Tuscany is the Italy people picture: hill towns, cypress drives, and long lunches. Plan beyond Florence here.
Siena packs its best into a small, walkable core, so even a few hours centered on the shell-shaped Campo and the striped Duomo feel complete. It makes an easy half-day escape from the Florence crowds.
The fourteen surviving towers are what’s left of a medieval arms race, where rival families competed to build higher than their neighbors. San Gimignano is essentially a skyline frozen mid-boast.
A few steps from Fiesole’s famous overlook, an unshowy trattoria serves hearty Tuscan plates at local prices, well below what the same meal would cost down in Florence.
Fans of Under the Tuscan Sun come to Cortona to glimpse Bramasole, the villa behind the book. The quieter surprise is the hill town around it, worth the climb whether or not you’ve read a word.