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Twice the Tuscany, Half the Cost
A miniguide to some top destinations besides Florence in Tuscany: Siena, Lucca, San Gimignano, and Montepulciano
The countryside of Tuscany's Chianti region is trung with grapevines over low rolling hills.
An Arcadian countryside strung with grape vines, shimmering silver with olive trees, and peppered with medieval hilltowns and ancient, art-stuffed cities. Tuscany is the birthplace of the Renaissance, Florentine steaks, and Chianti wine, an earthly Eden where many dream of retiring to a countryside villa or converted farmhouse—or at least renting one for the summer.
Yes, Tuscany is a must-see stop on big bus tours and playground for rich wine snobs. Yet it's this very richness and variety of culture that ensures there's always a budget alternative to $100 wines and $1,000 hotel rooms. We’re going to enjoy Tuscan feasts for under $15, sample some of Italy's greatest wines for free, admire masterpiece 14th and 15th century frescoes in churches and cheap civic museums, and stay in rooms with a view for under $50.
This is not the best-known side of Tuscany, the crowded tourists centers of Florence (an article in itself) and Pisa (where the newly re-opened Leaning Tower costs a ridiculous €15). This is
a portrait of four Tuscan towns
where you can escape the crowds and find great values amid stony buildings and cobblestone streets.
Two of our towns are well-trodden, but hide a budget side:
Siena,
a Gothic city of brick palazzi (palaces) and notoriously friendly citizens, famous for turning out major saints, sinful cookies, and colorful Gothic frescoes; and
San Gimignano,
a "Medieval Manhattan" of more than a dozen stone skyscrapers.
Two are on the brink of discovery, beloved by discriminating travelers but as yet bypassed by the big tour buses: elegant
Lucca
with its pretty churches and preference for bicycles rather than cars; and wine-soaked
Montepulciano,
whose Renaissance palaces sit atop a labyrinth of aging cellars and wine tasting is free.
Getting to Tuscany
The crete senese region of Tuscany south of Siena is an otherworldy landscape of green fields, eroding clay hillsides, and marching lines of cypress trees.
No flight from the U.S. flies direct to Tuscany,
though many airlines will connect you through a European gateway to the international airports in Pisa or Florence. But it's usually cheaper just to fly into Rome (or, from spring to fall,
into Bologna on the new low-cost airline Eurofly
; click here for more) then take the train. Click here for info on how to find cheap airfare.
An even more frugal, but more complicated, alternative is to get any low fare to London (Europe's cheapest gateway), and book a separate ticket on no-frills Ryanair (www.ryanair.ie) to Pisa. This is called the
Big Ben Switheroo
and there's lots more on the technique here.
When
calling Italy from the U.S.
, dial 011-39 before the number. Within Italy, just dial the numbers as they appear here.
Traveling Around Tuscany
The lush hills and countless tiny towns to explore make Tuscany one of the best places to splurge on a
rental car
—and groups of three won't spend much more on a car than on separate
train and bus tickets
; for groups of four it's usually a savings.
It’s always cheapest to
book a few weeks in advance
from any of the major U.S.-based companies, though a consolidator specialist like Auto Europe (800-223-5555; www.autoeurope.com) usually underbids the likes of Hertz and Avis.
[This is an excerpt from my article "Twice the Tuscany, Half the Cost," originally published in the September 2002 issue of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine. All information was updated in September 2006. Reprinted with persmission.]
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This article was last updated in July 2006. All information was accurate at the time.
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I'm glad you enjoy my photographs, but please remember that the use of any image, in print or on-line, without the express permission of the photographer is unlawful. Editors interested in using any of these images—or purchasing the accompanying columns—are welcome to contact me.
Copyright © 1998–2006 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.