Tuscany reccomendations

"Zeppo" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:

You will need a car and patience for the driving, do not even think of driving in Venice, Florene or Rome, but for the Tuscan countryside it is indispensible. Stay near Siena, a great destination in its own right and you would be amiss to not stop in Verona on way to or from Venice.

Actual properties I am not so up on though I think Banfi, thought huge, is accessible.

Neil

Poggio Antico in Montalcino has a nice (if not pricey) restaurant at the winery. They do allow you to bring in wine as I recall. A car is a necessity in Tuscany. Siena is a must visit and personally I really enjoyed Montalcino and San Gimiginano. Terruzi and Puthod was a nice stop winery just outside of San Gimiginano.

Thank you for replying. Joseph. We are traveling by train until we leave Venice, then we are renting a car to drive to Tuscany.

In Tuscany, we have reservations at Hotel Vecchio Asilo, near San Gimignano. It's not too far from Sienna. I was thinking stopping in Verona on the way back to Tuscany.

Banfi sounds pretty great, and a friend who was their recently loved it. He had connections however, and received the royal treatment. We will definitely stop there.

Thanks again, Jon

Neil, Wow, great sites! Thanks for the heads up. They will come in very handy.

Jon

"Zeppo" ha scritto nel messaggio news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

I feel I can recommend this small producer.

"True" Tuscan wines (excellent vin santo) and prices more than affordable.

They manage also a small "agriturismo", if needed.

Luk

Hi Bi!!, We definitely will be spending a day in Siena and we will probably be in and out of San Gimignano a lot as we are staying just down the road. Montalcino is also now on our itinerary as we will be visiting the Banfi estate. Terruzi and Puthod looks interesting (just on their web site) and will try to stop there.

Marci just informed me that we will be visiting Perugia for the Eurochocolate festival one day of our stay in Tuscany (hey, we all have our weaknesses).

Many thanks for the info.

Regards, Jon

Just an advice about driving in Italy: try to drive long distances only on Sundays, because on Sundays trucks can not drive around and you have almost free highways. The other days, the first lane of every highway is an uninterrupted queue of trucks and sometimes they also take over each other, thus blocking 2 lanes. If you're on a 2 lane highway it can get *very* boring, and on three lane ones it is disturbing either.

I love Siena, and think it's worth spending more than a day there. We've been there three times, and the last time we stayed four days.

One of the problems with day-tripping to these small famous places is that there are tourists everywhere until the evenings. Siena's campo is in my view the most beautiful piazza in Italy, but during the day, it's so covered with tourists that you can hardly see it.

I haven't been in San Gimignano in many years, but I understand that these days it is constantly packed with tourists. I don't know how you feel about it, but that's an enormous turnoff for me.

Montalcino is a nice town too--not as crowded as some of the others.

A minor point, but just so you realize it, Perugia is in Umbria, not Tuscany. I like Umbria at least as much as Tuscany.

Agreed

I still go there every couple of years, and yes it is crowded, but not so much as to turn me off.

Montalcino is OK, but nearby Pienza is much nicer IMHO.

A few of my notes re San Gimignano, Tuscany and Umbria from last month:

Enjoy the trip. when are you going? I do not recall you giving dates. Avoid august.

October 6th (leave US on 5th) thru 18th.

Jon

I don't know how we will avoid it. Not going to these places doesn't seem like an option. If it gets really oppressive we'll rethink our itinerary.

I realize that but marriage is all about compromise, right? If I want to visit some wineries, I have to visit a chocolate festival. It works for me. Besides, it doesn't look that far (on the map).

Jon

Last time we were in Tuscany, we tried three times to go to Siena, and never found a single parking place AND it took an hour to drive across town. Couldn't even find a parking place in those out of town parking lots. :-(

We did enjoy Cortona (on the way to Perugia :-) enjoyed "La Loggia" overlooking the plaza and there are several nice hill towns outside of Siena, - Monteriggioni has the most complete midaeval wall and a couple of reasonable restaurants, and nearby Abadia d'Isola has a good restaurant.

Good time to go. Venice should still be fairly nice. 3-4 more weeks and the freary weather and high tides begin. On the way south take quick side trips such as:

-Padova's Piazza Erbe and the singular Cappella degli Scrovegni, a unique concentrate of some of the best work of Giotto, truly breathtaking. You need half a day.

-Vicenza downtown, beautiful (Verona will take too much time).

-If you go that far, Bergamo high city, the Duomo, half day. else if you are heading south right away, Bologna, and don't forget to stop by Mantova quickly.

Naa, you need more time ! ;-)

Ronin wrote: onteriggioni has the most complete midaeval wall and a couple

I confirm. Last stop a few years ago, had roasted pigeon and a bottle of Percarlo.

Yes, I like Pienza too.

I wasn't necessarily suggesting that you avoid it. I just wanted to let you know what you were in for. I'm not terribly eager to go again, but if I had never been there, I'd want to go too.

It's not terribly far, and again, I wasn't trying to dissuade you from visiting it, just letting you know it's in the next province. I like Perugia and recommend seeing it, chocolate or not. Another Umbrian town that I like a lot, much smaller than Perugia but not far from it, is Spello, and if you pass that way, you might want to spend an hour or so walking through it.

Siena is basically a pedestrian city. Cars are allowed only in certain parts, so yes, parking is a problem. We came by car the first time, but more recently by train or bus.

Zeppo wrote: > I realize that but marriage is all about compromise, right? If I want to

I might be wrong, but a chocolate festival in Perugia is probably connected to Perugina, Italy's largest manufacturer of industrial chocolate (the equivalent of Hershey's in terms of quality). I am not so sure this would be a serious chocolate event.