One of
the tours I was set on doing was the Walkabout "Best of Tuscany Tour"
which was based from Florence. When I was last in Italy I was only 13 and just
remember snippets of Florence and Pisa. We didn't do much else in the
surrounding Tuscan area and that was something I wanted to see on this trip.
Initially I wasn't sure if we would be able to fit it in. This tour was a full
day - 8:30am - 8:30pm - and we only had the one full day in Florence. I managed
to find a solution by booking another day trip of Florence for Wednesday and
selecting a later train to take us into Venice. It made for a busy Wednesday
but allowed us to do the Tuscany tour on Tuesday.
The
tour started at the Florence train station which was conveniently located close
to our hotel. We were the first group to arrive meaning we got first choice on
selecting seats! We met a few of our fellow travellers – a couple from
Australia and another from Ohio so we made small talk until everyone else
started showing up. It was almost a full bus but there were still a few empty
seats allowing us to spread out a bit – maybe about 30-35 people total on the tour.
The guide was really nice she was initially from Poland and now lives in
Florence when she isn’t attending university in London.
The
bus did a small loop around Florence and we were able to see a few of the other
main sights, including a portion of the wall that used to surround the city.
The guide gave us a brief history lesson about Florence and the surrounding
area which was helpful. Florence was founded in 59BC by former soldiers given
land from Julius Caesar which is why the city was built in similar fashion to
an army camp. Over the next hundreds of years Florence was caught between
various empires/rulers and was invaded and taken over numerous times. In 1861 it
became part of the United Kingdom of Italy and was made the capital in 1865,
however when Italy was officially unified in 1871 Rome became the new
capital.
The
first stop of the tour was Siena, which was about an hour outside of Florence.
Once we arrived in town the bus parked a bit outside the city walls and we met
our local guide. The guide was an older woman who lived in Siena for most of
her life. She led us on a guided walking
tour through the medieval city of Siena where many of the buildings were
yellow-ochre with terracotta rooftops and green shutters. Something that
interested me was that as we walked through the city certain areas had
different flags on their buildings. The guide explained at these flags
represented the “contrada” which are different districts within the city and
that there were 17 in Siena that race in the Palio di Siena. The Palio has been going on for over 600
years and is a horserace that takes place in Piazza del Campo (the main city
square) two times a year on July 2 and August 16. Out of the 17 racers
representing the various city districts only 10 ride in the race and jockeys
are given a horse through some sort of draw. In the morning of the race the
horses are taken to a church to be blessed by a priest and then over 50,000
people gather in the Piazza – however there are actually only 1000 reserved seats!
It can be a dangerous race and often jockeys are thrown from their horse but whatever
horse crosses the finish line first wins regardless of if the jockey is with
them or not. The city is decorated in these various flags and the spectators
wear clothes and colors that represent the wards. There are festive banquets both the night
before and the day of and it has become a tourist attraction that brings many
people to Siena each summer.
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| Piazza del Campo |
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| Piazza del Campo during the horse racing - not my photo! |
The
first place we stopped was at the Palazzo Salimbeni which was the oldest bank
in Siena still in operation from the medieval period. At this point the guide
spent some time explaining the history of Siena which was settled between
900-400BC. Over the years it was part of various counties and like many parts
of Europe often under siege. Afterward
we walked up to Piazza del Campo where the guide pointed out the main sights and
how they related to the Palio race. The square was interesting – with old
beautiful buildings surrounding it. It was hard to imagine the square full off
people and the horseraces, but the guide showed us some photos which were
remarkable. Dad has decided at some point he wants to come back for the races
one summer.
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| The building to the left is the bank |
The
guide led us up to the Siena Cathedral which was a mostly uphill walk and was
tough! I had decided to wear a long dress that day and was thankful I swapped
my sandals for running shoes. We passed through a few small residences and it
was interesting to see how the medieval buildings were now apartments. It started to rain once we reached the
Cathedral but fortunately we had tickets which allowed us to get immediate
access. The cathedral was built between 1215 – 1263 and was beautiful. Inside
we were able to see the marble mosaic floor which covers the entire cathedral.
Forty artists contributed to creating the 56 panels and the floor was amazing!
We were lucky to be able to see it as it is only uncovered for six-ten weeks
each year. The rest of the time only a few panels are on display with the rest
covered up. My favorite part of the
cathedral was the Piccolomini Library which has colorful frescoes that adorn
the walls and ceilings. It was a wonderful room and I could have spent hours in
it just walking around and looking at the artwork.
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| Piccolomini Library |
This
is where our tour ended and we had some free time to see Siena. We walked back
to the Piazza del Campo and had a coffee at one of the cafes. We spent a bit of
time looking in the shops and I bought a few postcards. We met our group an
hour later and our main tour guide led us back to where the bus was parked.
This was another uphill trek and exhausting! I felt bad for two older ladies
who really struggled with the walk, but the guide modified the rest of the
stops for them during the rest of the trip.
We
drove through the Tuscan countryside to our next stop which was Fattoria Poggio
Alloro a Chianti Vineyard. It was an organic family run winery and farm which
we got to visit for a tour, wine tasting and lunch. The tour led us through the
vineyards, the barn and the room where the wine is produced. We learned the
history of the estate which was formed by three brothers in the 1970’s and is
still a family run business. Our lunch was delicious as it was a traditional
Tuscan meal that included homemade pasta, homemade prosciutto, salami, local
cheeses, a garden salad and biscotti. They served four wines – a white, two
reds, and a desert wine. I didn’t try the reds but found the whites to be enjoyable.
The olive oil served was also made on-site and dad enjoyed it so much he
ordered 5 liters to be shipped home. The views from the winery were phenomenal
and are ones that will stick with me forever as Tuscany is an amazing region.
After
our lunch we drove to the hilltop town of San Gimignano which was only 10
minutes away. San Gimignano is a small, walled medieval town that is famous for
its medieval towers and buildings. In
1348 the black death killed half the townsfolk and after that there was hardly
any development which is why the town remains much like it was in the 1300’s.
From where the bus dropped us off it was a 5 minute walk to the main city walls
and then another 10 minute walk to the main city center. The guide recommended
that we have gelato at an award winning shop which we did. The line was out the
doorway and into the square and the staff spoke limited English, but Dad’s
Italian came in handy! It was the best gelato I have ever tasted, and I was
glad we listened to the guide.
The
town is full of winding streets and squares so Dad took off to explore and
Brian planned to climb one of the towers. I spent a few minutes in the square
talking to some of the other people from the tour and one of the women decided
she was going to stick with me. She wanted to find something for her daughter
who was around my age and thought I could be of help. We spent our free time
wandering in and out of shops before she was finally able to find something she
liked. This meant my free time was eaten up, but I didn’t mind. I met Brian on
the way back but we split up again because he wanted to look in one other
store. We ended up being the last two to the meeting place but luckily the bus
wasn’t there yet.
Once
back on the bus it took us on a scenic drive through more of the Tuscan
countryside which was gorgeous. We passed through a few small towns, including
Volterra which was one of the settings of the Twilight books. That made me
laugh as I can only imagine the amount of teenage girls who flocked there once
the movie came out!
Our
final stop was Pisa where we got to see the Leaning Tower, Cathedral and
Baptistery. I had been here before when I was 13 and not much has changed – it
is still leaning! The area in which you get into the Leaning Tower has been
changed in recent years so buses aren’t able to park nearby. We were fortunate
and were able to take a tram so that saved us a mile walk. We were given free
time to explore the area so Brian and I took a bunch of photos including the
typical tourist ones! In order to get into the cathedral or baptistery you had
to pay, so we just saw them from the outside. After our free time we were able
to do a tour of the main historic area of Pisa, which was different. Aside from
the tower/tourist area there isn’t much to see – it’s a university town and
seems very run down.
The drive back
took just over an hour and it was just after 8:00pm when we arrived. The entire
tour was 12 hours and it was definitely worth every penny. The guide was
amazing, the scenery was fantastic and the sights/lunch were awesome. It was
the best tour of the trip and I suggest adding it to the list if ever in
Florence.
Once back in the
city we walked over to a street vendor and bought an extra suitcase.... it was
much needed at this point. We stopped at a restaurant across the street and had
dinner which was really good, then we returned to the hotel. I had put in a
sweater and a pair of jeans to be washed at the hotel and when I picked them up
only the jeans were returned. The hotel had no idea what had happened to it and
said they would call the laundry service they used in the morning. It was a
little annoying but it was an older sweater so I didn’t worry about it.
https://www.walkaboutflorence.com/tours/best-tuscany-tour - A link to the tour website
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