Tuscany in June 2020 Trip report

June 2020 year of Coronavirus

Tuscany trip report

This trip report concerns traveling in the time of Covid-19 more than Tuscany which needs little explanation or promotion. Italy was badly hit by the pandemic, Lombardy, where we live in particular, Tuscany much less so. This probably and perhaps ironically made us more confident about our journey, since after several months of 'surviving' in a high risk area the idea of going to the supermarket, getting fuel, picnicking and avoiding people, restaurants and bars while staying in a private apartment in a lower risk area was within our comfort zone. I would not have stayed in a hotel or gone to a restaurant though, and in fact we didn't even have a cappuccino at a bar.

Did it 'spoil' our holiday? Absolutely not. I could have stayed at home and missed seeing some splendid places uniquely empty of crowds, traffic and chaos on beautiful June days and the whole few days were even more precious and enjoyable after the weeks of fear, uncertainty and lockdown so wearing a mask and drinking coffee from a flask was honestly no big deal.

Another issue was whether local people would be resentful of those from a worse-hit area. In actual fact our Airbnb host did not refuse the booking because we were from Lombardy, we didn't really have an enormous amount of contact with people anyway and when we did stop to chat to the owners of a shop in Volterra they seemed more relieved that a few tourists were starting to return and curious about experiences from another part of Italy than anxious.

We chose these 'art city' destinations because the idea of going to the sea worried us, we never go to the coast in high season anyway and possible heat and crowds in June were unappealing even more in the wake of Covid-19. Since international tourism was non-existent and European visitors only just timidly starting to plan their return such places were really really quiet. After lockdown most Italians were more interested in beach life or sea air for city locked children than a more cultural destination. We really enjoyed these few days away and if that required avoiding the market, wearing a mask and hand sanitizing it didn't impact on our enjoyment. We were based in Colle di Val d'Elsa for five nights and so also visited Siena for two days and Volterra and San Gimignano for one each. There were very few tourists about, roads were empty, restaurants and bars were open and a few people were eating and drinking, some of the other few tourists like us were picnicling or eating snacks rather than having a sit-down meal. the weather was almost perfect, a few showers one day and the rest sunny and temperatures in the mid-twenties. i am so glad we went!