Florence, Pisa and Livorno
Oct 2019
We visited Florence upon arrival in Italy, followed by several days in Tuscany. Loved the Mercado in Florence.....try the pasta with shaved truffle, what a treat! After the obligatory sightseeing in Florence, we loved our drive through the Tuscany countryside and numerous villages including Montepulciano and Cortona. We did a round trip through Livorno which we were expecting to be special as it is on the seaside. It is a rather old town but we enjoyed 2 days near the sea. We stopped in Pisa on our way to Lucca and just stopped long enough to visit the Leaning Tower. We loved Lucca and could have used a few extra days there. We had a challenge backtracking to the Pisa Airport and it was after taking some wrong turns that we finally found a sign to the airport. A GPS is pretty mandatory in Italy as we found out after wasting time finding our way around. Loved Tuscany and could spend a few months living like a local. Do get good local maps !! Be aware that you cannot drive in the center of some of the towns. Rick Steeves really covers these issues in his book on Italy and I relied on some of his opinions.
Arleen604
