La Dolce Vita Wine Tours

Xtreme Tuscany

A gourmet wine tour spotlighting Brunello di Montalcino & Bolgheri’s Super Tuscans

Trip Notes:

Airport

Pisa or Florence (continental) or Rome (intercontinental). To land in Pisa or Florence, you’ll need to connect somewhere in Europe. From Florence to Pisa by train, it takes only 1 hour, and trains leave twice an hour (see below). Rome is the closest intercontinental airport with direct flights to the US. If arriving in Rome, you’ll need to take a train from the airport to town (30 min). Then from Rome’s main train station, it’s about 3 hours to Pisa on the fast train (EuroStar); the latter requires reservations.

Pre-tour

Plan to land in Italy at least a day before the tour begins; that’s necessary to be at our starting point on time. We recommend spending the preceding night in Pisa. For hotel suggestions, consult a good hotel search engine, such as TripAdvisor or Venere.

Meeting point

Our meeting point is the Pisa train station, in front of the station. Please let us know if you are arriving by train that morning.

Departure day

On our final day, we’ll have you back at the Florence train station by noon. (Drive time from Montalcino is approximately 2-1/2 hours.)

Italian train schedule

Click here for an English-language version of TrenItalia. Be aware that the schedule is posted only several months in advance, so if you're looking for long-range dates, try something sooner, just to get an idea of departure frequency and trip length.

Trip extensions

Since our meeting place is Pisa, most people arrive a day early to spend the day sightseeing. One day is sufficient to cover the main sights. These include th Leaning Tower of Pisa, of course, but don’t ignore the Cathedral and Baptistry, the latter being noted for its remarkable acoustics (a guard demonstrates every half-hour) and its pulpit by Nicolo Pisano, an important precursor to the Renaissance. Pisa also has an excellent art museum filled with treasures by Simone Martini, Fra Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli, and other medieval stars. Because Xtreme Tuscany does not include any time in Florence, we also recommend spending a few days there after our tour. The city is easy to navigate on your own. But there are also excellent thematic walking tours offered by our friends at ContextTravel. If you’d like to explore other small-sized cities in Tuscany, Florence is well connected with Lucca (1 hr, 20 min) and Arezzo (1 hr) by train. And it’s just a hop and a skip to Rome on the EuroStar express train (1 hr 35 min).

Travel insurance

This is recommended to protect you from needless loss caused by last-minute cancellations, lost luggage, and more. One source is Travelex Insurance: www.travelexinsurance.com, (800) 228-9792 (please use our compay code: 21-0043 LDV).

Weather

When packing, check www.weather.com. Go to “Pisa, Italy” and “Montalcino, Italy” to get a general idea of temperatures and forecast. In June, the weather should be spectacular, with daytime temperatures in the low 80s and nighttime temps cooling off to around 65º.

Reading

Articles by La Dolce Vita Wine Tours cofounder Patricia Thomson:
"Castello Banfi: Transforming Brunello"
"Supertuscans for Mere Mortals"
"Wines in Florence: Frescobaldi and the Rise of the Wine Bar"