In Tuscany

It is not surprising that Tuscany is the area that tourists and expats flock to. It hosts many of the famous towns (Florence, Siena, Pisa, Lucca, San Gimignano) that feature on many travel itineraries, as well as beautiful varied countryside from high hills down to the sea. There is also a lot of industry in this area so it is a wealthy province, as you suddenly notice when you head over the border south and the roads instantly crumble!

The larger towns can be explored easily using the good – and cheap - train connections. Indeed, having a car is a liability in these places as, apart from the traffic chaos, finding a park is near impossible. Which might explain why so many have small cars that seem to be abandoned on corners, median strips, and across pedestrian crossings!  But to sample the countryside and see the smaller villages a car is a must, so we duly picked up our Fiat 500L (“L” must be for “Large” or “Long” as though it looked like a Fiat 500 from the front, it had room for five adults and bags – more family estate size). 

Using our Google maps on the phone (better than piles of maps, but a satnav would have been MUCH easier!) we steered south to the wonderfully-named Poggibonsi.  Though the name was the best thing going for it, our accommodation was up in the hills nearby with glorious views across the countryside of olive groves and vines and ploughed fields.  The swimming pool was very inviting too, but all pools we have come across here are unheated and it was getting a bit chilly by this time of year.

When checking the rooms Vicki discovered a snake which promptly stopped sunning itself and slithered out the window of Joan and Julie’s bedroom. We decided it best not to tell them until we were leaving! Also on the “cons” side was the number of mozzies, but then we seem to have had them everywhere we have been in Italy and have been bitten virtually every day. But on the positive side the other wildlife here was a red squirrel that kept up its hunt for acorns in the trees on the property, promptly hiding them in all sorts of nooks and crannies for trees to start sprouting later.

The nearest town of note is San Gimignano, photogenically built on top of a hill and featuring 14 remaining tall brick towers. Unfortunately we weren’t the first tourists to “discover” it as we had to drive around and around the base of the town looking for a space in one of the many public car-parking areas. With all the tourists there is money so the town was well cared-for and has expansive views.  Unfortunately the town itself is best viewed from afar and it is difficult to find a good place to photograph it from.

Detail of a foyer ceiling outside a bank

The other well-known destination nearby is Siena. Driving there on the auto route was not pleasant as the lanes are quite narrow and the road surface in poor condition. Surprisingly the speed limit is only 90 kmh and, more surprisingly, most people kept to it. Siena is large but we had no trouble getting a park near the entrance to the “Centro Storico”.   Like Florence there 

were flocks of tourists and expensive shops, with most people congregating at the Piazza del Campo, the large central square famous for the twice-yearly horse race, the Palio di Siena. You may remember it as the backdrop to a scene in Casino Royale. On the day we visited there was a less exciting human running race starting. We did have a “wow” moment when climbing the steps at the back on the Cathedral thinking “this looks quite good” and then walking around to see the front – it is truly amazing. Built in 1380 it intended to be the largest cathedral in the world before the money ran out.

Time for the beach

You can only be a tourist for so many days in a row, so it was off to the seaside for us. The drive across Tuscany to the sea is fabulous but you do wonder at the wisdom of a steep climb up numerous hairpins so that the road can go through one important town and then back down the other side – a prime case for a bypass to be built, though I am sure that the local business people would put a stop to that. There are many good beaches on this western coast, but finding one on a hot Sunday afternoon with a free carpark was a real challenge. The sand was white(ish), the sea was warm(ish), there was plenty of room, only a few hawkers selling rubbish to bored kids and parents – not a bad spot for some R&R.

Ancient historic masterpiece ...

Passing through a small village in the hills we noticed the gathering of many Italian classic cars outside a bar. Numerous immaculate Fiat Bambinas and Alfas. More Italian historic treasures!

Vicki had a deja-vu moment while in Tuscany. We had driven up a hill past a village and I had got her to stop so I could hop out and take a photo. No one else was particularly interested in the scene so I wandered past a carpark and what looked like a social club for elderly gents and took this photo. A few days later when I was processing it Vicki saw it on my screen and recognised it immediately. A few years ago friends of ours, Glen and Irene, had been given an image of an Italian town that they asked Vicki to “fix up” so that they could print it and hang it on their wall. The image was taken from exactly the same location and we can now confirm that the town is Colle Val D’Elsa.

So our final thoughts on Tuscany just confirm what all the tourist guides say – it contains many of the pretty historic towns and cities, all set in picturesque countryside.  A beautiful area to explore by car.