Tuscany Travel Guide: Florence, Hill Towns and Wine Country
We lived in Florence for a year, and Tuscany is still the region we return to more than any other in Italy. A year based in one city is enough time to stop treating it like a checklist and start treating it like home, and that's how we approach this guide. Florence gets you started, but the hill towns, the wine country, and the hot springs scattered through the countryside are just as much a part of what makes this region what it is.
This page pulls together everything we've written about Tuscany in one place, organized by area, so you can build a trip around whichever version of the region you're after.
Florence
Where We Lived
Florence was our home base for a full year, and it's still the city we recommend starting with if this is your first trip to Tuscany. Renaissance art, a walkable historic center, and some of the best food in Italy, all within a city small enough to actually get to know.
Read our full Florence guide →
Hill Towns and Wine Country
Walled Villages You Need a Car to Reach
Outside Florence, Tuscany turns into a string of small walled towns, most of them on a hill, most of them not accessible by train. You need a car, or a tour that provides one, but the payoff is one main street, one castle or piazza at the top, and some of the best wine tasting in Italy. Montepulciano is our favorite of these. Cortona is where our own Tuscany story actually started.
San Gimignano, Montalcino, and Greve in Chianti guides are coming soon.
Siena and Lucca
The Hill Towns You Can Actually Reach by Train
Unlike most of the villages above, Siena and Lucca are both accessible directly by train from Florence, which makes them easier to work into a trip if you're not renting a car. Siena rivals Florence for Renaissance art and has its own dramatic piazza. Lucca is a true walled city you can walk the entire perimeter of, and it has a personality all its own.
Siena and Lucca guides are coming soon.
Pisa and the Coast
The Coast Near Pisa
Most people come to Pisa for the tower and leave within the hour, but the Tuscan coast nearby, including beach towns like Viareggio, is worth its own stop, especially if you're used to thinking of Tuscany as a landlocked, hill-town kind of place.
Pisa and Tuscan beach guides are coming soon.
Natural Hot Springs
Saturnia, Petriolo, and Soaking in the Countryside
Tuscany has some of the best natural hot springs in Italy, from the milky, terraced pools at Saturnia to the free, wild river springs at Petriolo. Both are worth planning a day, or a whole stay, around.
Our Tuscany hot springs guide is coming soon.
Where to Eat: The World's Most Famous Butcher
Dario Cecchini in Panzano
Just outside Chianti in the village of Panzano is Antica Macelleria Cecchini, run by Dario Cecchini, one of the most famous butchers in the world. It's a communal, all-meat, multi-course dinner for around 50 euro, and if you eat red meat, it's one of the best meals you can plan into a Tuscany trip.
Our full write-up on this one is coming soon.
Know Before You Go: Tuscany
Best time to visit:
Spring and fall bring mild weather and fewer crowds. Summer is hot, especially inland, and the hill towns get busy. December is worth planning around if you want Christmas markets in towns like Montepulciano.
Getting around:
Most of the hill towns in Tuscany are not on a train line, so a rental car is close to essential if you want to see more than Florence, Siena, Lucca, or Pisa. Roads between towns are easy to drive but slower than they look on a map, since they wind through hills and vineyards.
Where to base yourself:
Florence works well if you want a city base with easy day trips. A countryside villa or agriturismo works better if you're prioritizing the hill towns and wine country and don't mind driving in each day.
What to pack:
Comfortable, sturdy shoes. Nearly every hill town in this region is cobblestone, uneven, and built on an incline.
Travel tip:
Most of these towns are best experienced slowly, a day here, a day there, rather than rushed through on a single loop. Give yourself more time than you think you need.
