For a Tuscany day trip

While on a 2-week independent trip to Italy in June ’06, my two girlfriends and I found a wonderful company providing day trips into the Tuscan countryside outside of Florence: Doors To Italy (27500 Pinyon St., Murrieta, CA 92562; 951/704-5729, e-mail doors2italy@verizon.net).

We were picked up in the morning by Roberto at our lodging in the city and in a very comfortable new Mercedes van with air-conditioning were driven around the Chianti Road (S222) to Siena and San Gimignano.

We could never have done or seen that much in a single day on our own or on a bus. We were able to stop, take pictures and go as we pleased along the way.

A big advantage was that in each of the towns, our driver was able to save us a huge amount of time by driving directly to the town centers — such as right in the piazza in Siena and right at the gate of San Gimignano — whereas the vast majority of tourists were being dropped off quite a distance away and had to walk in.

For the three of us for the whole day, we paid the driver €300 (near $394).

Doors To Italy is run by an extremely efficient American woman, Kristina Paccione, who is married to an Italian man living in Florence. Every phone call I made and every e-mail I sent was answered immediately, and she really went above and beyond what can be expected to ensure that our day trip was one of the highlights of our trip. We highly recommend Doors to Italy.

JANA E. SHOBER

Elk Grove, CA