Secret Tuscany: 10 Places That Aren't Florence, Siena, or San Gimignano

Touristic Tuscany fits into a triangle: Florence-Siena-San Gimignano plus the Val d'Orcia. The rest of the region is as vast as that triangle and every bit as captivating. Here are ten places where Tuscany goes back to being a land of Etruscan frontier, Apennine woods, and medieval thermal towns.

1. Pitigliano and the City of Tufa

Pitigliano, Sovana, and Sorano are three tufa-stone villages in the southern Maremma, perched on spurs carved by the Etruscans. The "vie cave," walkways cut into tufa as much as twenty meters deep, are among the most ancient and theatrical places in Italy. Sovana holds the Ildebranda Etruscan tomb, a necropolis open to the wind.

2. Bagno Vignoni and the free thermal baths of Val d'Orcia

The Val d'Orcia sees plenty of tourism, but Bagno Vignoni — with its medieval piazza-pool — stays magical in the early morning. The free thermal springs of Bagni San Filippo (the travertine "white whales") are twenty minutes away.

3. Lucca beyond the walls

Lucca inside the walls can be seen in a day. Outside the walls, the Lucchesia hills and their Renaissance villas (Villa Reale di Marlia, Villa Torrigiani, Villa Mansi) form a countryside no one visits. Paired with Bagni di Lucca, a 19th-century spa town where Byron once lived, it makes for a perfect day.

4. The Casentino and its hermitages

The forests of the Casentino — above Arezzo, toward the Apennine ridge — form a 36,000-hectare national park with the hermitage of Camaldoli, the monastery of La Verna (where Saint Francis received the stigmata), and centuries-old beech woods. A weekend of authentic silence.

5. Populonia and the Etruscan coast

Populonia, above Piombino, is the finest coastal archaeological park in Italy: Etruscan ruins by the sea, monumental tombs, and a beach of dark sand from iron slag (Baratti). Much less crowded than Vulci or Cerveteri.

6. Volterra and deep Tuscany

Volterra isn't "secret," but it draws far fewer visitors than San Gimignano. Alabaster, a Roman theater, Etruscan walls, and one of the finest archaeological museums in Italy (the Guarnacci with its Shadow of the Evening). Worth at least two nights.

7. The Pratomagno and the road of the seven bridges

The Pratomagno is the ridge separating the Valdarno from the Casentino. Panoramas that cover half of Tuscany. The road linking Loro Ciuffenna to Loro across seven medieval bridges passes through Anciolina, one of the most photogenic and least-known villages.

8. The lesser-known Val di Chiana

Not Cortona and not Montepulciano. Try Lucignano, a village with a perfect elliptical plan, and Foiano della Chiana. The Val di Chiana has medieval villages every bit as compelling as those of the Val d'Orcia, without the mass tourism.

9. The Garfagnana

The Garfagnana, the Serchio valley north of Lucca, is a world of its own: centuries-old chestnut groves, Barga (a small Lucca), Castelnuovo, the Orrido di Botri, and the Grotta del Vento. A slow weekend paired with Lucchese mountain cooking.

10. Argentario and the island of Giglio off-season

The Argentario in August is chaos; in May, June, September, and October, it's a marvel. The beach of Feniglia, the coves of Cala Grande, Porto Ercole before check-in. And if you take the ferry to Giglio in low season you'll find an island still quietly lived-in.

What should I pack into a weekend?

It depends on which side. Southern Tuscany (Pitigliano + Sovana + Bagni San Filippo) is one axis. Northern Tuscany (Garfagnana + Bagni di Lucca + Lucchesia hills) is another. Central Tuscany (Volterra + Populonia) a third. If it's your first time, try secret Florence as a base plus two days in the Val di Chiana.