San Giuliano Terme
San Giuliano Terme is only a district outside Pisa. It’s nothing special apart from the spa. There’s a railway station at San Giuliano Terme, but there’s no bus stop near the station or taxi stand.
The reason I stayed in this area was because an Italian acquaintance offered to show my partner and me “the real Tuscany” which we readily accepted. The vision of vibrant purple lavenders and rich yellow corns and bloody red poppies on rolling hillsides was irresistible!
How different reality was! For two days we were marched up some uninspiring hillside track, taken to see the commercial port of Livorno and some concrete beach of whose name I didn’t even bother to remember, let alone take photos! Maybe that was the “real Tuscany” for the locals, but give me the touristy Tuscany any day!
Villa di Corliano Relais all’Ussero
Our week would have been ruined had we not been staying at Villa di Corliano, 15th century country house with a beautiful well-tended park.
It’s on the bus route (E03) between Pisa Airport (via Pisa) and Lucca and the bus stops were right outside the villa. There were a lot of places for walk around the area.
The park was such a wonderful place just to bask in the sun or relax in the shade!
And there were plenty of butterflies on the grounds to keep my partner (a butterfly expert) happy!
The interiors of the villa was full of history and well preserved.
There’s a nice restaurant (Osteria da Antonio) on site which served lovely food at reasonable prices. When it closed on Tuesdays the hosts of the hotel Camilla and Marco offered special Tuscany dinner for guests in a relaxed atmosphere that’s more like a house party
The room we stayed in was once occupied occupied by Josephine, wife of Napoleon, no less! It was clean and spacious with a large comfortable bed looking out on the lovely park
