Instead of Florence: Pistoia, the Renaissance Without the Uffizi Queue

Florence is magnificent, but it is also one of the most overcrowded cities in Europe. The queues at the Uffizi run to more than two hours, the Ponte Vecchio is impassable and a coffee in Piazza della Signoria costs as much as a full meal elsewhere. Yet twenty minutes away on a regional train is Pistoia — a city that has everything you're looking for in Florence: art, history, architecture — and none of its problems.

Piazza del Duomo in Pistoia is one of the most beautiful squares in Italy, and almost no one knows it. The Gothic baptistery in white and green marble, the Cathedral of San Zeno with its silver altarpiece — a masterpiece of medieval Tuscan goldsmithing — and the Palazzo dei Vescovi form a monumental ensemble with nothing to envy of Florence. The difference is that here you can sit on the cathedral steps and take it all in, alone.

The pulpit carved by Giovanni Pisano in the church of Sant'Andrea is one of the great works of European Gothic sculpture, comparable to the pulpits in Pisa. The scenes from the life of Christ are carved with a drama and expressive force that takes your breath away. You'll see it on your own, with no overlapping audio guides and no barriers.

The Ospedale del Ceppo, with its glazed terracotta frieze by the Della Robbia running the full length of the facade, is a unique work: a continuous narrative of the works of mercy, as vivid and coloured as the day it was made.

Pistoia is also a living city: the Saturday market in Piazza della Sala is an exuberant display of cheeses, cured meats and Apennine vegetables. The restaurants serve authentic Tuscan cooking — ribollita, pappa al pomodoro, bistecca — at prices you won't find in Florence anymore. In the evening the bars in the centre fill with students and local Pistoiesi, not tourists.

The surrounding area offers excursions into the Apennine hills — the Foresta dell'Abetone, the Pinocchio garden in Collodi, the thermal baths of Montecatini — and its position is ideal as a base for all of Tuscany without paying Florentine prices. From here you can reach Lucca in half an hour, Pisa in an hour, and Florence itself whenever you like, on a regional train that costs just a few euros.