Tuscany/Florence

Roustabout

Hi,
Interested in visiting the Florence area of Italy in late July but don't want to stay in the city. We'd love a nice quaint village somewhere in Tuscany which would be commutable to Florence by public transport preferably. We would only like to visit Florence itself for maybe one or two days so anywhere within an hours commute would be fine.
Anyone any experience in visiting this area of Italy? Any type of accommodation would do, so just looking for a couple of area names so we could narrow down our search!
Thanks

Frere Jacques

We stayed in San Gimignano on 3 different occasions and found it a great base. The town is packed during the day with tourists we were always gone out daytripping. You can reach Florence, Piza, Sienna (not to be missed), Montipulciano or Certona in an hour or so.
Beware the traffic around Florence, it can be a nightmare.
Another bonus was that we had San Gimi to ourselves in the evening. Priceless.
If you want to stay a bit more Northerly I'd recommend Lucca. Lovely old walled town but a bit of a small city. Nice to see all the locals head out in the evening for their stroll but lacks the village atmosphere.

donalh087

What FJ said plus, I've stayed in Montepulciano a couple of times and it ticks all your boxes. Also I stayed in a small town called Sinalunga that was not at all touristy and I really like it. Will you be near Sienna for the Palio? Now, THATS good craic.