Tuscany Charming | PlanningaTour.com

Why rent a villa in Tuscany like Villa al Boschiglia? Otis’ Reason 3

Otis’ Reason 3

3 – Value, Value, Value!

The Villa, the amenities, the service, and the location provide the guest with a peace of mind. The price is more than competitive, and there are no unexpected or hidden costs for the services provided. If you decide to arrange additional services you will be charged for the actual cost only. Often preferential rates can be passed on to you for tours, transports, and discounted hotel passes. If we purchase groceries on your behalf prior to your arrival or during your stay you will receive an itemized bill.

Charming Itineraries around Tuscany

Tuscany is certainly one of the most beautiful regions in Italy. There are many things to see and lots to do across the region, from visiting hilltop villages to the seaside, from the mountains to the beauty lanscapes of the Valdorcia. For this reason we’re suggesting an itinerary for what to see and do in Tuscany if you have 7 days, recommending the cities, towns and activities that you cannot miss during your holiday in Tuscany.

These are of course just general recommendations in order to help you plan your next vacation in Tuscany. Driving is definitely the best transportation to use to move around Tuscany, but it’s not the only one.

Florence Day 1 & 2

Florence has so many things to offer.

There are must museums and monuments that cannot be missed such as the Uffizi Gallery, Piazza della Signoria with Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio (famous Old Bridge) and Piazza Duomo with the Cathedral, the Baptistery and Giotto’s Bell Tower.

If you are going to stay 2 days in Florence we have more detailed suggestions.

Pisa and Lucca Day 3

Pisa is certainly renowned for the famous Piazza dei Miracoli, home to the Leaning Tower and the large Duomo, baptistery and Camposanto.

Lucca is a small Venice without water, enclosed within its huge Renaissance walls which are fun to do on bike. The historical city center deserves a visit, inclusing its peculiar shaped oval-shaped Piazza dell’Anfiteatro.

Chianti and San Gimignano Day 4

In Chianti, visit Greve in Chianti and its particularly shaped square, Panzano and its ancient center, Castellina in Chianti and its scenic walls, Gaiole and its massive castle, Radda and its ancient walls. We have a more detailed itinerary in Chianti if you want more ideas.

Furthermore there are many wineries and farms that produce good Chianti wine. Known and esteemed worldwide, Chianti’s intense color and pronounces taste can be enjoyed at many small estates that do not export their excellent wines outside of Italy. Most wineries offer local products and wine tastings. They often organize tours of their wine cellar to let you discover the secrets of this ancient Tuscan tradition.

Siena and Monteriggioni Day 5

Siena is definitely another medieval city in Tuscany that deserves to be visited. The city center is gathered within the ancient walls and holds many beautiful monuments and museums. First of all the Piazza del Campo, famous for its particular shell-shape and for the Palio of Siena. The Palazzo Comunale and Torre del Mangia overlook the square.

The Duomo stands majestically, a precious example of Romanesque-Gothic style in Italy with its commesso’s marble floor, the Baptistery and the Church of San Domenico. View our itinerary for a day in Siena for more information.

Val D’Orcia and wine tastings Day 6

Val D’Orcia, or Valdorcia, is another famous region in Tuscany for its stunning landscapes and good wine.

Gentle hills, spotted by dark cypresses or yellow sunflowers, make this region the perfect postcard to send back to your friends and families. It offers plenty of cities and villages that merit a visit, starting from Montepulciano, Montalcino, Pienza, San Quirico D’Orcia as well as the small towns of Bagno Vignone, Buonconvento and Radicofani.

Cortona and Arezzo Day 7

The city of Cortona become very popular after the book and then film “Under the Tuscan Sun” came out. It is a small town whose origins go way back to the Etruscans. The center is built around the main square of Piazza della Repubblica, over which Palazzo Comunale looks over.

Here you should visit the Diocesan Museum (Museo Diocesano), that displays a beautiful Annunciation of Cortona by Beato Angelico, and MEAC (Museum of Etruscan Academy of Cortona) that holds important Etruscan and Roman findings.

Don’t miss the Basilica of Saint Francis with the stunning frescoes depicting the Legend of the True Cross by Piero della Francesca, the Church of San Domenico displaying the wooden Crucifix by Cimabue, the magnificent Loggias by Vasari in Piazza Grande and the Archaeological Museum Clinio Mecenate.

Tuscany of course is much more than this. These are just a few suggestions and ideas to get you started on planning your first visit to Tuscany.

Gothic Cathedral in Siena

The Duomo in Siena lies in a piazza above the Piazza del Campo, a great Gothic building filled with treasures by Pisano, Donatello and Michelangelo as well as frescoes by Pinturicchio. The pavement is made up of 56 etched and inlaid marble panels designed by 40 of Siena’s leading artists between 1369 and 1547. Today, the mosaic panels in the nave and aisles are usually uncovered, but the most precious ones under the apse and in the transepts are protected by cardboard flooring and only uncovered in honor of the Palio (when admission to the cathedral is charged). The only floor panel usually visible in the Duomo’s center, in the left transept, is Matteo di Giovanni’s fantastic 1481 Massacre of the Innocents (a theme with which the painter was obsessed, leaving us disturbing paintings of it in the Palazzo Pubblico and Santa Maria dei Servi).

Opening hours for the Cathedral, including the Piccolomini Library

March 1 to May 31: Weekdays including Saturday: 10:30 am. – 7:30 p.m. Sundays and holidays: 1:30 – 5:30 p.m.
June 1 to August 31: Weekdays including Saturday: 10:30 am. – 8:00 p.m. Sundays and holidays: 1:30 – 6:00 p.m.
September 1 to November 1: Weekdays including Saturday: 10:30 am. – 7:30 p.m.; Sundays and holidays. 1:30 – 5:30 p.m.
November 2 to February 28: Weekdays and Saturdays: 10:30 am. – 6:30 p.m.; Sundays and holidays: 1:30 – 5:30 p.m

Keep in mind that there are special opening hours on holy days.

Florence all lit up for the celebration of Italy’ s 150 years of unification

Florence all lit up for the celebration of Italy’s 150 years of unification! Here you can see Palazzo Vecchio all lit up in green, white and red!

The tower had the Italian flag down its side, there were flags everywhere, lots of people in the square and music to accompany the festive air. Happy 150 years, Italy!

What to discover in Lucca

An entire wall of my dining room is rather pretentiously covered with paintings of religious subjects.

They belong to the XIX century and represent the poor popular art of that time. The figures were first printed and then painted with watercolours and represent male and female devotional saints with symbols referring to their iconography.

These pictures at the time were mainly hung in bedrooms on the wall behind the bed, and I am sure that those readers who may have bought an old house in the hills around Lucca may have found some of them still hanging there.

The subjects were meant to transmit a feeling of wellbeing and peace. Look for example at that of baby St. John Baptist embracing a sheep with a red ribbon. He is folding his arms around it so sweetly as if it were his cuddly toy. “Guardate in alto, quando andate in giro per Lucca” that is “Look up when you are going around Lucca” my teacher kept saying. It’s a fact that if you go around Lucca with your nose in the air, you can spot here and there many of the most authentic popular and religious art-works of the town.

What you have to look for are the “edicole”. If you search for the word in your dictionary you will read that the word “edicola” in modern language means a newsagent.

But in the language of art, edicola, in English aedicule, means a framed space or niche housing a sacred image and positioned relatively high up on a building. Here in Lucca the subject is mainly the Madonna, the religious figure most loved by Christians.

Often however the Madonna is represented even in the aedicules in an unconventional manner. For example have you seen the one in Via S. Nicolao ? The “Madonna del Soccorso” i.e. Madonna to the Rescue, is angrily represented with a cane in her hand threatening the devil, who finally runs away, so she can rescue the little baby who was just about to be kidnapped. In this case she does not transmit a sense of peace and wellbeing, but of fear and dread. This same picture can also be seen behind the altar in the Church at Montecarlo.

On the contrary in Via dell’Anfiteatro, in Piazza della Grotta we can see an aedicule with a beautiful and elegant Madonna. Hold your breath, she has a Gucci handbag! Of course I’m joking – what seems a bag is in fact a number of devotional necklaces of the time. Many of the aedicoles that you will see in streets in Lucca were done in the XVI century and happily some of them have been recently restored.

This is one of them. In Via del Portico, also close to Via dell’Anfiteatro, there is another one that was meant to thank the Madonna for having saved a little girl, who lived nearby and fell from the fourth floor remaining unhurt. As it says on the plaque hanging at the side, 40 days of indulgence are assured (believe it or not) if you say a prayer next to it.

In Via dell’Angelo Custode, named after the Oratorio dell’ Angelo, there is another aedicule at No.6. The Guardian Angel cannot be clearly seen from the street because of the patina left on the painting by years of weather, but still meets the original religious intentions, if you ask the people living there.

The relationship between religion and popular art has always existed, and since ancestral times men have felt the necessity to use art as a bridge for the two entities to communicate, conveying ideas with the minimum of words and the maximum of impact.

Another characteristic of religious popular art was also to amaze people. But times are different now. Today’s permanent party mood in Lucca, attempting to make people crave just good food and material goods, can act like a mantra on our brain, leaving this hidden aspect of Lucca perhaps neglected. But hopefully to be discovered at least at the end of our visit.