Tuscany

Tuscany Tuscany offers you holiday packages: villas and small farmhouses in Tuscany near Cortona and other places.

Toscana guidebook

A Tuscan tour of the best Tuscan establishments, dining, bars, stores and tourist sites selected by our experts. So why is Tuscany so loved? Having travelled all over Italy for over 30 years, I believe I am approaching an answer. Well, I think it's a good idea. It is the roots of everything in Tuscany - albeit not in an elite way.

Refined Florentine excellence can be found in a 50 pound Brunello di Montalcino riskerva but also in one of the many free delights of the area, from the picturesque countryside to a bath in an old rock pool filled with a warm fountain under a hilltop masonry.

Tuscany on a reasonable price. How to travel

The Tuscany has an expensive reputation. It is possible to have four dishes, rinse it off with a Brunello di Montalcino from 50 and then ascend the Leaning Tower of Pisa (17 ? for half an hour). However, it is not the only way to see Tuscany, and the less expensive option does not have to "get you off the well-trodden paths " in quest of "undiscovered gems" and all the other clichés.

But Florence is a good basis for the cost-conscious. There is even a shortlist from the tourism board, "Firenze a Costa Zero", if you have no money at all. Plus Florence Youth Hotel (+39 055 628 6347, Plus Florence hostels. com/plusflorence, rooms with bathrooms from 45) has facilities that would make a hotel fourfold more expensive, with a new open-air swimming and Turkish baths among them.

Through the Nazionale, Via XXVII Aprile, Piazza dell'Unità Italiana, Via del Scala and Via Por Santa Maria können alle laut sein. To eat, you should avoid the roads between Piazza Signoria and Piazza del Duomo, except Le Mossacce (+39 055 294361, triangularemossacce. it), a rude place that offers speczatino (veal stew) for 9 euros per dish.

Also I like Da Rocco (lunch only), inside the Mercato Sant'Ambrogio. Transitory exhibition Americans in Florence: I' m also browsing the fleamarket in Piazza Ciompi; the last I was there, I took a handful of antique cards and some fashion jewelry for less than 10 euros. The night ends with a free concerts in Santa Maria de' Ricci (Via del Corso, +39 055 215044) or something extravagant in Le Murate (Piazza del Murate, lemurate.it).

Luckily, the most popular Tuscany' s vineyard, Chiantigiana, is also a coach line. From Florence to Panzano it is a picturesque moment - take the coach from Florence to Gaiole, via Greve and Radda. Walk up to the old town to the Accademia del Buon Gusto (Piazza Ricasoli 11, +39 055 856 0159, accredited by com), an enotheque where tastings are "non-binding".

Take the coach back to Greve, the "capital" of Chianti, to visit the triangle square and one or two wine shops. On workdays the last coach back to Florence departs at 8 pm, on Saturdays at 5 pm, but on Sundays forgetting about. Tuscany's main streets are clearly visible, but difficult because San Gimignano in the Middle Ages is a major attraction for tourists.

The best thing to do is to move your bases to Siena. Coming from Florence to Siena (8 ) is faster than the railway. Avoid a guided trip to San Gim from Siena. The Contemporary Galleria Continua (+39 0577 943134, galleriacontinua.com) is free, with an exhibition by Antony Gormley until August 20. Better, the Piazza del Duomo 1, +39 0577 940008, sell a walking card for 8 and you can lead yourself.

Usually I dine in the small, inconspicuous Chiribiri (Piazza Madonna 1, +39 0577 941948), because the classic food in Tuscany costs about 3 less than anywhere else in the city, and it is open all morning, 11 to 11, so when I am with my kids, they are eating at their regular hours. In San Gimignano, it' s difficult to find proper, inexpensive rooms, so take a coach back to Siena.

Alma Domus (Via Camporegio 37, +39 0577 44177, hotelalmadomus. it, double room from 66 B&B) is my first name. Please book a room with a panoramic location. In order to find a place with style, you need to expand your budgets, for example to Antica Residenza Cícogna (Via dei Termini 67, +39 0577 285613, antiquearesidenzacicogna. it, double room from ?87 B&B).

Siena' s best free arts are in the Archivio di Stato (Via Banchi di Sotto 52, +39 0577 247145). The interior contains the Cave of the Bicycle, mediaeval wood ceilings (for the bourgeois reports) designed by the great painters of Siena. The Grandpa Si Pass (operaduomo.siena. it) offers you half the entrance fee of 12 to all works of artwork around the Cathedral Square, incl. the Facciatone, for a better (and cheaper) panorama than the Torre del Mangia des Campo.

After Palazzo Pubblico in Gino Cacino (Piazza del Mercato 31, +39 0577 223076, it) Gino invites a strong role with pepperoni and sheep cheeses pickled in extra virgin Olio for about 4 ?. Take a pleasant supper in La Chiacchera (Costa di San Antonio 4, +39 0577 280631, east ahiacchera. it), where there is no road over 9 . There is a coach that connects Siena with Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano, but it is gradual and irregular, so you need a vehicle to discover this picturesque piece of Tuscany.

The Pienza Cathedral, a Renaissance Austro-Hungarian cathedral whose Siena altar pictures are located where they were placed by Pope Pius II (most in Tuscany are housed in museums), and the honey-coloured Travertin Collegiata in San Quirico are well worth a visit. There is also a free visit to one of Italy's best canteens, Poggio Antico in Montalcino (+39 0577 848044, Poggio Antico. com), in English.

Please contact the Montalcino Municipio Tourism Board (Costa del Municipio 1, +39 0577 849331, provocomontalcino. it) to verify the itinerary. To the north of here is my favorite accommodation in Tuscany Vizi Ottavo (+39 334 587 4174, aviziottavo. com, B&B twin room from 70) in oversleep Castiglion Fiorentino, whose rooms are dedicated to the seven mortal sin.