A North Tuscany Itinerary: 7 Days Between Hilltops and Shoreline

One day might be spent wandering Florence's magnificent streets, the next exploring Volterra's ancient ramparts, sipping world-class wines among rolling vineyards or lingering over lunch by the sea.

This seven-day itinerary offers a journey through northern Tuscany's many dimensions, from its cultural heavyweights and lesser-known treasures to its celebrated beaches, cuisine and countryside. Based centrally enough to keep driving times manageable, it provides a rewarding introduction to one of Italy's richest and most varied regions.

Pisa International Airport (PSA) is the closest airport to this part of Tuscany, with Florence Airport (FLR) as a second option depending on where in the region your villa sits. Both take direct flights from a range of UK and European cities.

By rail, high-speed trains connect Florence to Rome and Milan, making it straightforward to combine this itinerary with time elsewhere in Italy either side of your stay.

Read our in-depth guide on the best ways to travel to Tuscany for more information.

We recommend hiring a car for this itinerary, as well as for travelling around Tuscany, since the week moves between hill towns, cities and the coast rather than staying in one place.

• Car hire: the most practical way to reach Volterra, the beaches and the wine country at your own pace.
• Chauffeur-driven tours: particularly suited to wine tasting days.
• Local guides: useful across the region, where the history rewards more context than a map alone provides.

• Day 1: Lucca
• Day 2: Florence
• Day 3: Days by the Tyrrhenian Sea
• Day 4: Volterra
• Day 5: Among Tuscany's Great Vineyards
• Day 6: Montecatini Terme
• Day 7: From Forested Hills to Coastal Sands

Begin this North Tuscany itinerary in Lucca, just a 30-minute drive from Pisa airport; a town built for slow footsteps rather than a checklist. Its wide, tree-lined walls and manicured parkland wrap around an old town centre full of character, and a morning spent wandering without much of a plan tends to work better here than one spent rushing between sights.

If your stay falls in July, take note: Lucca's old town comes alive for its annual Summer Festival, drawing international acts to play in the historic centre. In 2025 the line-up included the Pet Shop Boys, Nile Rodgers and Bryan Adams, so it's worth checking who's confirmed before you travel.

For those keen to bring something home from the trip beyond photographs, a peripatetic chef can come to your villa this evening and walk you through one or two of the region's signature dishes, Tuscan pasta or Livorno's seafood soup, cacciucco, among them.

Any North Tuscany itinerary should set aside a full day, or two if you can spare it, for Florence, whose historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right. The Duomo, the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Vecchio are the obvious anchors, though the city rewards wandering without a fixed route just as readily.

The Mercato Centrale is worth building into the day, the Aladdin’s Cave of gastronomic delights, whether for lunch or to pick up ingredients to take back to the villa. If Florence isn't your first visit and you're after other Renaissance towns with fewer crowds, Arezzo and the port city of Livorno, much of which, including its canal network, was shaped by the Medici family, are both worth a detour on a future trip.

Deciding where to base yourself can shape your experience of the region, whether you're prioritising Renaissance cities, vineyard landscapes or the Tuscan coast. For more guidance, read our complete guide to where to stay in Tuscany.

Whether you’re looking for buzz, cafés, restaurants and beach clubs, family-friendly sands, or more off-the-beaten-track seafront tranquillity, the north of Tuscany has all you could desire.

Here are three of our favourites:

• Viareggio: home to one of Italy’s great carnivals, Viareggio is a lively resort with a vibrant cultural scene, a long stretch of sand with beach clubs, a pleasant seafront promenade, and plenty of restaurants, bars, cafés and shops.
• Spiaggia di Vecchiano: golden sands lapped by azure waters and backed by dunes: Spiaggia di Vecchiano is perfect for those who wish to find their own space away from the crowds.
• Marina di Bibbona: part of a 30km-long, gently curving arc of sand fringed by greenery, Marina di Bibbona has a couple of lidos and plenty of room in which to stretch out. It’s a popular spot for families with younger children, thanks to its shallow waters.

Volterra sits apart from the more visited hill towns of Tuscany, both in distance and in character. Dating back to the 8th century BCE and perched on its own hill, its walled medieval centre holds a genuine density of history: the 13th-century Palazzo Priori on Piazza dei Priori, a Romanesque cathedral and baptistry, a Medici-built fortress, an Etruscan museum, and a 1st-century BCE Roman theatre that wasn't uncovered until the 1950s.

Give this one a full day rather than a stop on the way elsewhere, since the walk between sights, and up to the panoramas over the surrounding landscape, takes longer than the town's size suggests.

North Tuscany produces some of Italy's most recognised labels: Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Sassicaia, Tignanello, Vernaccia di San Gimignano and Vin Santo among them.There can be few better ways of getting to know and appreciate these stellar wines than by embarking on one of our chauffeur-driven wine-tasting tours. You’ll be able to try some of the very best vintages of the top producers, while also sampling some delicious Tuscan culinary treats at the same time.

Midway between Florence and Lucca sits Montecatini Terme, one of Italy's established spa towns. Of its ten thermal springs, three still operate as spas today, each with its own architectural character, neo-Renaissance, neo-classical and art nouveau among them. Terme Tettuccio adds manicured gardens to the mix, while Terme Excelsior and Terme Redi offer thermal baths, massage and other treatments.

Speak to a Villa Specialist ahead of time to arrange bookings, since availability at the individual spas can be limited.

Close the week with a different side of the region: the Parco dei Monti Livornesi, a 1,300-hectare nature reserve of forested hills rising above 300m. Walking trails here pass waterfalls, aqueducts, abandoned hermitages and small hamlets, though if walking isn't the plan, the drive along the SP5 from east to west covers the same ground, ending in the historic port town of Livorno.

From there, Marina di Bibbona sits a short drive south along the coast, part of a 30km arc of sand backed by greenery. Its shallow water and handful of lidos make it an easy, unhurried way to close out the trip before heading home.

Seven days moves through a real cross-section of this region, its cities, hill towns, coast and countryside, but it's a starting point rather than a fixed route. A Villa Specialist can adjust the order, the pace or the focus to suit how you'd rather spend the week.

Browse the full collection of luxury villas in Tuscany, or get in touch with a Villa Specialist to begin shaping your own version of this trip.