Directions From Pisa Airport

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Bear right coming from car hire. You can actually see the dual carriageway that you need to aim for. I don’t think that there is a sign just come out of car hire and basically keep bearing right which should filter you straight out onto the dual carriageway [direction East, South East]. This is the ‘Strada Di Grande Communicazione. Continue along this road for about 90 kilometers . It is pretty fast and easy.

Leave this road at junction called Scincolo Firenze Signa, which almost immediately divides and you must take the direction for A1 Rome.

This brings you onto the A1 super- strada and soon to a toll- booth [I can’t quite remember how soon], but at some point there is the toll barrier. Take ticket have about 10 euros [I think] ready for the other end. Travel along this road for about another 80/90 kilometers exit A1 at svincolo Valdichiana

Take the `Valdichiana` exit from the A1. In a couple of hundred metres you come to the tollbooths. Keep over to the right. Do remember after the toll booths you are soon onto a road where traffic comes at you from the left [I only mention because I nearly came a cropper here] You are now travelling right. I think that the signpost is Bettolle, Valdiachianna, Sinalunga. After about 600 hundred metres the road divides and you want to take the right turn/fork signposted Bettole/Perugia. *****This Last instruction may have changed …there is now a big roundabout here and frankly I don’t quite know what is happening As long as you follow signs to Perugia you should be OK.

You are on a dual carriageway. Basically you stay on this road for about 15 kilometers. It is a dual carriageway and an easy drive. Shortly after the Cortona and Montepulciano turn offs you will see Lake Trasimeno on your right. At this point you know that you are very near to your destination.

Your exit is ‘Tuoro, Traghetti per isole’. Come off and loop around under the road until you come to a sort of `T` junction. [There is a road ahead but it leads into nothing more than a hotel car park]

Take the road right; left takes you to the lakeside. A fairly narrow road takes you about 800 yards to a crossroads. You go past a car wash on your left, a group of shops including a co-op set back off the road on the left. A sport shop and tourist shop on the right. At the crossroads do not take the road straight ahead and signed Tuoro [as so many do despite my best instruction] but the road to the left. It’s the old Arrezo/Florence road called Via Firenze, but the sign is not easy to see. It probably now has a proper road sign saying Arrezzo Cortona or something but I can`t be sure.

Anyway, take a left. After about one kilometre you will go over a little hump bridge and a big yellow sign will say `goodbye` in lots of languages. After about another kilometre you will see, on your right, a large forecourt with planters and pots, various modern houses, a tiny café with awning, set back from the road and then not much further along a couple of hundred meters, two large umbrella pines marking the entrance to our road. These particular umbrella pines are opposite a rather unlovely yellow three or four storey modern house. The road is marked with brown `agrotourismo` signs and some stuff about Hannibal plus a line drawing of him! Now there is a long straight cypress tree lined road. Continue up the road for about 1000 metres until it steeply rises. There is a large yellow modern house on the right at this point. Continue on for a few more metres until you come to some ochre/yellow little agrotourismo houses on your right and an obviously done up little stone house on your left. Turn right behind the yellow houses now you are driving between the new little houses and a big stone farmhouse. The farmhouse is on your left. Swing immediately behind this farmhouse [you should notice a rounded apse and tiny bell tower which is a little church attached to the house] now you are behind the farmhouse/church and have an ugly great garage for storing farm machinery on your right. Also on your right is a red brick tall, thin monument to Hannibal. This monument stands on the corner of a track. Take a sharp right up this track [very sharp right!] All of this happens within a few metres. Take this sharp right and you will almost immediately see a private property sign in blue I hope. The road now deteriorates rapidly as you get onto our land! After about 200 metres the road forks, take the right fork and the track will take you to our house. There is another little left fork which takes you to the pool, ignore that and keep to the right. After twenty meters the house is in front of you.