Suggestions for Livorno

[iancal]

Looking for suggestions. We have done land trips to Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Cinque Terre on a number of occasions.

 

Can anyone suggest something that they particularly enjoyed that involved somewhere other than these places.

[Carolyn R]

Visit a winery in Tuscany, visit some of the medieval Tuscan hill towns, have lunch, drink wine.

[Chloe1500]

Have you traveled to San Gimignano before? If not, that's doable from Livorno via private tour, hired driver or rental car. It's a beatiful hill town. Just outside the city is a great winery/farm (agriturismo), Fattorio Poggio Alloro, where you can tour the winery, taste the wine and olive oil, and have lunch.

[Hlitner]

Have you traveled to San Gimignano before? If not, that's doable from Livorno via private tour, hired driver or rental car. It's a beatiful hill town. Just outside the city is a great winery/farm (agriturismo), Fattorio Poggio Alloro, where you can tour the winery, taste the wine and olive oil, and have lunch.

 

Its easy to pair a visit to Volterra with a visit to San Gimignano. Its a good combination for those that enjoy visiting smaller cities. We love getting a rental car in Livorno (sifracar delivers right to the pier) as it maximizes the time in our port day and gives us flexibility to drive just about anywhere in our large radius.

 

Hak

[Hlitner]

Have you traveled to San Gimignano before? If not, that's doable from Livorno via private tour, hired driver or rental car. It's a beatiful hill town. Just outside the city is a great winery/farm (agriturismo), Fattorio Poggio Alloro, where you can tour the winery, taste the wine and olive oil, and have lunch.

 

Its easy to pair a visit to Volterra with a visit to San Gimignano. Its a good combination for those that enjoy visiting smaller cities. We love getting a rental car in Livorno (sifracar delivers right to the pier) as it maximizes the time in our port day and gives us flexibility to drive just about anywhere in our large radius.

 

As to wine country, we think the best wine area in the region is along the scenic route S222 that lies between Florence and Sienna. It is possible to do this with a rental car (although its a lot of driving) but having to drive does have some impact on the ability to taste wine :)

 

Hank

[iancal]

Thanks for the suggestions, we did exactly that a year ago this past May (Volt. and San. Gim, Lucca, Pisa, etc.....spent 10 days touring Tuscany and Umbria by car. We may just rent a car and do a drive-we like the area very much.

[Hlitner]

Thanks for the suggestions, we did exactly that a year ago this past May (Volt. and San. Gim, Lucca, Pisa, etc.....spent 10 days touring Tuscany and Umbria by car. We may just rent a car and do a drive-we like the area very much.

 

"Ain't" it wonderful? We love this part of Italy and have never tired of spending vacations in the area. Folks that only see Europe by cruise ship miss an awful lot. DW and I have just been talking about a long European trip (next year) where we will go to Europe on a Repo cruise, spend about 6 weeks driving (at least 10 days in Italy) and return home on the Queen Mary 2. Love those trip that totally avoid air :)

 

Hank

[euro cruiser]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when I'm ready for a new car Volvo will still be running the promotion where they fly you to Europe to pick up your car, you drive it around then return it to Volvo and they ship it into the States as a used car. Volvo has been in my consideration set anyway, and if this promotion is still in effect it might just push me toward a purchase decision. I really like Hank's transatlantic idea too ... I wonder if I can get Volvo to knock the cost of the airline ticket off the price of the car and still do the pick it up, drive it around Europe, and drop it back off part?

[iancal]

After many land trips to Europe, this is the first cruise to/from Rome, or to Livorno in fact. This year we are doing two-an Adriatic and a TA.

 

Every time we looked at this is the past, we always passed in favor of a vacation where we could spend several days in each area. We love Italy and you are exactly right, a cruise ship is really not he way to see it, let alone experience all those wonderful regions in Italy. Same applies to lots of other European destinations.

[travelnnana]

I agree - San Gimmi - Voleterra - Siena - anywhere in Tuscany - Chianti Wine tour

[Hlitner]

After many land trips to Europe, this is the first cruise to/from Rome, or to Livorno in fact. This year we are doing two-an Adriatic and a TA.

 

Every time we looked at this is the past, we always passed in favor of a vacation where we could spend several days in each area. We love Italy and you are exactly right, a cruise ship is really not he way to see it, let alone experience all those wonderful regions in Italy. Same applies to lots of other European destinations.

 

We have been thinking about spending a month in a single part of Italy and our #1 choice (if we can find an appropriate apartment) would be within 10 miles of San Gimignano. Having been all over Italy (from the Swiss border to Sicily) Tuscany remains our favorite part of the country. As we grow older we do find ourselves spending a lot more time on cruises (we prefer longer cruises of at least 3 weeks) where we only have to unpack one time. But although our land trips involve a lot more work (we drive and do our own thing) the rewards far exceed what we get out of cruises. Walking around San Gimignano during the day, when the streets are packed with day tourists, is fun. But walking those same streets late at night when they are desserted, the old fashioned lights throw shadows on the walls, etc. is truly magical. DW once pointed out that what we experienced on those streets late at night was not much changed from what folks would have experienced over 1000 years ago (except the flames have been replaced by electric bulbs).

 

Hank