Si Toscana: Inside Guide
Si Toscana: Inside Guide
Sylvia Jansen’ s at-a-glance guide to top Tuscan tips.
Best advance planning: A few weeks— or even months— ahead, book an entry at the Uffizi Gallery and Accademia in Florence. Your Florence hotel will make your reservation if you ask. Once there, walk past the queues, get your ticket and go in.
Best single buy: Towns such as Siena, Florence, and Pisa will offer single tickets in a package to visit their churches, museums, and attractions. The bundled tickets have two great benefits: you have the chance to see the treasures most people miss and you get to see them without waiting in the crushing lineups! Find out about the bundles at any local tourist information office.
Best time to tour: Wake up early and arrive by 8 am for the Campo Santo in Pisa, or the sights of San Gimignano. An early start means great parking and a peaceful stroll.
Best wine tasting: The bar of Grand Hotel Continental, Siena: Via Banchi del Sopra 85( www. royaldemeure. com).
Best Canadian wine connection: Tolaini Estates, Strada Provinciale 9 di Pievasciata, 28 Castelnuovo Berardenga( www. tolaini. it). World class wine with a Winnipeg connection.
Best place to live like a local: The Siena Co-op, beside the main train station. Wine, bread, produce, and cheese: instant picnic.
Best splurge dinner: Arnolfo Ristorante, Via XX Settembre n. 50, Colle di Val d’ Elsa( www. arnolforistorante. com).
Best trattoria: Oltre I’ ll Giardino, Panzano: fantastic local specialties and a great wine list.
Best gelati: Mario Barone, Via G. del Secco n. 32, Colle di Val d’ Elsa. Divine.
Best butcher in Tuscany: L’ Antica Macelleria Cecchini, the butcher shop of Dario Cecchini in Panzano. The place looks like an art gallery, and offers a moveable feast. Top: Michelangelo’ s David in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence; Bottom: Dario Cecchini and staff hard at work in Panzano
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