Tuscany - Doing the passoggia in Florence and Pisa

Everybody has an image of Tuscany in their mind’s eye before they arrive.

For some, it is a crumbling farmhouse bathed in warm sunlight, for others, it is Brunescelli's dome looming above the Florentine cityscape, or fields of sunflowers against an azure sky, or Giottos frescoes, or . . . or . . . or . . .

On your trip, I can guarantee you will not have enough time to see it all. We've all read enough books about northern European ex-pats moving to Tuscany and creating their own little paradise. They speak lyrically of warm nights eating pasta and drinking Chianti under the stars, and of villages untouched by time and full of eccentric inhabitants. This all exists, but it is shared by millions of other visitors who want to find their own Tuscany. In summer the hordes of holidaymakers crush the narrow streets of Florence and Siena, so finding room to breathe can be difficult.

But it takes just a little detour to find the other Tuscany, the Tuscany that attracted Shelley, Byron, and EM Forster. There is no doubt that the place has some of the best sight-seeing in the world. Pisa's Field of Miracles contains some of the most exquisite architecture ever constructed, and the city of Florence itself probably contains more culture and history then the entirety of some continents. Memories will be strong of Tuscany: shutters thrown open above you in a street in Pisa, the sun-worshippers on the Torre del Largo beach, the vineyards sweeping up the sun-kissed hills, the well-dressed Florentines shopping in Gucci or Armani, and the art . . . oh lord, has Tuscany been blessed by god with art . . 

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Tuscany is simply a golden corner of the world.

 This trip was different from my usual excursion abroad. It only consisted of only 4 days, and we were the guests of a friend of mine, Dr. Nicola Pavese. He lives in London but keeps an apartment in Pisa, and, thanks to budget airlines, we got a cheap deal for £70 for a return flight. There we got our food at the corner shop and lived far away from the tourist hordes that visit Pisa every day.

The list of cities to visit in Tuscany is mind-blowing: world-famous Florence, cerebral Pisa, fiesty Siena, historic Lucca, and not to mention the hundreds and hundreds of exquisite lost-in-time medieval towns dotting the sunburnt hillsides. I only got to see Pisa, Florence, and the beach at Torre del Largo, but more importantly, I got to mix with Italians. This was not a keep-the-locals-at-bay tour. I met Nic's friends and joined them at the beach and saw how things are done Tuscan-style. They are very proud of Tuscany: lazy summer weekends are spent at the beach and life takes an outdoor quality. I would return here every year if I could.

The life blood of Tuscany is the Viarregio-Firenze railway line. This stretches 100 miles inland from the Ligurian coast to the City of the Lily before it branches north to Bologna or south to Umbria. Pisa stazione (railway station) is the hub of the town. There you can catch buses and trains to Tuscany's main airport, Galileo. This airport has its own train station, FS Pisa Aeropuerto, and it takes four minutes to get to Pisa's stazione. From there it is another 1 hour to Florence.

Pisa is also ideally situated for the beach. The A12, which stretches up from Genoa to Viarreggio, passes by Pisa. This road stretches parallel to the coast, and buses from Pisa stop at the beaches at Torre del Largo. If you are partaking of the nightlife in Torre del Largo, as we did, then arrange your own road transport. No buses return to Pisa after 10pm and there are no taxis.

But the best way to see Tuscany is from the back of a Fiat Punto Calabrio, the hood down. A big grazie, Nic!