Experience the best of Montecatini Terme

Montecatini Terme grew around its mineral springs in the Valdinievole, a plain between Florence and Lucca. The Tettuccio spa, a neoclassical pavilion with colonnades and frescoed halls, is where visitors have long sipped the waters, and the town's grand Liberty-style hotels and bathhouses stand among shaded parks. It is one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe on the World Heritage list.

A funicular dating from 1898 climbs to Montecatini Alto, the old hilltop village with a medieval square, narrow lanes and views of the plain. Pescia, a flower-growing town, and Collodi, whose name the author of Pinocchio took as his own and whose Villa Garzoni has a baroque garden, lie nearby. Lucca's walls, Pistoia's old centre and Vinci, the birthplace of Leonardo, are a short drive away, and Florence and Pisa are around an hour away by train.

Tuscan cooking appears everywhere: ribollita, a bread-and-bean soup, pappa al pomodoro, crostini with chicken-liver pâté, and cantucci biscuits dipped in vin santo. Spring and autumn are mild and pleasant for walks in the parks, and summer days are warm.