PLACES TO SEE

PLACES TO SEE

Okay, there are a lot of places to see in Italy, and you'll be buying one or more guidebooks (see Books and Links) and making your selections. Besides the above links, we offer two you may not find in guidebooks.

MONTEREGGIONI

The most impressive, and then memorable, part of traveling through Tuscany is the hill towns, dozens of them.

There are many large and impressive hill towns (see link below). To see most of them properly you should spend at least a day, to get the flavor and full experience. But, if your plans give you only a few hours, we recommend Montereggioni, sw of Florence and just a bit of a detour as you drive between Florence and Rome. Besides a concise, and frightening, history, the town offers a very good hotel, some decent restaurants, and a few artists. It's small, allowing you to get the full flavor of a hill town in a brief visit.

Hint: Don't take the first parking lot, and don't try to drive into the city. Drive up to the gate, then bear right to park.

NOTE: For an interesting discussion of hill towns, go to
http://www.initaly.com/regions/hilltowns/michael.htm

VINCI

Not far west of Florence lies Leonardo's birthplace. It's worth a visit for the museum of his work and life, and also for the wonderful Art Studio Fratelli Taccini you'll find on the left side as you enter a stretch of industrial buildings before you get to Vinci (coming from Florence).

Marvelous ceramics (check www.taccini.it) such as this pair we bought. (We couldn't afford a whole service of this pattern. It would have cost about $10,000 for 8 place settings -- in 2000 dollars!.)

The town is charming, with a number of restaurants. Give yourself at least an hour in the museum.

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