Itinerary · 7 days · 35 places
7 Days in Tuscany
Seven days in Tuscany: three days in Florence between the cathedral, the Uffizi and the Oltrarno, a day in shell-shaped Siena and three days in the Val d'Orcia with Pienza, Montepulciano, Bagno Vignoni and Montalcino.
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Photo: Giuseppe Di Maria · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arriving in Florence
Arrival in Florence
Hotel check-in
Stay between Santa Croce and Piazza della Signoria; from here the cathedral, the Uffizi and the Ponte Vecchio are all within a ten-minute walk.
Piazza della Signoria
The city's political square, with the copy of David in front of the Palazzo Vecchio and the marble groups beneath the open Loggia dei Lanzi, among them Cellini's bronze Perseus.
Basilica di Santa Croce
Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are buried in this Franciscan church, and in the cloister the Cappella dei Pazzi is Brunelleschi's most austere space.
Ponte Vecchio
The only bridge left standing in 1944, now packed tightly with goldsmiths' shops; above them the Vasari Corridor runs unseen from the Palazzo Vecchio to the Pitti.
Evening: Piazzale Michelangelo
The viewing terrace above the Arno, from where the dome and the tower of the Signoria stand floodlit over the old town after sunset.
Day 2Cathedral, market and Uffizi
Dome of Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore)
463 steps between the inner and outer shells of Brunelleschi's dome, past the Last Judgement by Vasari and Zuccari, up to the lantern above the city.
Battistero San Giovanni
The octagonal baptistery opposite the cathedral, with its golden mosaic sky inside and Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise on the east side (the panels outside are copies; the originals are in the cathedral museum).
Mercato Centrale
The cast-iron market hall of 1874: butchers, cheese and the Florentines' lampredotto stalls downstairs, a floor of food stalls upstairs.
Galleria degli Uffizi
Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, Leonardo's Annunciation and Caravaggio's Medusa in Vasari's long Medici office building.
Palazzo Vecchio
The Salone dei Cinquecento with Vasari's battle frescoes and the secret staircases inside the walls, and behind it the tiny Studiolo of Francesco I.
Evening: Piazza Santo Spirito
The scruffy square in the Oltrarno where Florentines sit on the steps in the evening in front of Brunelleschi's plain church façade, with the small bars all around open.
Day 3Oltrarno and David
Palazzo Pitti
The massive Medici palace on the left bank of the Arno, whose Galleria Palatina still shows Raphael's Madonna della Seggiola and a dozen Titians in their 18th-century hang across the walls.
Boboli Gardens
The terraced court garden behind the Pitti, with the amphitheatre, the Neptune Fountain and the stalactite-like Grotta del Buontalenti at the entrance.
Basilica di Santa Maria Novella
Alberti's marble façade and, inside, Masaccio's Trinity, the first fresco with correct central perspective, plus Ghirlandaio's fresco cycle in the choir.
Galleria dell'Accademia
At the end of the gallery Michelangelo's David stands in a rotunda built especially for it, preceded by the unfinished Slaves still half-trapped in their marble blocks.
Museo di San Marco
In this Dominican friary Fra Angelico painted each of the 44 monks' cells with its own fresco; the Annunciation hangs at the top of the stairs.
Evening: Borgo San Frediano
The long artisans' street in the Oltrarno, where workshops, wine bars and trattorias stay open side by side in the evening and tour groups are rare.
Day 4Siena around the Campo
Onward to Siena
Hotel check-in
Piazza del Campo
The shell-shaped square slopes down in nine brick segments towards the Palazzo Pubblico; twice each summer the Palio is raced around its ring of tufa sand.
Siena Cathedral
Black-and-white striped columns, Pisano's marble pulpit and a floor of 56 inlaid panels that is only fully uncovered in late summer and autumn; next door the Piccolomini Library with Pinturicchio's frescoes.
Torre del Mangia
400 narrow steps up the bell tower of the Palazzo Pubblico, with a panoramic view at the top over the tiled roofs to the Crete Senesi; entry is in small groups.
Basilica di San Domenico
The bare brick church above the Fontebranda valley, in whose chapel the head of St Catherine of Siena is kept as a relic.
Evening: Via di Città
The curving main street on the ridge between the Campo and the cathedral, lit and quiet in the evening, with old palace façades and a few enoteche still open.
Day 5Pienza and Montepulciano
Onward to Pienza
Hotel check-in
Piazza Pio II
The trapezoidal Renaissance square that Pius II had built in his home village within three years: cathedral, Palazzo Piccolomini and town hall are placed so that no façade takes the sun from another.
Via del Casello town-wall walk
The narrow walkway along Pienza's southern wall, with the whole Val d'Orcia spread out below and Monte Amiata on the horizon; along the way, cheese shops selling Pecorino di Pienza.
Piazza Grande in Montepulciano
At the very top of the ridge: the unfinished-façade cathedral, the Palazzo Comunale with its crenellated tower and the well with the two Medici lions.
Cantina Contucci
Beneath the Palazzo Contucci on Piazza Grande, Vino Nobile ages in chestnut casks in 13th-century cellars; tastings take place right in the vaults.
Evening: Montepulciano's Corso
The street Via di Gracciano nel Corso climbs from the town gate past Renaissance palaces; in the evening the enoteche are open and the view stretches far across the plain.
Day 6Thermal springs and cypresses in the Val d'Orcia
Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta
The small stone chapel stands alone on a ridge between Pienza and San Quirico; a farm track leads there from the San Quirico–Pienza road, and in the morning mist often still lingers in the hollows.
Horti Leonini
San Quirico d'Orcia's 16th-century public Renaissance garden, strictly clipped into box-hedge triangles and closed off by a grove of holm oaks.
Collegiata dei Santi Quirico e Giulitta
Romanesque parish church on the Via Francigena with three very different portals, whose lion figures and knotted columns are the work of Lombard stonemasons.
Piazza delle Sorgenti in Bagno Vignoni
Instead of a square, a rectangular Medici-era thermal pool lies in the middle of the village, steaming with 50-degree water; bathing in it is not allowed.
Parco dei Mulini
Below the village the thermal water cascades over white travertine terraces into the Orcia valley, past four medieval mills carved into the rock.
Rocca di Tentennano
The Salimbeni family's white defensive tower on the rocky outcrop above Rocca d'Orcia, from whose platform you overlook the whole valley to Monte Amiata.
Evening: old-town lanes of San Quirico d'Orcia
Within the fully intact ring of walls the lanes are almost empty in the evening; on Via Dante Alighieri a few wine bars and the bar by the town hall stay open.
Day 7Montalcino and back to the airport
Abbazia di Sant'Antimo
The Romanesque abbey church of pale travertine stands alone in an olive-filled valley below Castelnuovo dell'Abate; in the choir the alabaster columns let the morning light through.
Fortezza di Montalcino
The pentagonal fortress of 1361 at the town's highest point: from the ramparts the view takes in the Brunello slopes, and down in the courtyard an enoteca pours the local wines.
Departure from Florence
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