Planning a fall trip to Tuscany

jamielallen

New member
My husband and I are planning a trip to Tuscany next fall. We're looking at September or October of 2019. I have family who have generously offered to let us use their timeshare, which is located in a remote vineyard setting. I'm wondering how feasible it is for us to rent a car and do day trips to Pisa, Florence, CT, etc. I'm thinking it's a great home base, but want to be realistic.

Has anyone done a similar trip before? I'm just wondering how easy it will be for us to navigate our way around?

Thank you in advance for any tips or advice you might have!

Jamie
 
Are you concerned about driving or that the timeshare is in a remote setting?

I looked up the place and Selvatelle is a small town, the timeshare might not be in town but the area is passed by a large regional road (SR439) that heads south from Capannoli, and from there not far from the main road that heads to Florence (FI-PI-LI).

It is very central and definitely a good base for day trips!
 
I think my main concern is the difficulty of driving in that area. Can two American tourists figure it out? LOL! I'm glad to hear it's a great location for a "home base" for a trip like this.
 
I most definitely think you can figure it out!

Plan to have a good GPS/phone with downloaded maps you can use (save on your phone so that you don't need to access your data plan every time you use the app).

Here's some basic tips on driving here, once you arrive you'll see it isn't too hard to adapt to the different road signs or to the driving: https://www.discovertuscany.com/moving-around-tuscany/by-car.html
There are many 2 lane roads, the larger 4 lane roads (2 in each direction) are where it can get a little trickier - stay on right, use the left lane only to pass.... otherwise faster traffic will tailgate you and that is no fun! ;-)

Post any questions you have as your planning gets under way, we will be happy to offer suggestions.
 
Getting around

Buongiorno,

Even though the roads in Italy get a bit of a bad rap - I have found that my guests love the opportunity to drive and experience the Tuscan countryside. They normally come home and tell me, that they really enjoyed the scenery and that they found the drivers to be quite laid back (especially off the main drags).

The area you are looking at is especially lovely, in fact, it has some of my favorite Tuscan landscape views especially heading over towards Volterra.

You might find this article about day trips from San Gimignano interesting - the first 5 ideas (1 - 5) are actually quite close to where you would be staying and would make excellent adventures with easy driving. If you are concerned about driving into the main like Florence - you could look at the possibility of catching the train from Pontedera - that way you avoid parking hassles and driving in the city. There are frequent trains into the city - so you can enjoy a full day.

Buon Viaggio,

Donna Denise
 
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