Back roads lead past rows of grapevines to hilltop towns and villages such as Radda in Chianti and Monteriggioni.
BBC: Ten weekends in Europe's great outdoors
2.
About halfway between San Gimignano and Siena is Monteriggioni, a small medieval village perfectly preserved within its walls, with towers at regular intervals.
BBC: The perfect trip: Tuscany
3.
Monteriggioni owes its importance, and its walls and towers, to the dominant position that it held over the via Francigena, the ancient and vital trading road between Florence and Rome.