small undiscovered charming town
Hi,
We are looking for a small (possibly walled) town in the
region between Venice/Florence and the Cinque Terre.
..been to San Gimignano
...any ideas?
Constance
Constance
Vacaville, california USA 3/14/13
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My pick would be Lucca - though not a small undiscovered town - is there any such thing as undiscovered anymore?
I second the vote for Lucca!! It is a walled city, actually I believe it's called a rampart. It is wide, enough so that there is a road and green area on both sides. We rented bikes and rode around. We climbed to the top of Guinigi Tower for stunning views of Lucca and the countryside. We attended a Puccini night concert at the Church of San Giovanni. The city is easy to walk. The train station is right across the street from the wall, so easy public access. We found good food. I will return.
Lucca is hardly "undiscovered." We'll be going to Bergamo this May, after having heard lots of wonderful things about it. The upper historic center is a walled medieval hilltop town with views out over the surrounding valley, unlike Lucca which is on a flat plain.
However, it's NW of Milan, so might be out of your area.
You will have a car, correct? I suggest Barga in the Garfagnana area north of Lucca, in th emountains:
http://www.buk.irk.ru/village_barga/barga.htm
Or perhaps Castelnuovo in the same area (it has a wall, I believe):
http://www.castelnuovogarfagnana.org/index.php?pag=34
There's actually 2 parts to Bergamo - alta and bassa!
Another for Lucca, based on personal experience.
I haven't heard of Lola's suggestion - but she would know. Probably take hers over mine unless you prefer the things Lucca has to offer including towers, gelato, bike around the walls or walk around the walls, easy train station.
If Rick has been somewhere it isn't undiscovered. Rick has done a TV show about Lucca.
Pistoia is a small city of about 90,000 people, but has a charming walled core area.
Nigel-thanks for the vote of confidence. We spent two nights in Lucca and loved it. Climbed the tower, biked the walls, walked all the small streets. But where I really wanted to go, had we had more time, was up into the hills (Alpi Apuane) to the north. Both towns I mentioned, Barga and Castelnuovo, are much smaller than Lucca, remote, and very charming. They are in the hills east of Carrera. constance and her husband could come back to the coast at Piertosanto or just below Carrera, and drive up to La Spezia and Cinque Terre.
Nigel, I had a little chuckle reading your post. The first time we went to CT was in the early 90s, while it wasn't undiscovered it was relatively unknown to the masses. The next time we went, some 12 years later, you couldn't walk past a b&b, hotel, or cafe in any of the towns that didn't have a sandwich board out front saying "as recommended by Rick Steves."
Love Lucca and Bergamo. The alta citta in Bergamo has a music conservatory.
Certaldo. Don't tell anyone.
Montecatini
A little further south of Florence, but I loved both Cortona and Volterra, especially Volterra
Borghiditoscana.net
Or, for truly undiscovered towns:
http://www.borghitalia.it/
Pick your best choice.