A Vespa road trip through Tuscany

Swerving through vineyards, olive groves and medieval towns on an Italian style icon - the Vespa. The Vespa Trip captures the picturesque Italian dream - panoramic views of the stunning Tuscan countryside with Mediterranean stone pine’s overhead and acres of surrounding sunflowers fields. I got to experience the magic of Tuscany first hand in collaboration with Travelbase. Travelbase are a company who specialise in creating adventure trips to unique destinations all over the world including arranging Vespa road trips to locations across Italy, France and Belgium. This blog will give you all the information surrounding our experience, an insight into the unmissable spots in Tuscany, and top tips for your road trip.

How does The Vespa Trip work?

To give you a little introduction to The Vespa Trip, I thought I would discuss some information about the trip to start off. The general concept is that Travelbase have created an incredible road trip through Tuscany which is to be ridden on the authentic Italian Vespa. They have curated the route so you are always driving through beautiful countryside views and historic Tuscan towns. This means no boring roads, only beautiful views, winding paths and aesthetic spots.

The trip comes complete with a full itinerary, pre booked accommodation for each night including breakfast, the rental of an authentic Italian Vespa complete with helmets and lock (you can choose the colour), a tour guide, and the transport for your luggage. Each morning you will drop off your luggage with The Vespa Trip van, driven by one of the tour guides. This van transports your luggage from place to place, so you never have to worry about travelling light and carrying bags with you, or finding alternative / private transport to carry your bags whilst travelling on the Vespa. This was such a useful part of the trip for me since a service like this would likely cost much more if trying to organise privately, and it meant we got to pack all the things we needed to enjoy the trip comfortably. The luggage was also always waiting for us at the next accommodation when we arrived there at the end of the day.

Another great quality about The Vespa Trip is that it is possible to do the route with the tour guide each day, or to complete the route solo (or in your couple / smaller group). Let me explain - each day the tour guide will ride on their Vespa the exact route, you can choose to follow the tour guide and spend the day with the rest of the group, or you can choose to ride solo. If you ride solo, you can purchase a TomTom SatNav as an add on, which Travelbase have loaded with the exact route complete with all the stops you need. There are reasons to do the route either way, for example we chose to ride solo, because we wanted the freedom and flexibility to stop whenever we wanted to take photos or visit additional spots. However, riding with the group would be super fun and sociable, and meant you can rely solely on the tour guide for all the information and help you may need.

Essential Spots to Visit

Pisa

A great place to start your trip and famous for its iconic leaning tower is Pisa. This charming city has plenty to offer, like its many medieval palaces, historic churches and beautiful bridges crossing the river Arno which runs through the city. I would recommend to walk around and get lost in the old architecture, be sure to check out Piazza del Duomo, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Borgo Stretto, Ponte di Mezzo, Santa Maria della Spina and of course, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

On The Vespa Trip, your adventure begins at Pisa. We flew into PSA airport and took the airport shuttle train to the centre of Pisa. Here you will pick up your Vespa ahead of the full itinerary starting the following day, but don’t worry - the team at Travelbase and your tour guides will give you all the information you need at the start of the trip (and each day!).

I would recommend to grab a homemade sandwich from l’Ostellino - pictured bottom right below.

San Gimignano

One of the most popular Tuscan hill towns is San Gimignano, and I can see why! This gorgeous medieval town is encircled by 13th century walls and towers, and filled with tiny side streets, quiant boutiques and hole in the wall restaurants and cafe’s. A little more touristy than some of the other spots we visited, but worth the hype. Also home to apparently the best ice cream in the world - though more than one ice cream shop had this title above their door…so I am unsure on the accuracy of this haha - but all claims aside, the ice cream genuinely was to die for!

Siena

One of my favourite spots from the entire trip was Siena, this place had such a vibrant atmosphere. Visiting the beautiful main square - Piazza del Campo - you could really feel the medieval charm, and to me it appeared to be like somewhere the movie Gladiator would be filmed (though I think that was actually filmed fairly close by!).

The historic city centre has also been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the stunning architecture is so well preserved and you could get lost in the narrow streets for hours, stopping at all the local eateries and ice cream parlours along the way. Not to mention Siena is also home to many museums and galleries. I would recommend to explore the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Piazza del Campo, Palazzo Pubblico, Biblioteca Piccolomini, Church of San Domenico, Porta Pispini and Torre del Mangia.

Radda in Chianti

When you imagine Tuscany, the Radda in Chianti region is the place that your mind would automatically picture. The rolling Tuscan hills peppered with lush green vineyards and olive groves. Italian farmers tending to their land paired with golden Tuscan sunshine make for some of the most picturesque spots in the whole of Italy. The drive on the Vespa through this region had me feeling like I was living in an Italian movie, all I needed was some Dean Martin blasting through a speaker to complete this dream-like reality. An absolutely unmissable spot to visit on your road trip, and one I will certainly remember forever. I would recommend to get lost in this region, drive wherever your heart desires, follow the winding roads, stop to take photos and simply marvel in the incredibly beautiful Tuscan countryside. This is one for the bucket list.

Florence

Upon driving into Florence we stopped at Piazzale Michelangelo - a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the entire city. Florence has been described as the art capital of the world, it almost feels like an open air museum complete with historical sights, regal statues and beautiful architecture. Florence also has a well renowned foodie scene - which made it very difficult for us to choose where to eat! The options are endless with restaurants on every street and corner, all extremely enticing and which resulted us spending hours walking around captivated by the smells and sights.

I particularly enjoyed walking across Ponte Vecchio - a very old bridge famous due to the the number of shops that are built directly into the sides of the bridge which makes for a very unique structure!

I would recommend to visit Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio, The Uffizi, Mercato Centrale, and walk along the Arno River at sunset.

Vinci

A Tuscan road trip wouldn’t be complete without paying a visit to the birth place of Leonardo di Vinci. Vinci is situated in the hills of Montalbano, here you can visit the house that the genius of the Italian Renaissance was born, the church where he was baptised, and a museum dedicated to him. You could also spend some time exploring this quaint little town, grab an ice cream or some lunch and soak up the cultural atmosphere.

Following our stop in Vinci, we drove to Lucca. This stretch of driving was one of the most beautiful of the trip, we were met with small authentic Italian farms, lush fields full of sunflowers (be mindful this is season based) and incredible stone pine’s overhead. The roads feel more remote and peaceful, but be sure to cover up if on a Vespa, and carry with you lots of water and snacks as it can get very hot.

Bagni di Lucca & Lima River

Located in Northern Tuscany, and my favourite spot from the road trip, is Bagni Di Lucca. We began exploring this area by visiting the mysterious Devil’s Bridge. Legend says this bridge was built by a man named Saint Julian, who supposedly was unable to complete building the bridge, so asked the devil for help. In return, Saint Julian was said to offer the devil the soul of the first living being who would have crossed the finished bridge, but instead, after the bridge was completed Saint Julian threw a piece of bread over the bridge to lure a local dog to cross it, tricking the Devil. Whether you believe the tale or not, the bridge is a unique and beautiful sight, and it is worth a visit on your way to Bagni Di Lucca.

The town itself is located along the Lima River, it is lined with bright colourful houses, lush green hills on one side and the turquoise flowing river on the other. The town has a peaceful atmosphere, it feels like a little hidden escape in nature. We stopped for a drink at one of the local terraces, before having a wander around the sleepy streets, and checking out the bridges over the river.

After exploring the town, we drove on and followed the winding road alongside the Lima river. I had a spot saved for where we could swim, you can type ‘Ponte Massimo Betti’ into google maps for the exact swimming location. We had this spot all to ourselves, it was truly magical - there were goats drinking from the river, butterflies and dragonflies dancing around us, the water was crystal clear. It felt like we’d stepped into a little fairytale land. The water was cold but beautiful and refreshing, we took a picnic, read our books and relaxed there for a few hours, just enjoying the surrounding nature. If I could recommend just 1 day from our trip - it would be this one! It felt like a hidden gem we’d discovered before everyone else.

Other spots in Tuscany to add to your road trip:

There are a few locations in Tuscany we didn’t get chance to visit, but that I would’ve liked to see. Hopefully one day we will return, but for now, here is a list of other spots I would recommend to add to your itinerary: Saturnia Thermal Hot Springs, Asciano, Crete Senesi vista, Arezzo, Pienza, Montalcino, and Montepulciano.

That brings me to the end of this blog post!

This blog post was sponsored by the amazing Travelbase - who arranged our beautiful bucket list trip through Tuscany. I would like to say a huge thank you to Travelbase who made everything so straightforward, flexible and enjoyable for us during our trip. We truly loved every minute! I would really recommend you to check out Travelbase and their amazing tours. Not only do they create road trip itineraries in destinations like Norway, Namibia, Scotland & The Balkans, but they also create incredible adventure trips, from hiking in the Arctic, to sailing in Croatia, exploring Sri Lanka on a TukTuk and much more.

The Vespa Trip was a wonderful bucket list experience, and I hope to inspire even just one of you reading this blog post to take the plunge and book this adventure for yourself.

Thank you!

As usual, if you made it to the end of this blog post then thank you so much! I know I don’t release blog posts as often as I should and as often as I’d like, but I really love writing, and every time I write a post I am reminded of that - so your support really means a lot.

If you have any questions about The Vespa Trip, Travelbase or generally any questions for me, do not hesitate to reach out via Instagram dm and I always do my best to reply (it may not be right away, but I usually get round to it).

With love and best wishes,

Lizzy x