Originally Posted by
Siriuscom
Thanks for all the feedback so far and the clarification of what a true Agriturismo means. Its interesting especially since I am in the hotel business. So to re-frase/clarify we were looking for nice country hotels/BB's.
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After 1 week in Tuscany we will have 1 week where we will drive trough Lucca, Forte Dei Mami, CT and then Parma/Reggio-Emilia/Modena in which I will not book a hotel but rather stop along the way where we feel we want to stay/use as a base.
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If you're going from Lucca, Forte dei Marmi, CT to Parma..., you'll probably be taking the Autostrada della Cisa (which runs from La Spezia to Parma).
One exit off that autostrada is Pontremoli which has a couple of interesting diversions that may be worth a stop. There is a museum in the Piagnaro Castle above town that has ancient statues from the region (
http://www.statuestele.org/en/) and the town has a medieval core that is interesting to explore as well as Cathedral (in full disclosure, we recently bought a 16th century palazzo in the medieval part of town). There are a number of restaurants in town that offer quite good food at reasonable prices. If you think you might stop on the way, PM me and I can give you some info on the food options.
There is tourism here but it's much less intense than Forte dei Marmi (or, as my wife refers to it, the Palm Beach of Italy), Lucca... It's off the beaten track but, at 10 minutes from the autostrada, not hard to reach.