Typical products of Tuscany - Any visits to go?

S

Stephan Vancell

New member
We're goingto visit Tuscant next June and I was wondering if someone could suggest visits to see the production of typical products, especially cheese. With regards to wine, we are going to visit a winery for wine tasting, etc. But for other products I found it difficult to find help on the web. Can anyone give me some details please?
 
wine, cheese and more

Ciao Stephan,

Have you already decided on a place to stay, area or even booked your accommodation?
And which products are you particularly interested in, as there are "areas" across Tuscany that are known for a certain product more than other.... so each area would each present an opportunity to maybe visit one type of production over another.

Exception is wine and cheese, those are made all over the region! :D

But for example, the area of Montelupo Fiorentino is known for its ceramics while Impruneta is known for terracotta. Each of these have many small businesses producing items in the area, so getting in touch with the local tourism office will certainly then give you an idea of who welcomes visitors to thefactory/plant/workshop.

The area around Santa Croce sull'Arno is known for leather, area around Pelago/Tosi for wood furniture and so on....

As far as cheese is concerned, I'd suggest going to Pienza in the Val d'Orcia since it is famous for its "pecorino" cheese. There are several companies in the area that sell direct and therefore might be open to giving information on production. Near Florence, there is a co-op farm called "il Forteto" outside of Dicomano that also is a big producer of pecorino and other cheeses - take a look at this other post where I had mentioned them and others outside of Pienza:
http://www.discovertuscany.com/foru...1258-itinerary-july-9-16-2012-a.html#post3269

Let me know if you were thinking of other products specifically so I can point you in the right direction... ;)
 
Thanks,

So my itinerary would be like this:

Thursday and Friday in Florence
Saturday in Florence and transfer to agriturismo at Montalbino.
Sunday: Volterra and San Gimignano
Monday: Chianti
Tuesday: Pisa and Pistoia Zoo
Wednesday: Montepulciano and Pienza
Thursday: Cavallo Matto Park
Friday: Siena and Monteriggioni
Saturday: Transfer to San Quircio D'Orcia and visit Montalcino, Bagno Vignoli and Abbey of Sant' Antimo.
Sunday: Leave to Rome.

Any comments with regards to the itinerary? Any ideas where to visit for typical products in these areas?

Thanks,
Stephan
 
Ciao Stephan,

Your itinerary looks pretty good. Since you're staying centrally to the south of Florence, most of these day trips are fine since you travel in one direction one day and in another the next.

My comment regards two days in particular:
- Pisa and Pistoia zoo in one day seems a lot... you generally dedicate the whole day to the zoo, it isn't enormous but with kids, you'll see you won't be in a hurry to dash off.
- Montepulciano and Pienza are right by San Quirico d'Orcia, where you'll end up on Saturday. So maybe you can dedicate one day to the zoo, another day to Pisa and Lucca and on Saturday once you're in the area of San Quirico add in Pienza to Montalcino and Sant'Antimo. On Sunday when you're leaving to Rome you can stop in Montepulciano for lunch and a quick walk around the town.

As far as typical products - you'll see speciality shops and artisans at work directly in many of them.... here are some with their specialty:
Volterra - alabaster stone
San Gimignano - the Vernaccia DOCG white wine
Pienza - pecorino cheese, of various "ages"
Chianti, Montalcino, Montepulciano - red DOC and DOCG wines of these regions.
 
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