The center of Siena, Piazza del Campo, can be reached from your apartment by 25 - 30 minute drive plus 5 minute walk. If you are interested in the medieval monuments and in the museums of Siena, you can spend a full day there. After visiting Siena, you may continue to visit SAN GIMIGNANO. Coming back, it is worthwhile a short detour to visit MONTERIGGIONI.

To reach a convenient car parking in SIENA:

• from Rapale drive down to the 540 main road and turn left.
• arrive to the motorway Perugia-Siena and proceed towards SIENA
• just before the arrival at Siena do not follow the sign indicating the city center, but keep right and follow the direction towards FIRENZE-GROSSETO.
• at the first exit, follow the sign to FIRENZE.
• exit at SIENA south and follow the parking sign "IL CAMPO".
• enter the gate and proceed to the parking "IL CAMPO" (€ 2.00 per hour).
• do not go straight into the town since you will be fined by tele-control

If you would like to go by bus, only few direct rides are available. The nearest bus stop is at the intersection between the winding road and 540 main road. You can buy the ticket on the bus.

You can check the available bus at https://www.tiemmespa.it/viaggia-con-noi/calcola-percorso/ setting "Pietraviva" as departure station and "Siena FS" as arrival station. For further information, please ask Fortunato.

Useful tips:

• Torre del Mangia, the tower of the city hall and the symbol of Siena. It is possible to buy the tickets only at the ticket office. Check prices at https://www.comune.siena.it/La-Citta/Cultura/Strutture-Museali/Torre-del-Mangia. Please remember in case of rain that the tower is closed for safety reason. There is no lift.
• To visit the main museum in Siena, Museo Civico, you can book your ticket at https://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/sienateatri/. The website is not translated in English. To avoid creating a new username, you can use our log-in information:
• E-mail: info@borgorapale.it
• Password: borgorapale

Choose date and time of visit (even if time is not strictly binding) and then proceed to payment. The system will send an e-mail to Fortunato, who will shortly deliver your reservation voucher. You can go directly to entrance with your voucher, do not go to ticket office.

Please note that the queue is not very long. Ask Gisella or Fortunato if you find any trouble.

• Siena Cathedral: you can choose one of the following options

• Buy ticket directly in ticket office. There you can choose to buy tickets Cathedral only, Museum only and so on.
• If you would like to have a 30 minutes visit to Cathedral roof and panoramic tour, you can buy Porta del Cielo ticket or OPA SI PASS PLUS ticket to visit the whole Cathedral complex + Porta del Cielo tour. You can buy tickets directly at tickets office or on reservation .link
  

For timetable and prices: https://operaduomo.siena.it/en/

• In Siena, we suggest Ristorante Papei, Piazza del Mercato (very near to Piazza del Campo).
• We also recommend a return to Siena after 18 pm, when the city is not crowded by tourists. Then, during the night, you can enjoy the fascinating street lights of Piazza del Campo and of other monuments.

ü For guided tours of Siena, please visit https://www.guidesiena.it/en/ or call +39 0577 43273. Prices are not too high and you can choose different guided tour approach depending on audience (children, adults, very-interested-in-art tourists and so on)

 

• Reach SIENA SOUTH exit (see the previous point)
• Proceed towards FIRENZE. Exit at POGGIBONSI NORD (not before!)
• After visiting SAN GIMIGNANO (74 km, 1 hour and 9 minutes from Rapale) take the very winding road to VOLTERRA (30 km, 41 minutes from San Gimignano).
• Return through COLLE VALDELSA

From COLLE VALDELSA, if you have spare time, go directly to MONTERIGGIONI and visit the nice castle where you may dine.

To reach Florence you have two alternatives: by car or by car + train.

If you go by car, the trip will last about 1 hour:

• From Rapale drive down to the 540 main road and turn right
• Then drive 17 kilometers and follow the green indication A1 FIRENZE
• Take the tall motorway direction FIRENZE and exit at FIRENZE SUD
• Drive straight 4 kilometers and pass over the Arno River. At the traffic light, turn left direction CENTRO
• Drive straight for additional 3 kilometers; at the end, keep the right lane, the road turns right and becomes a one-way road. Drive 250 meters until arriving at a traffic light, then keep left and take the lane delimited by a yellow traffic divider, following the indication for parking "Beccaria". The price of the parking is 1.70 EUROS/hour. From there, you cqan reach the city centre with a 15 minutes walk.

In the case you would like to reach Florence downtown by train, you should go to the rail-station of MONTEVARCHI (25 km, 35 minutes from Rapale). The indications to arrive to this station are shown in the Attachment A.

To visit the most famous museum of Florence the "Uffizi Gallery", you should book and buy tickets from the web site https://www.b-ticket.com/b-Ticket/uffizi/ (at the end of the page please click "English Version"). Please note that 4,00 Euros per person is the additional fee for reservation.

To avoid creating a new username, you can use our log-in information:

• E-mail: info@borgorapale.it
• Password: borgorapale

You have to choose date and time of visit and then proceed to payment. The system will send an e-mail to Fortunato, who will shortly deliver your reservation voucher.

If you would like to create a new account by yourselves, we are available to print for you the requested hard copy of the ticket, since electronic copy is not accepted. Send your voucher to info@borgorapale.it and we will deliver it printed to your apartment.

Please note that the booking through the other agencies may be more expensive and has less availabilities.

The same procedure can be followed for other museums in Florence (Academy gallery, San Marco Monastery Museum and so on).

Remind that the first Sunday of every month entry to Uffizi, Bargello National Museum, Boboli Garden, Modern Art Museum, Archeological Museum and other museums are free. Of course, in these days queues are longer than usual

• From Rapale drive down to the 540 main road and turn left.
• Arrive to the motorway Perugia-Siena and proceed towards PERUGIA.
• Exit at RAPOLANO TERME and follow the indications ASCIANO and then MONTE OLIVETO MAGGIORE (34 km, 42 minutes from Rapale).
• Visit in MONTE OLIVETO MAGGIORE the wonderful paintings in the cloister of the Abbey: we recommend to ask for a guided tour

Continue the visit of Val d'Orcia going through the following towns:

• MONTALCINO, the heart of the Brunello Wine (29 km, 35 minutes from MONTE OLIVETO MAGGIORE). At 10 km south of Montalcino, there is Sant'Antimo, one of the most fascinating Romanic churches of the Tuscany.
• SAN QUIRICO D'ORCIA, where you can find a renowned Romanic church,
• PIENZA, very nice renaissance town (24 km, 29 minutes from MONTALCINO)

You may continue to:

• MONTICHIELLO, very pretty old village (10 km, 14 minutes from PIENZA) and MONTEPULCIANO, where the wine "Rosso di Montepulciano" grows, (12 km, 18 minutes from MONTICHIELLO).

By a drive of 58 km, 59 minutes, come back to RAPALE through TORRITA and SINALUNGA. Take the motorway Perugia-Siena direction SIENA. Exit at COLONNA DEL GRILLO.

• From Rapale drive down to the 540 main road and turn left.
• At the intersection COLONNA DEL GRILLO turn right towards CASTELNUOVO BERARDENGA (13 km, 17 minutes from Rapale).
• From CASTELNUOVO drive about 0,5 km, turn left and visit the vinery FELSINA (see the Chapter "Wine Tasting")
• Then drive 5 km and visit SAN GUSMÉ (interesting typical medieval hamlet)
• Return to the main road and continue for about 4 km.
• Turn left and visit SAN FELICE (typical Tuscan farm, now a 5-star hotel. Here you can have a drink in a charming café in front of a swimming pool)
• Return to the previous road and arrive to BROLIO (25 km, 30 minutes from RAPALE), where you may visit the garden of the castle and the vinery (see the Chapter "Wine Tasting"). The castle was the residence of Barone Ricasoli who invented the Chianti. From March until October, the gardens of Brolio Castle are open every day from 10:00am to 6:00pm. In addition to the castle gardens, it is possible to enjoy a visit to the small museum "Ricasoli Collection".
• From BROLIO follow the sign GAIOLE. 3 km past Brolio, pay attention to turn right towards CASTAGNOLI. Near Castagnoli, you'll find the vinery CANTALICI. Then proceed to GAIOLE.
• Proceed and arrive to RADDA (40 km, 50 minutes from Rapale), magnificent town surrounded by the Chianti panorama
• From RADDA, you may return to CASTELNUOVO through PIANELLA or return to RAPALE through BADIA A COLTIBUONO (old Abbey on the top of the hill) and MONTEVARCHI.

Two interesting towns of Etruscan and Medieval ages. AREZZO is at 35 km, 45 minutes from Rapale and CORTONA at 30 km, 40 minutes from Arezzo.

• Go down to the 540 main road and turn right. Pass AMBRA and turn right at CAPANNOLE
• Pass BADIA AGNANO, cross a bridge and find a fork where the two road signs both indicate for Arezzo: choose to take right
• At the top of the hill visit CIVITELLA DELLA CHIANA, then proceed to AREZZO
• After visiting AREZZO, proceed to CORTONA (very interesting town dating back to Etruscan and Medieval Ages)
• Return to RAPALE heading to LAGO TRASIMENO and then take the motorway Perugia-Siena direction SIENA and exit at COLONNA DEL GRILLO. If you have spare time, you may have a small boat tour to Isola Maggiore, the major island in the Trasimeno Lake.

It is possible to visit PISA (180 km, 2 hours and 20 minutes from Rapale) and LUCCA (35 km, 40 minutes from Lucca) in one full day trip.

• Take the motorway Perugia-Siena-Firenze, direction SIENA and exit at POGGIBONSI NORD.
• Then follow the indication EMPOLI.
• Just before arriving to EMPOLI take the motorway FI-PI-LI and exit at PISA.
• In PISA, visit "Piazza dei Miracoli" (cathedral, leaning tower and other monuments).
• Then go to LUCCA by road 12 (not by toll motor way!).
• To return to RAPALE take the toll motorway direction FIRENZE.
• At FLORENCE enter directly the toll motorway A1 direction ROMA and exit at VALDARNO.

PERUGIA is at 106 km, 1 hour and 45 minutes from Rapale. ASSISI is at 25 km, 30 minutes from Perugia.

• On the motorway Siena-Perugia take the direction PERUGIA
• Continue to the E45 junction towards Cesena and follow the sign ASSISI. ASSISI is the native city of Saint Francis of Assisi and it has wonderful churches: in the "Basilica di San Francesco" there are the famous frescos by Giotto.
• Coming back, visit PERUGIA and then, by the same way, return to RAPALE.

You can reach downtown ROME either from the RAPOLANO TERME rail station (15 km, 18 minutes from Rapale)or from the CHIUSI station (67 km, 51 minutes from Rapale). You can stay in ROME up to10 - 12 hours and then come back to RAPALE on the same day.

For Train Time Schedule www.trenitalia.com

Two beautiful destinations in the wooded mountains of Tuscany.

LA VERNA (80 km, 2 hours from Rapale) is a sanctuary at an altitude of 1283 m. This place is associated with Saint Francis of Assisi. (he is said to have received the stigmata here). From Arezzo drive up to RASSINA and then go directly to CHIUSI - LA VERNA.

After visiting La Verna, you may proceed to CAMALDOLI. This wonderful place is mostly known as the ancestral seat of the Camaldolese monastic order.

For those who like climbing in the wooded mountains of Tuscany, we suggest going to LA TRAPPOLA (45 km, 1 hour from Rapale). Then, you may walk up to the "Iron Cross" on the top of the mountain visible from the below Arno valley. To reach LA TRAPPOLA

Drive to TERRANUOVA BRACCIOLINI and then to LORO CIUFFENNA.

Near LORO CIUFFENNA you visit the enchanting Romanic churches in GROPINA.

• Exit from RAPALE by asphalt road and at 50 m from the village take the gravel road on your left. Drive 5 km on this road, you find an asphalt road.
• Take left and proceed for 7 km towards AREZZO. Visit the GARGONZA Castle.
• Return to the road to AREZZO and visit MONTE SAN SAVINO.
• Then go to the village of ULIVETO AND proceed to CIVITELLA DELLA CHIANA.
• Return to RAPALE through AMBRA.

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At MARANELLO (211 km, 2 hours and 33 minutes from Rapale) visit the Ferrari Gallery and you may also have 10 minutes semi-professional simulator with a Ferrari car driven by yourself assisted by an engineer and have a video showing you while driving. You can book tickets at https://museomaranello.ferrari.com/prices-and-tickets/#

Then, you may reach the Lamborghini plant at SANT'AGATA BOLOGNESE in 45 minutes (34 km).You can visit not only the museum, with the wonderful Lamborghini cars, but also the inside plant while the cars are assembled.

For information and reservation form: https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/museum

Usually to find availability you should book a few weeks in advance.

Coming back from the Lamborghini plant, at the outskirt of BOLOGNA, there is the plant of the sport motorcycle Ducati where you can have tours of both Ducati Museum and factory. For information and reservation form:

https://www.ducati.com/us/en/borgo-panigale-experience/ducati-museum

Visiting our villages is a truly pleasant experience, which offers the visitor a sequence of images and places of extraordinary charm: wonderful villages immersed in a landscape of incredible beauty , perched on rolling hills, fortified, rich in history and art. Places full of magic and emotions, those that you live with the local people , true guardians of the territory, where for centuries hands, head and heart have worked together, capable of transmitting the passion for their land and making you feel a little " Tuscan ".

We advise: Cennina, Monte Benicchi, Badia a Ruoti, Galatrona

Touri Guide Map

Loop walking-tour (ca. 4 km) through the picturesque village of Castelfranco and downwards into the crags, a unique landscape that has already fascinated Leonardo da Vinci, who pictured them in the background of the "Mona Lisa". During the hike you will get to know the cultural background information of the region. Duration ca 2 hours. Please bring along: solid shoes, protection against sun and mosquitos.

Barbara de Mars   +39.338.9255516