Every week, someone tells me they’re thinking about renting a car for their Tuscany trip. And every week, I try to talk them out of it — at least for this part of it. Florence, Pisa, and Lucca sit close enough together that a car actively works against you. All...
Here’s the Pisa experience 90% of day-trippers have. Get off the train, walk fifteen minutes, take the photo where you’re “holding up” the tower with one hand while a stranger does the exact same pose four feet to your left, buy a fridge...
A few weeks ago, a guest asked me what “allora” meant — because her Italian neighbor had used it on her and she wasn’t sure if she’d been complimented or diagnosed. We spent the next twenty minutes somewhere between Siena and a hilltop we were, in theory,...
Pisa has a reputation problem – and honestly, it frustrates me every time. Most travelers jump off the train, take the mandatory leaning tower photo, grab a gelato, and leave convinced they’ve “done Pisa”. Meanwhile, just a short distance away, Lucca...
Florence is not a street food city in the way most people expect. There are no endless food trucks, no chaotic night markets, no neon-lit snack stalls on every corner. And honestly? That’s part of the charm. What Florence does have is something quieter and far...
There’s a sentence I hear constantly from travelers planning a Tuscany trip: We’re thinking about doing a quick day trip to Lucca. And every time, I think the same thing: that city deserves so much better than a quick stop. Lucca is one of the few places...
