Tuscany is one of the most visited regions of Italy, known as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and famous for its beautiful landscapes and fine wine. I had heard people rave about visiting Tuscany, and I knew it had to be one of my stops in Italy!
I was coming from Southern France, so the best route was for me to take a train from Marseille, France to Genoa, Italy. You can read my post on Marseille here. Genoa is a port city on Italy’s northwestern coast, best known as the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. While there are plenty of majestic buildings and squares that have stood for centuries in the historic part of town, the city of Genoa is really a working port city. There are not a lot of sights to see and people are generally busy with their daily lives. Overall, it’s not a bad place to wander for an evening if you find yourself in transit there, but I would not recommend it as a tourist destination.
However, Genoa is a great transit point to catch trains to all of Tuscany. I left Genoa in the morning, knowing I needed to be in Florence by evening, but I wanted to explore some of the region first. Pisa is only about an hour by train from Florence and I wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person. I had also heard great things about the walled city of Lucca not far from Pisa. I decided to make a full day of it and visit both!
I took a train from Genoa to Pisa, then hopped a local train to Lucca to start the adventure. Lucca is an ancient city on the Serchio river. Founded by the Etruscans, it became a Roman colony in 180 BC. It is famous today for its intact walls and quaint old town.
Most of the modern buildings in Lucca are outside of the ancient walled city, preserving its heritage. The entirety of the old town is no more than two miles across in either direction and fully encircled by the ancient wall.
The train station is outside of the old town, so when I arrived I found a visitor center to get a map from (maps are free at the visitor center – don’t pay the vendors selling them at the train station!). As I walked up to the main gate, I was struck by how old the walls looked. They were the color of red rust, crumbling slightly in some parts, but entirely beautiful.
The Old Town was beautiful and quaint. There are very few cars in the Old Town, and those mostly stick to the wider streets around the edge, so most of the narrow, cobbled streets are filled with people on bicycles or on foot. There are beautiful squares with ancient churches, tiny alleys lined with shops, and plenty of restaurants where you can sit and enjoy the sights.
I wandered for a time through the streets, going to all of the major squares and into some of the famous churches. I climbed up to the top of the wall and followed the wide thoroughfare at the top for a time, enjoying looking out over the city within and the golden plain without.
After a few hours of wandering, and stopping for a delicious fresh mozzarella panini, I decided to head back to Pisa. Lucca was very charming, definitely worth a visit if you’ll be in the region, but is certainly a tourist draw, a little crowded for my taste.
Pisa turned out to be crowded, hot, and with only one redeeming feature – seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa! I walked there from the train station through the Corso Italia, which was choked with tourists and vendors. I made the mistake of stopping for gelato on the way – expensive and over-sugary, definitely not true gelato. It’s really true that you should avoid buying food in tourist areas!
The Leaning Tower was quite lovely – all white marble and looking like it should fall over at any moment. The area is choked with tourists of course but I took several pictures, then headed back to the train station by a different route.
It was nice to see the Leaning Tower, but I’d only recommend Pisa as a day trip. You only need a few hours maximum to see the sights and get annoyed with the crowds. I ended up buying an earlier ticket to Florence so I could have more time to spend there. I enjoyed my day trip in Tuscany though, and was ready to head on to its capital!
