Steves - Hill Towns of Central Italy: Including Siena & Assisi

This Snapshot guide, excerpted from my guidebook Rick Steves Italy, introduces you to the hill towns of central Italy. Here in Italys heartland, youll enjoy an idyllic landscape, time-passed medieval hill towns, and tree-lined meandering backcountry roads. Dine on Italys heartiest food in an atmospheric farmhouse, and taste a glass of wine poured by a proud vintner whose familys name has been on the bottle for generations.

Ive included a mix of towns and cities, some undiscovered, some deservedly popular. Choose among the back-door towns of Volterra and Civita, the wine lovers towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino, touristy towered San Gimignano, manicured Pienza, classic Orvieto, tradition-steeped Siena, and spiritual, artsy Assisior even better, visit them all.

To help you have the best trip possible, Ive included the following topics in this book:

Planning Your Time, with advice on how to make the most of your limited time

Orientation, including tourist information (abbreviated as TI), tips on public transportation, local tour options, and helpful hints

Sights with ratings:

Dont miss

Try hard to see

Worthwhile if you can make it

No ratingWorth knowing about

Sleeping and Eating, with good-value recommendations in every price range

Connections, with tips on trains, buses, and driving

Practicalities, near the end of this book, has information on money, staying connected, hotel reservations, transportation, and more, plus Italian survival phrases.

To travel smartly, read this little book in its entirety before you go. Its my hope that this guide will make your trip more meaningful and rewarding. Traveling like a temporary local, youll get the absolute most out of every mile, minute, and dollar.

Buon viaggio!

The sun-soaked hill towns of central Italy offer what to many is the quintessential Italian experience: sun-dried tomatoes, homemade pasta, wispy cypress-lined driveways following desolate ridges to fortified 16th-century farmhouses, atmospheric enoteche serving famously tasty wines, and dusty old-timers warming the same bench day after day while soccer balls buzz around them like innocuous flies. Hill towns are best enjoyed by adapting to the pace of the countryside. So, slow...down...and savor the delights that this region offers. Spend the night if you can, as many hill towns are mobbed by day-trippers.

How in Dantes name does a traveler choose from Italys hundreds of hill towns? The one(s) you visit will depend on your interests, time, and mode of transportation.

For me, Volterrawith its rustic vitalityis a clear winner, and its out-of-the-way location keeps it from being trampled by tourist crowds. Multitowered San Gimignano is a classic, but because its such an easy hill town to visit (about 1.5 hours by bus from Florence), peak-season crowds can overwhelm its charms.

Wine aficionados head for Montepulciano (my favorite of the two towns) and Montalcinoeach a happy gauntlet of wine shops and art galleries. Fans of architecture and urban design appreciate Pienzas well-planned streets and squares.

Assisi, Siena, and Orvietowhile technically hill townsare in a category by themselves: Bigger and with more major artistic and historic sights, they each get their own chapter. (The Orvieto chapter also includes my all-around favorite hill town, the stranded-on-a-hilltop Civita di Bagnoregio.)

While you can reach just about any place with public buses, taxis, and patience, most hill towns are easier and more efficient to visit by car. For more on all of these topics, see the Practicalities chapter.

Buses are often the only public-transportation choice to get between small hill towns. While trains link some towns, hill townsbeing on hillsdont quite fit the railroad plan. Stations are likely to be in the valley a couple of miles from the town center, connected by a local bus. Buses dont always drive up into the town itself. Fortunately, stations are sometimes connected to the town by escalator or elevator. (For more on traveling by train and bus in Italy, see the appendix.) If youre pinched for time, it makes sense to narrow your focus to one or two hill towns, or rent a car.