Bucketlist: Exploring Tuscany by Vespa
Tuscany is
one of the most beautiful and popular areas of Italy. This is not surprising as
the region has a lot to offer. Beautiful city’s as Florence, Siena and Pisa.
But also the rolling hills, delicious wines, and yes, even beautiful beaches.
Therefore it is not recommended to limit yourself to staying at a single place,
but rather make a round trip. And what can be more fun than doing this round
trip by a typical Italian means of transport? The Vespa.
Vespa is an
Italian company that produces scooters since 1946. Vespa is Italian and stands
for ‘wasp’ because of the slim ‘waist’ of the scooters. The Vespa is now
inextricably linked to Italian culture, and you won’t be able to walk through
an Italian city without spotting a Vespa every few meters.
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How to rent a Vespa?
There are a number of different possibilities in order to discover Italy, or in this case in Tuscany, by Vespa. The first option is through a tour. This option is especially nice because you don’t need to plan anything. You can leave the planning up to someone who probably knows a lot more about the area than you do. You also have direct access to a guide. Hundreds of tours are offered online to discover Italy by Vespa. These vary from one-day tours, to multi-day tours, to full holidays by Vespa. Furthermore you can find both group and private tours. Whatever you like most. An example of such a ready-made multi-day tour is offered through "The Vespa Trip". They organize fully arranged trips in Tuscany, but also in Sicily and on the Amalfi Coast. More information here.
Good to
know A Vespa is
not the most easy means of transportation to drive. It is harder to control a Vespa
than an average scooter. In addition, a Vespa in Italy often has more CC than
an average scooter. Therefore, for the rental of a Vespa you need more than
just a scooter licence, but at least a car driving licence. Do not enter the road unprepared, follow the
traffic rules, and always pay close attention.
Another possibility
is to drive around on your own. This is the option we went for. It mainly is for
the people with a little more experience driving a motor or a scooter, and
specifically with a Vespa. You rent the Vespa at a rental company for one, or
more, days and have the freedom to go wherever you want. You can choose to make
up your own route, but the scooter rental often comes with a suggested route
outlined by the company.
Good to
know Do you want
to deviate from the suggested route? Keep in mind that although Vespa’s can
sometimes drive over 80 km/h, it is prohibited to enter the highway. Google
Maps has the option to avoid highways in your chosen route. Make sure you use
it in order to avoid ending up at the highway (like we did, oops).
When
renting a scooter, always pay attention to whether you are properly insured and
what the company's insurance, damage and / or breakdown policy is. We chose to
rent our Vespa at New Tuscany Scooter Rental, with rental locations in both
Florence and Siena, and our experience was very good. Halfway our trip our
scooter broke down and it was solved without any extra costs. Furthermore, they
have a very clear damage policy indicated on their website.
Exploring Tuscany
So you have rented the Vespa. What next? What places are worth visiting? We rented our Vespa for only one day because that was all the time we had, and we had a nice route planned out which you will find below. However, we have never been able to complete this route completely because our scooter broke down in the middle of nowhere with no phone range. It took two full hours before we could continue our trip with a new Vespa, so we had to shorten our route. If you do have a full day from Florence, this is a nice itinerary to follow.
We started
off in Florence. A beautiful city and absolutely worth a visit. There is a lot
to do and see, and I would definitely recommend you to spend at least one full
day in Florence. It would be a sin to only spend a few hours there. We already
spent a full day in Florence the day before, so we picked up our scooter in the
morning and immediately started our trip. Off to the first stop.
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Through the
hills and winelands of Tuscany we continue driving to San Gimignano. San Gimignano
is a beautiful medieval city that can be seen from afar due to its location on
a hill. The city is known for its many towers – once there were 72, now only 14
are left – and is therefore known as the Manhattan of the Middle Ages. Motorized
vehicles are prohibited in the city centre, so you will have to leave the Vespa
on a parking lot on the outside of the city. This is clearly signposted, so keep
an eye on the road signs. Be sure to visit the main square of the city called
Piazza della Cisterna, and eat Italian Gelato at one of the best ice cream shops
in the world, called Gelateria Dondoli. Furthermore, you should definitely walk
to the viewpoint for a beautiful view over the Tuscan hills. And when you leave
and move on to your next stop, make sure to look back every now and then for a
great view of the city.
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Then, our
plan was to continue driving south towards Siena. However, we unfortunately
never made it because our scooter broke down. We did drive from San Gimignano
in the direction of Poggibonsi and Castellina in Chianti, to drive a different road
on the way back than on the way there. If you have more time I would definitely
recommend to also visit Siena, and at least see the famous Piazza Del Campo.
Also, on your way from San Gimignano to Siena, alongside the SR2 in between La
Colonna Monteriggion and Siena, you will drive past one of the biggest sunflower
fields in the world. Definitely worth stopping by!
Other beautiful spots in Tuscany
If you have more time than we had, there are many more beautiful stop worthy places in Tuscany to visit. For example the beautiful city of Pisa, with her leaning tower. Which we luckily got to visit later during this trip. Besides the Tower of Pisa, the city itself is not very interesting. Though, the tower alone is absolutely worth the visit. If you have driven in the direction of Pisa anyways, make sure to also drive to the beautiful city of Lucca, and the Tuscan coast. Its coast is not something Tuscany is known for, but it is still worth a visit! |  |
If you are willing to drive even more south than Siena, then definitely visit the thermal baths of Saturnia. Free, unique, absolutely stunning, and also very good for your skin. Furthermore, south of Siena, you will be able to find beautiful, typically Tuscan, winding roads. For example near the village of La Foce. Perfect stopover on your way to Saturnia.
Tuscany is
the perfect region for a beautiful roadtrip. A road trip on an Italian Vespa
adds some extra magic to the experience. I would definitely recommend to spend
at least one day on the road with the means of transport the Italian streets cannot
be imagined without.
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