Tuscany 2026

Home, United Kingdom

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0100

Day 8 Our journey home. Up at 5.15am, breakfast at 5.45am and on board the coach at 6.15am for the hour and a half drive to Pisa Airport. After a very rapid check-in, security and passport control were chaotic but we made the gate on time. Much to our relief passport clearance and luggage reclaim at Birmingham were a breeze, our driver (arranged through Riviera Travel) was waiting for us in his extremely nice Merc and we were home by about 1.45pm.

Our travelling companions

Pisa, Italy

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:40:00 +0200

Day 7 - Afternoon From Lucca it was just half an hours drive to our next and final destination, Pisa. As usual, coach parking was only permitted some distance from where we needed to be so we were pleased to find that we’d been booked on one of the many ‘Noddy’ trains (road trains) that shuttle between the coach park and Pisa’s famous tower etc. The tower, and indeed some of the other nearby buildings, are spectacular. There’s the Duomo (cathedral) and Battistero di San Giovanni, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John to whom it is dedicated (the patron saint of the city, John the Baptist). We enjoyed a light lunch at a remarkably reasonable price given the prime location adjacent to the tower. A shorter time in Pisa (and longer in Lucca) would have suited us better. Our return ride on the ‘Noddy’ train was at 4.15pm which meant quite a late arrival back at the hotel (about an hour and forty-five minutes drive in heavy traffic) and about an hour to recover and get ready for dinner. Our final dinner of the holiday was, for me, probably the best with a main course of swordfish and Mediterranean vegetables. It was time to say our fond farewells to our fellow travellers, many of whom we had got to know quite well during the week - and to Ceci our tour manager, who hailed from Brazil, spoke fluently in four languages and was very well travelled.

The ‘Noddy’ train in Pisa

Walking towards the famous tower

A better idea of the angle

Our tour manager - Ceci

Lucca, Italy

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:30:00 +0200

Day 7 (Morning) After breakfast, we were transported to the city of Lucca, located on the river Serchio and birthplace of the great composer Puccini. In many respects a typical Italian city with walls, narrow streets and squares, but somehow also a little different - possibly because it really feels lived in rather than just full of tourists. We’d have liked a little more time here and an opportunity to walk at least a section of the walls. However we had to move on to our next, and final destination of the holiday - Pisa.

The Piazza dell'Anfiteatro in Lucca

The ornate facade of San Michele in Foro, a Roman Catholic basilica

Siena, Italy

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 10:30:00 +0200

Day 6 After breakfast we had a short drive to Siena, famous for its main square, Piazza del Campo, unusually formed in a half-moon shape. The square is used for horse racing twice a year. We had a guided tour of the city in the morning and in the afternoon some free time to further explore. Again, dinner at the hotel in the evening.

The medieval square Piazza del Campo and the tall Torre del Mangia in Siena

The Piazza del Campo

Our group in Siena

A view of the city centre featuring the prominent brick structure of the Basilica of San Domenico in the distance

The Piazza del Campo

The Gothic-Romanesque facade of the Baptistery of San Giovanni

The Piazza del Campo

A light lunch!

Florence, Italy

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 10:30:00 +0200

Day 5 We left the hotel around 8.15am for the hours drive to Florence. The morning was taken up with a guided walking tour to discover the 'classic' sights of Florence in the care of a very knowledgable and entertaining local guide, Roberto, taking in the Domo and other well known landmarks. At the conclusion of the walk we had an hour or so’s free time for lunch etc and settled on a ‘hidden gem’ in the Hidden Garden just off the Main Street - the Serre Torrigiani in Piazzetta — a garden‑courtyard bar/restaurant just off the main shopping street, Via dei Calzaiuoli. Very nice indeed! The afternoon involved a visit the Uffizi Gallery. It was extremely busy, hot and difficult to navigate so we left this without really seeing much of it, and instead enjoyed gelato in one of the nearby squares. After meeting up with the group again we had about a mile walk back to the coach parking area and an hour drive back to the hotel. Dinner at the hotel had been put back to 8pm so we had time to recover and freshen up after a long day and about five and three quarters miles walking.

Basilica of Santa Maria Novella

Florence Cathedral (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore) and Giotto's Campanile (unfortunately wrapped in scaffolding)

The massive terracotta dome of the Florence Cathedral

The Gates of Paradise on the Florence Baptistery

Central Florence

The grand triumphal arch, known as the Arcone, and the surrounding 19th-century architecture of the Piazza della Repubblica

Fountain of Neptune statue in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence

Replica reproduction statue of Michelangelo's David at the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio (the left statue)

In the Uffizi Gallery

Volterra, Italy

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 10:30:00 +0200

Day 4 After breakfast, there was a bit of a delay before we were able to leave for our planned visit to Volterra. Our brand new coach had developed a software fault which prevented the driver from closing and locking the doors. This was fortunately fixed remotely (the wonders of technology) and then we were on our way. Volterra is known as the city of Alabaster, and we visited an Alabaster workshop where we had a demonstration of the age-old craft by a skilled artisan. A very interesting experience. After the visit there was time for a little exploring and a light lunch before finding our way back to the meeting point to pick up the coach for our journey back to the hotel and a delayed siesta. As usual dinner, preceded by yet more Aperol spritzers, was in the hotel restaurant. ,

Monteriggioni (in the distance) from our hotel this morning

Volterra

Volterra Town Hall - one of the oldest in Europe

Our guide at the alabaster works

Craftsman at work

Part of the alabaster works showroom

In the town

Volterra - lunch!

Monteriggioni, Italy

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 10:20:00 +0200

Day 3 Today should have been an excursion to Florence but for unknown reasons that was put back to later in the week, and today we were able to take a shuttle bus from the hotel to the nearby historic walled fortress town of Monteriggioni about 10 minutes drive away. It is said to be one of Italy’s best preserved historic ‘towns’ - actually a very small stone built settlement built around the Piazza Roma, the main square. We ventured on to a section of the walls (about 10m high), had coffee and pastries in the square, went in the church of Santa Maria Assunta and ended our visit in the very pleasant garden of the Ristorante da Remo where we had a lovely light lunch accompanied by a local rosé - although it actually looked a shade more orange than rosé. We returned to the hotel for the rest of the afternoon and relaxed by the pool with suitable refreshments.

Monteriggioni

View from the walls

Ristorante da Nero

San Gimignano, Italy

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 23:50:00 +0200

Day 2 After breakfast, we spent the first part of the day enjoying the countryside and visiting one of Italy’s most beautiful villages, San Gimignano, famous for its award winning gelato - and for its stunning skyline of fourteen towers built by rival nobles during the 13th century, Here we enjoyed some free time before moving on to a magnifient buffet lunch and wine tasting at a beautiful Tuscan agriturismo - San Donato. Their traditional menu, and vines, are almost wholly homegrown. A very pleasant and very sociable experience.

San Gimignano

San Gimignano - lavender shop

The ice cream queue

Worth the wait!

San Gimignano

A selection of San Donato wines

Lunch - all home grown or locally produced

Lunch in the gardens at San Donato

Ready for bottling?

A lovely wine produced on site.

Arrival

Sat, 19 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0200

Day 1 An early morning start and a 6.30am flight from Birmingham eventually got us to our destination at Hotel Picallo II, near Monteriggioni, a historic fortress town just outside Siena. It didn’t take long to settle down in the lovely gardens with our first Aperol spritzers of the holiday. Then a lovely dinner and a relatively early night after a very long day.

Our hotel

Hotel entrance

Hotel pool

Very spacious room and massive bed