Enchanting hilltop villages
Why go on holiday to Tuscany?
For wonderful art and architecture, beautiful sun-baked fields of vineyards and olive groves, stunning historic cities and enchanting medieval hilltop villages.
How much does it cost?
If you're lucky, you could get a budget flights to Pisa for less than £100. Fares to Florence are more likely to start at around £120. Expect to pay at least £30 a night for a room in a three-star hotel and more in Florence.
A seven-night self-drive village holiday package, including ferry crossing for up to five people with apartment accommodation, costs from £350 at the time of writing. Fly-drive breaks are popular - expect to pay nearer £600 for a week.
When should I go?
July and August are great for sun-seekers, with hot, dry weather and highs above 30C (85F). For Florence, however, the best times to visit are late April to May and September to October, when temperatures are in the more comfortable 20Cs/70Fs.
What should I do when I'm there?
Most visitors come to Tuscany via the stately cities of Pisa or Florence. Pisa has far more to offer than a badly engineered tower; once a significant Roman port, it remains a beautiful university town with the green Campo dei Miracoli squarely at its heart.
Glorious Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance, is crammed with so much wonderful art and architecture that it's impossible to recommend a definitive list.
The duomo (cathedral) and battistero (baptistry), the Galleria degli Uffizi, the Museos del Bargello and di San Marco, the Ponte Vecchio, and the churches of Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce and SS Annunziata are a good start.
Where can I find medieval Tuscany?
Try the enchanting town of Siena, dominated by its 12th-century cathedral and by traditions dating back hundreds of years. Don't miss the 13 towers of the majestic hilltop town of San Gimignano, or the unspoilt fortified hamlet of Monteriggioni.
Going further into the mists of time, the Etruscan sites around Saturnia and Sovana will take you away from the tourists and back to pre-Roman times.
How can I get away from it all?
Take the wine trail through the rolling Chianti countryside, stopping in the picturesque hill towns of Greve, Castellina, Radda and Gaiole.
Nature lovers will enjoy the mountainous Alpi Apuane, the Garfagnana and the Parco Naturale della Maremma, which also has a magnificent stretch of unspoilt coastline. Busier beaches can be found on the pretty island of Elba.
Where's good for nightlife?
Florence has some great little bars and clubs, as well as a packed yearly schedule of classical concerts, opera, drama and dance. There are many lively festivals held throughout the region, providing great opportunities to party with the locals.
Try the Feast of San Giovanni Battista, held in Florence on June 24; Siena's Il Palio, held twice yearly on July 2 and August 16; and the Pisa regatta, staged on June 17.
What's the food like?
Virgin olive oil and wonderful crusty bread are the staples. Bread can even be eaten for dessert: try it topped with egg yolk and smothered in powdered sugar and orange rind.
Hearty soups are popular starters, while meat and poultry are usually served simply grilled, roasted or fried, perhaps flavoured with a slice of lemon.
Sample the excellent local wines: the red wines of Chianti and Montepulciano and the crisp white from around San Gimignano and Vernaccia.
What should I buy?
Wine and olive oil are of high quality and great value. In Florence, find goldsmiths lining the Ponte Vecchio and check in the many stationery stores for examples of the city's beautifully patterned paper. Look for fine embroidery in Siena.
What is there for children to do?
For a break in Florence, head to the Parco delle Cascine, a massive public park with lawns and playgrounds. Many hotels in the Tuscan countryside have swimming pools and activities such as horse riding are usually on offer close by.
Another option is to stay in a holiday village, where children are usually catered for while the grown-ups go sightseeing.
Tourist office
Italian State Tourist Board, 1 Princes St, London W1R 8AY. Tel. 020 7408 1254. Brochure line: 09001 600 280 (calls cost 60p per minute).
Tuscany
Did you know?
The annual Palio bareback horse race, held between rival districts of the city of Siena, dates back to 1283.
Language
Italian
Getting there
Direct flights from the UK to Florence and Pisa.
Flying time from London
Two hours, 30 minutes
Getting around
Good connections by train and most areas have public transport. Renting a car will give you the most freedom to explore, and to reach all those remote vineyards and crumbling palacios.
Currency
Euro
Costs
Small beer £2, roll of camera film £2-3, average meal £15, four-mile taxi ride £9, litre of petrol 65p. Things may cost more in tourist centres.
Weather
Tuscany can be chilly in December and January, between 1-10C(32-50F). It warms up quickly, with highs in the 20Cs(70Fs) by late April. July and August are hot and dry; it's common for the barometer to top 30C(85F+). The weather cools off slightly in September, temperatures staying in the 20Cs(70Fs) until late October.
Time difference
One hour ahead of GMT.
International dialling code from the UK
00 39
Voltage
220V 50Hz, but occasionally the old 125V system - check locally. Sockets are for round two or three-pin plugs, so adaptors are necessary for UK appliances.
Opening hours
Shops open at 8am, shut at 1pm for a long lunch, then open again from 3/4pm until 7/8pm. Banks open from 8.30am-1.30pm and 2.45pm-4.30pm Mon-Fri.
Health - Before you go
No inoculations are necessary. The UK has a reciprocal healthcare agreement with Italy but you need an EHIC form, available from UK post offices. Many public hospitals are underfunded, so you may prefer to take out travel insurance and use private clinics.
Health - When you are there
Call 118 for an ambulance. Your hotel or the embassy can recommend a doctor, or call the 24-hour Tourist Medical Service, Via Lorenzo il Magnifico, Florence, Tel. 055 47 54 11.
Warnings
Tuscany is relatively safe and travellers to Florence should not get the degree of pickpocketing and theft found in Rome; however, pay attention. Watch out for the erratic Italian traffic. Women travellers often find themselves subject to unwanted attention from local men, but it is seldom threatening.
Emergency
Dial 118 for ambulance, 115 for fire, 113 for police and, to report a non-violent theft or incident that doesn't endanger life, the carabinieri on 112. British Consulate, Lungarno Corsini 2, Florence. Tel. 00 39 055 28 41 33.
Customs
Visitors often treat churches as museums - but remember they are places of worship for the local community, and be considerate of local customs and dress codes.
Pets
Italy is included in the Pet Travel Scheme but be aware that the process takes several months before travel to set up. See your vet for details.
Tipping
You are not expected to tip on top of restaurant charges or taxi fares. Restaurants usually have a cover charge that includes bread, olive oil and water.
Tourist office
Italian State Tourist Board, 1 Princes St, London W1R 8AY; Tel. 020 7408 1254. Brochure line: 09001 600 280 (calls cost 60p per minute).
Visa
Not required for UK citizens
Reviews for : Tuscany
Culture is fine in small doses. Too much concentrated art and architecture and I start longing to escape to the countryside. So the idea of a walking tour through the Sienese hill towns of Italy seemed perfect.
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The moment I heard the words I knew I had walked into a trap. We were midway through our annual negotiations over holiday destinations and the three children were determined to go to Italy.
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When you book a self-catering property, it is often a triumph of hope over experience. A hard-bitten journalist, especially, should be sceptical. I realised this when we stalled our car on the vertiginously rising farm track deep in the heart of the Chianti countryside. The light was failing fast, our daughters, Flora, ten, and Alice, seven, were crying and frightened on the back seat and we had no idea where we were going to spend the night.
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Nothing comes close to the euphoria you feel when you first see your very own yacht, although this was not strictly ours, I suppose. Our group - myself and five youngsters - had chartered the 38-footer with three double cabins and two bathrooms or 'heads' as they are called in nautical parlance. It also had a CD player and all the latest navigational aids and was to be our home for a week.
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Fifty years ago, Forte dei Marmi was a summer playground for the international set, the place where Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour came to live the real-life Dolce Vita.
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A heady mixture of superb Renaissance cities, beautiful rolling hillsides clad with vines, medieval castles and spectacular hill towns - these are the charms of Tuscany, according to the tourist information blurb.
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Tuscany, as everyone knows, is the middle-classes' Benidorm, Umbria the up-market Costa del Sol. On sunny afternoons in Spoleto or Siena, you'd be hard-pressed to spot an Italian among milling Nigels and Lucindas, guidebooks in hand, peering up at Romanesque vaulted porches or talking about dining at the Braggs's villa tonight.
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If you're looking for breathtaking views and sizzling hot weather then Tuscany's the place for you.
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The usual image of a holiday in Tuscany is a stylish, secluded villa set in the picture-postcard scenery of the Italian hills.
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Lucca is the perfect place for a short break - even when it's pouring. 'Dogs and cats it is raining,' said the man behind the desk at the Hotel Ilaria. 'This is how you say it in England, yes?'
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Approaching the old Tuscan city of Lucca the first thing you notice is the walls. It is impossible not to notice them. From whichever direction you are coming, this cliff of age-darkened red brick looms up before you, about 40ft tall, running unbroken for nearly three miles around the city.
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Oh no,' I thought. 'Not Andrew Lloyd Webber.' I was in Lucca, jewel in the crown of Tuscany and one of the loveliest towns in all Italy, when his music stole up on me like a thief in the night.
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Sunshine, beautiful scenery, splendid art treasures and a rich historical past - Italy is a charmed land, which seems to have been stuffed full of good things like some giant Christmas stocking.
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When I first went to Florence as a child, the scrums in the Uffizi were so bad that I had to stand on tiptoe to see the naughty bits on Botticelli's Venus. The place was a zoo.
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