The hill towns of Tuscany are beautiful places to wander round, and children often find them just as magical as the grownups, particularly when ice-cream is involved! Here are some of our favourites:
a. Siena. The centre is entirely pedestrianised, which makes looking after the children that little bit more relaxing. The shell-shaped Piazza del Campo is just a natural playground – made for chasing pigeons! It flows towards the doors of of the Palazzo Pubblico, still Siena’s town hall. If the children are old enough, you can climb the impressively tall “Torre del Mangia” (so called because it costs so much to build – “Mangia” means to eat and it was joked that the structure was ‘eating money’!). Even the frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico are fun for children – take them to see the “Allegory of Good government” which shows the result of good government contrasted to the results of bad governance on the opposite wall, and spot the differences…
Fienile, Villa Ascarello, Costafabbri – all very close to Siena
Ambrogio Lorenzetti [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
b. Hill towns like San Gimignano and Monteriggioni also have towers to climb, high walkways that will be exciting for the children, are pedestrianised and have excellent ice-cream shops, particularly the “Gelateria Dondoli” in the main square at San Gimignano. Many of the smaller villages and towns, like Casole d’Elsa, Pienza, Montalcino are also pedestrianised and have great things to explore and see – the narrow alleyways make for a great playground.
Pinolo, small family villa on the edge of the village of Casole d'Elsa
The museums in Tuscany are world class – some of them now have developed separate sections dedicated to children. Some of our favourites are the “Museo dei Ragazzi” in Siena, close to the Cathedral (the English section of the website is not working yet). In Florence the Museo Stibbert has a special section for children as does the Museo Galilei, which has made a whole series of experiments for children to understand the method and curiosity of the great scientist Galileo Galilei.
By Museo Galileo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Before swimming pools become so ubiquitous we all used to swim in the
rivers – and there are some beautiful natural pools dotted along
Tuscany’s rivers. If you drive to Brenna (google maps),
near Siena, you can leave your car near the Pizzeria (great for when
you get back) and walk up river, stopping at the various pools. If you
wish you can cross the weir with your car and drive up the dirt track –
the road goes on for miles, always close to the river so you can stop
where you see parking spots and head off to the right to see what you
discover. While you’re here, you could also go by the tiny village of
“Orgia” and visit the Museo del Bosco, a museum about how these woods
used to be farmed, used and inhabited. Tiny, but fun - and there are themed, marked paths through the local woods too.
Emilio and others at Montestigliano, Cerreto or the luxury villa of Pipistrelli – all close to Brenna and the river Merse
River swimming in the river Merse, near Brenna
For days when you want something a little more organised, Tuscany does have places like zoos and waterparks. AquaVillagehas two large waterparks, one in Cecina, and the other in Follonica, further south. I haven’t visited these so, if you go, let me know what you think! Pistoia, just north east of Florence, is a beautiful city in its own right, at the feet of the Apennines – but it also has a zoo, with a “laboratory for bio-diversity”. Worth a trip.
Mixing with the natives at the Pistoia Zoo - Photo courtesy of Tiziana Gori
This is a favourite of mine and I used to a lot of it as a child in Tuscany – it’s still fun, though you must take care as these places often really are abandoned. One of my favourites is a small village near San Gimignano, called Castelvecchio. According to local tradition it was abandoned after the Plague of the 1480s, though the reality is a little more complicated and Castelvecchio was actually caught in a power struggle between San Gimignano and Volterra. The bases of the houses are still visible in the holm oak woods, and the church is still standing. Once a year, a mass is still celebrated in the church.
The Rocca di Sillano seen from the air.
Other good places are the castle of Rocca Sillano (google maps & Visit details), out in a very wild part of Tuscany (and with excellent wild swimming in the River Pavone, in the valley below) and the Abbey of San Galgano (google maps), complete with a roofless abbey and a chapel with a sword in a stone!
Faggio, one of 3 apartments on a farm near San Galgano
High in the mountains north of Florence and Lucca, there is an enormous cave formation with long sections that you can visit. It was impressive last time I saw it, apparently further sections have been opened recently making it even larger. This is a great place to visit if the August heat is getting a little too much as you drive up into the Apennines and then spend a day in a large, cool, dripping cave – refreshing! And it IS magical.
By Kessiye (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
