long and do not exceed 1 hour and a half by car. Compared to my trip in motorhome in Germany or when we traveled to Slovenia crossing by car all the north of Italy, this is going to be a piece of cake.