Vacation in Tuscany - Italy

dudugre

New member
First of all I want to apolofize for my poor English language - I am from Chile.

I can summarize it in one word - a dream!

We arrived to Roma from Santiago. We landed early in the morning at Fumiccino airport and collected the car, which we rented from Avis through their website. From Roma we traveled to San Gemigniano, where we reserved an apartment at an Agriturismo. This is a big trend in Tuscany: those are farms that were adapted into small boutique hotels and offer very nice apartments, including well equipped kitchens, in beautiful natural environmets. Usualy they offer also freakfast included on the price. And is not expensive. Usualy for a 4 or 5 beds apartment, with 2 bedrooms, a small living room, a nice kitchen and of one or two toiletes and showers, they charge about 75 to 100 € per night, usualy including breakfast. And those are beautiful places.

When we arrived the place we couldn't believe: Paradise. The town is from the 16 century. The view is incredible, and the farm house is like a paint. I figured that it will be very hard to leave back home, to the rutine.

We are a familly of 5. The children are grown ups: Our daughter is 22 and the two boys are 19 and 17. So you may understand they are not very patient, but since we arrived there it was like they took relieving medication.

Each day we traveled somewhere else and a 10 days vacation is not enough in Tuscany. There is realy a lot what to see and you don't want to rush but to take it easy. And the road is beautiful too. So you drive slowly, you stop a lot and the days run away.

The stady at the agriturismo included breakfast, and usually we purchased food at the local supermarket and prepeared dinner. We like pasta a lot so we had a lot of pasta but not only. During the day we had some pizza or something else. We enjoyed a lot dinners at the room. A few times we went to restaurants. Most restaurants in Italy, this is true, are pizza and pasta cantinas. Other Italian delicacy is the icecream, gellato as they call it, is fantastic. And the coffee is also very good.

My husband was exited to visit Venice. Our hosts at the agriturismo estimated about two and a half hours drive. Actually it was more like four and a half hours, but worth it. We enjoyed Venice a lot.

The last 2 nights we spended in Rome. We found there a nice small hotel very near the city center at a very reasonable price - 90€ per night for all of us in a 2 bedroom suite, including breakfast.

Did I mentioned that it was just like a dream?!

Special tips: My first advice is: get into the place mood, switch your state of mind. Don't rush to see as much as you can because you will loose the best part, and this is Toscany's unique ambience. Every minute of pleasure is better than 100 touristic sites or shopping centers. You are in Tuscany! don't waist your precious time! Do not enter Rome city center with your car. It is forbbiden and you won't find a parking place anyway. Use public transportation - is excellent. At the supermarket they sell excellent pasta in chilled packaging. Put 2 or 3 of those in your bagage and take home and put it in your frizer. You will enjoy it a lot a few weeks later and the taste will remind you your trip.
Costs: Lodging costs for a familly is about 80-85€ per night average, including breakfast. For a couple it would be 55 to 65€. A decent meal at a restaurant will cost you 8 to 12 € each, depends what you have. If you buy in the supermarket and prepear you will have a wonderfull meal for 5, including wine, for 12 to 17€. A cup of coffee in the street cost about 2€ and a beer 2-3€. So you can conclude your stady for about 150€ a day, for a familly. A couple can do it for about 100€ a day. I sugest you reserve a car and the agriturismo throuth the Internet. About the hotel in Rome we were very lucky - it would be much more responsible to reserve it too.

For fotos, view the bottom of my traveling diary.
 
thank you for sharing :)

Thank you for sharing your experience of staying in Tuscany with us!
It sounds like you had a wonderful family vacation and your tips about costs and state of mind when traveling through Tuscany is one we can agree with: take it slow and enjoy what you do see rather than rushing from place to place.

Hope you'll stick around and offer advice when possible to others seeking suggestions about what to see and do in Tuscany :).
 
Hello

Tuscany situated in central Italy takes you on a splendid ride through its regions that borders Latium to the south, Umbria and Marche to the east, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria to the north, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west.

Tuscany throws open her doors to invite you to her awesome countryside, her ancient medieval ambience with a fairy tale appeal and an adventure to last you a lifetime. As you walk, view the lovely Tuscan countryside and disappear into the fabulous hill top towns with an array of monasteries, piazzas and historic villas most of them built in the medieval times. I agree with you. :rolleyes:
 
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