My family and I will be staying just outside of Florence in the town of Imprunetta this May. After watching your 'Tuscany' show, I thought that Fiesole would be a nice afternoon trip, but also wondered if you would recommend any other towns in the region as 'must-see's'?
Thanks - Tristan

Tristan,
It might be some little while before Samantha could answer your question, being I think busy elsewhere at this time, but the forum looks very blank now so I 'll briefly try to help fill it up again while we wait for others to add more knowledgeable suggestions. My only experiences in Tuscany were a few years back and in March, and it was lovely even then.

Outside of Florence I only got to see Siena, and it's a pretty standard tourist spot, but well worth it, perched up on its hill as many Tuscan towns are, with a most unusual(and tiger striped) cathedral, spectacular tower of the city hall which, believe me, you can climb to the very top of and see Tuscan hills and valleys stretching out for miles in all directions, and between them a very famous semi-circular Campo lined with cafes that holds their annual races. A very pretty town but still emminently walkable.

A very touristy little town close by is San Gimignano, with ancient tall spikes of towers that used to belong to rival families. But you may well be advised, as Samantha's Weekend in Florence chose to do, to venture a bit further to just as charming and less over-run hill towns like Volterra.

Lucca and Pisa aren't exactly quiet rural villages, but still I gather well worth nosing about for their cathedrals (surely you know Pisa's campanile tower which isn't quite upright) and it seems even the smallest of these towns has their own good art museum as well if you enjoy that (my tolerance for Renaissance religious art has gotten better but is still pretty low).

You've got the whole of the Chianti region a bit further esst to play about in, and the coast isn't but a few miles to the west. There are lots of travel guides for Tuscany of course as well. Personally, I would just take a guidebook and hop in the car and start riding about - the countryside will be gorgeous in May, and virtually any little hill town you encounter should lead you to a wonderful little adventure for the afternoon. I hope you have a glowingly memorable time in Tuscany (but don't forget Florence and the views of it from the Boboli Gardens). I hope you'll report back on what you found.

There is a town called Grossetto on the coast just southwest of Siena. Check it out!

capt. tuttle gave a nice rundown of the area. I'd only add that one feature I really liked about Siena was the traffic free area near the city hall square. After spending a few days in Florence and breathing fumes everywhere we walked, it was nice to get away from the noise and pollution.

If you decide to check out San Gimignano, a few hours did it for us. It's unique but touristy so not worth a lot of time.

Gelato originated in Florence and this area of Italy has the best shops. My favorite is riso (rice) gelato, which is hard to find but worth it if you do. Imagine rice pudding ice cream.