From the Villa Il Passo degli Ulivi over 15 cities of art can be reached witihin a 2h drive by car.
With such a rich selection it is just impossible to get bored.
Here below is a list of cities and towns in the surroundings that are indeed worth a visit, ordered by the travel time from the Villa Il Passo degli Ulivi.
A 45-minute drive away.
The city of the "Palio" - the world-renowned horse race, brick buildings, pointed arches and elegance.
Not to be missed.
Siena - Piazza del Campo
Monteriggioni. Photo credits castellitoscani
A 50-minute drive away.
The walled village par excellence, a Sienese bulwark built to defend the Republic of Siena from its powerful Florentine neighbour.
A 1-hour and 10-minute drive away.
Italy's most famous wine area, the "Eroica" route (the famous bycicle race), the once-upon-a-time border between the domains of the Republic of Siena and the Signoria of Florence.
This and much more is Chianti.
Castellina in Chianti, Radda in Chianti and Gaiole in Chianti are the reference villages of the Sienese Chianti.
A 1-hour and 15-minute drive away.
Neither a village nor a town, a mixture of the medieval Sienese and the renaissance style of Pienza, straddling the Val di Chiana and the Val d'Orcia.
Unexpected and beautiful.
Montepulciano - Piazza Grande
San Gimignano. Photo credits Il Bottaccio
A 1-hour and 20-minute drive away.
The medieval Tuscan village par excellence. An endless series of towers challenging the authority of rival families.
Unique.
A 1-hour and 30-minute drive away.
Queen of the Val di Chiana and birthplace of Petrarch, renowned poet and founder of the humanism.
Humanism helped rediscover the classical antiquity after the long dark years of the Middle Ages, thus letting the european culture be born again.
The historical architecture bears witness to the town's early submission to the Florentine Signoria.
Firenze - Santissima Annunziata Square
A 1-hour and 40-minute drive away.
The city of art par excellence, the cradle of Humanism and the Renaissance.
To be visited at any cost.
A 1-hour and 45-minute drive away.
Historic fortified town, capital of the Umbria region.
First Etruscan, then Roman, then seat of a Signoria in the Middle Ages and finally ruled by the Papal State during the Renaissance. A cradle of history.
Not to be missed.
A 2-hour drive away.
Pisa and Livorno are two very different cities linked by their seafaring traditions.
The first, elegant and distinguished, was founded as a maritime Republic and is now home to a historic and prestigious university.
The second, home to Tuscany's main port, is known for the exuberant spirit of its inhabitants.
A 2-hour drive away.
A fortified town on the border between the three regions of Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria, known for its magnificent cathedral: a masterpiece of central Italian Gothic architecture.
Construction took place between the 13th and 16th centuries.
Assisi. Photo credits Wikipedia
A 2-hour drive away.
Assisi and Spello are two Umbrian village towns with breathtaking historical architecture in common.
Assisi is known for the Basilica of St. Francis, which has always been a place of pilgrimage for believers, built at the behest of the Papal States between the 13th and 14th centuries.
Spello, a short distance from Assisi, is a fortified village of rare beauty in typical Papal State style.
A 2-hour and 15-minute drive away.
Located on the slopes of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, this town is a rare example of an italian merchant town that remained independent practically until the modern age.
Lucca - Piazza Anfiteatro. Photo credits Tuscanypeople
