Hello, I am going to Tuscany in May. I plan to rent a villa. I stayed in Cetona 5 years ago. It is lovely. I am considering Cortona this time. I would love to hear your opinion. It is nice to be able to take a bus to train or to walk to a town and to be in a central location. Also,the best ones to visit-like Pitigialano! Thank you. Chow. MorganLee
***Tuscany spelling corrected only***
[This message was edited by Colleen on 01 February 2004 at 08:56 PM.]
Have you visited the Slow Travel website? It provides lots of trip planning help, as well as several ideas for itineraries, including this descriptive page on towns and "Where to stay in Tuscany."
The location of your village (although Cortona hardly qualifies as a village) depends on what you want to do and what kind of day trips you want to make.
You will have found that Cetona, as lovely as it is, is not very centrally located for touring most of Tuscany...since it is in the far southern part of Tuscany, near the Lazio/Umbria border. Same thing for Cortona, although Cortona is certainly convenient to Perugia, Assisi, Todi, etc. in Umbria and Arezzo in Tuscany.
If you are looking for a central location in Tuscany, consider the areas north (Chianti) or south (Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano) of Siena....you will find your day trips much more convenient.
Pitigliano is well worth a visit, but I think you will find quite remote from most places in Tuscany. Even from Montalcino or Pienza, you are looking at 90 minutes or more each way.
If you have read the board, you know that I love Pienza....but there are scores of towns that would serve your purposes.
I on the other hand (sorry Jim) will say that the area around Pitigliano is none too remote for a week's visit. The Maremma is a totaly different experience of Tuscany that would be Montalcino (my favorite) or Montepulciano or Pienza or anywhere else.
Having spent a week in Le Marche, I would say that the Maremma offers a similar experience in that there are lots of small things and loads of peaceful non tourist dominated life going on around you. There is good food in abundance and great wine. There is also wide open spaces, light industrial areas, and built up beaches. You can hike, explore ruins, explore lovely little town with wonderful old buildings (Sovana, Sorano, Saturnia, Scansano, Bolgheri, Rosselle (an old Etruscan site) etc etc etc) If this sounds good to you, and if you like old stones (as I do or as fanatically as Bill Thayer does) then you should put this area on your list.
>>the area around Pitigliano is none too remote for a week's visit<<
I agree with you Dean...the Pitigliano area is a great place to base yourself for a week.
I was responding to Morgan's request for a central location for visiting Tuscany....and since he mentioned Pitigliano, I was just pointing out that it is "a far piece" for a day trip, even from the closest more central locations like Montalcino or Pienza.
Born and grown up in a small village (Civitella) and living now in another small village although unfortunately only at the week-end (Pari), I must support the area!
In your searches onboard, you should also find, in addition to the Roccastrada area, very favorable mention of Anghiari, Caprese Michelangelo (birthplace to the painter), and the villages of the Lunigiana and the Garfagnana. There's also what appears to be a very nice chunk of landscape with attractive villages just NE of Florence, in the province of Florence, but I don't remember seeing anything onboard -- Marradi (there's also an official site, but it's very slow-loading), Firenzuola, Barberino di Mugello, etc.
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