Tuscany seems to be everyone's favourite holiday spot these days, and all the world knows Florence, Siena, Pisa, even tiny San Gimignano, with its 13 medieval towers. Michael and Jean Webb toured Tuscany in September 2005 and visited three towns in particular: San Gimignano, Siena and Panzano. The spectacular scenery, charming accommodation and mouth-watering food and wine made a wonderful holiday that they would recommend to anyone. Their report below details their journey.
If you would like to follow in their footsteps, please call us on 0121 250 2211 or 0845 086 9710; we will tailor make a holiday to suit you.

Airport
Coventry airport was small but pleasant with a magazine shop and a coffee and sandwich shop. However, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to Coventry airport, as it may take longer than you think. Beware when packing as they are very strict on baggage allowance!

Flight
We flew from Coventry to Pisa with Thomson Fly, which was perfectly satisfactory for a two hour no frills flight.

Pisa to San Gimignano Our car hire was from Europhire, which have plastic cards rather than keys for the ignition. From Pisa we took the main road towards Florence (Firenze), exited at Empoli junction and took the Siena road to Poggibonsi where San Gimignano is sign posted. This journey took about 1½ hours.

First Stop
San Gimignano
San Gimignano is a delightful medieval, walled town with distinctive soaring towers. As the town is situated on a hill the views of the surrounding countryside are spectacular. Cars are generally not allowed within the walls (except for dropping off luggage or if you are disabled). However, there are several car parks just outside the city walls with a bus running to the centre every half an hour. Car parking costs between 5 and 20 Euros per day.

There are dozens of little shops selling ceramics, wine, olive oil, silver plus a range of museums and art galleries to visit. Restaurants serve local food accompanied by a wide range of Chianti wines and prices are quite reasonable. Thursday is market day in the square and leather goods are excellent value.

San Gimignano is quite a tourist attraction so before May and after October it is quieter with still very pleasant weather.

Hotel Ciserna
We stayed at the Hotel Ciserna, which is a perfectly satisfactory three star hotel at the top of San Gimignano overlooking the town square. The location is ideal, within easy reach of restaurants, shops, museums etc. The hotel restaurant is OK for dinner and average for breakfast, but the views make up for any shortcomings here. The cost was around 122 Euros, which included buffet breakfast, taxes and service.

We recommend the Dorando restaurant, which is just off the main square. It had good food, service and ambiance.

Overall San Gimignano was pretty good value for money, especially considering it is so popular.

Second Stop
Siena
Siena is a fascinating medieval, walled city. The areas of interest are on different levels, so there are lots of steep hills and steps. Parking is impossible, so it is advisable to stay within the city or, if travelling from the outside, take a taxi.

Sightseeing
Piazza del Campo – a shell-shaped 12th Century piazza sporting an elaborate marble basin with fountain and statues. In this piazza are:
The Torre del Mangia – the second highest bell tower in Italy with spectacular views across Tuscany, but only after climbing 505 steps!
The Palazzio Publico - this still serves as the town hall. The walls are covered in beautiful frescos depicting various historical events.

Piazza de Duomo – Sienda Duomo is one of the most spectacular cathedrals in Italy with huge black and white marble pillars supporting the vault. The inlaid marble floor shows scenes of the Massacre of the Innocents, medieval astrology and alchemy, alongside endless frescos. There is literally not an inch unadorned.

The Siena Palio - on 2nd July and 16th August each year bareback horse races take place around the edge of the Piazza del Campo. The winner, awarded a ‘Palio’ (banner), then celebrates all year until the next race. Thousands of onlookers bet heavily, cheering on their heroes who represent 17 districts in this spectacle that last just 90 seconds!

Hotel
We stayed just outside the city at a Relais & Chateaux, the Certosa di Maggiano which should have been the highlight of our trip. The rooms were decent, the setting was very peaceful with a swimming pool, beauty salon and extensive grounds (not well kept) but unfortunately the food in the restaurant was pretentious and poor.

Consequently, we felt it was not worth the 350 Euros per night. It would have been better, with hindsight, to stay in the city where we could have walked to all of the attractions and restaurants.

We recommend you try La Taverna di San Giuseppe. It has great food, service and atmosphere and is typically Tuscan.

Third Stop
Panzano in Chianti
Situated about 20 miles south of Florence, Panzano is a very small village, ideal for exploring the Chianti area and, indeed, convenient for day visits to Florence.

Hotel – Le Villa de Barone
We stayed in Le Villa de Barone, a delightful family owned small hotel nestling on a vine and olive clad hillside. It deserves to be 4 Star, but has decided not to have TVs in bedrooms. The villa is a haven of peace from which to explore the region. Breakfast on the patio, surrounded by trees and flowers, and dine in the restaurant where the food is typically Tuscan (the antipasto table provides the perfect starter to any meal). The “on trust” bar gives an idea of the atmosphere of le Barone.
Cost - 270 Euros per night covers accommodation, breakfast, dinner, taxes and service, which is somewhat better value than the Relais Hotel in Siena. Do give this one a try, people go back year after year, understandably so.

Various tours can be organised by Le Villa. However, be aware, as these can be expensive (Euro 300+ per day). Certainly a guide is useful for some excursions, say, Florence, but others can be easily sorted out by yourself.

Do visit a local vineyard such as Castello di Verrazzano. Here an excellent tour of the cellars culminates in an equally delightful lunch accompanied by a selection of the wines produced there.

See how Grappa is produced just around the corner, again sampling is encouraged.

Don’t miss Villa Collegalle where Chianti and balsamic vinegar are produced. We were not too keen at the sound of a “vinegar tasting”, but 35-year-old Balsamic is pure nectar and a totally different product from that sold in supermarkets. Lunch can also be organised here.

Summary
In Tuscany the scenery is spectacular and the food and wine excellent and good value. It’s not a long journey and the weather tends to be fine, at least from May to October. Tuscany has so many secret treasures that we really recommend you spend at least a week or two exploring.