There are many ways to travel through Tuscany.
I had already seen its hill towns, vineyards and winding country roads. But on this particular day, I was going to see them from a rather different perspective , behind the wheel of a Ferrari.
We began at Villa La Massa, just outside Florence, where our cars were waiting. Mine was a red convertible, and from the moment I slipped behind the wheel, I knew this wasn’t going to be an ordinary day of sightseeing. And yes, I was driving.
The experience was carefully organized. Our tour leader drove ahead, and we were connected to him so that we could hear his instructions as we drove. He guided us along the route, telling us where to turn and what was coming next, leaving us free to enjoy the road and the car without worrying about navigation, then we were off.
There is something quite different about experiencing Tuscany this way. You aren’t sitting in the back seat while someone else drives. You feel every curve in the road. You notice the little villages as you approach them, the landscape opening in front of you, and the changing rhythm of the countryside. And with the top down, there is very little separating you from any of it. Of course, there was also the Ferrari.
I won’t pretend that driving a Ferrari convertible through Tuscany didn’t add considerably to the pleasure. It did. I was in seventh heaven. But what stayed with me wasn’t simply the car. It was the combination of the two, an extraordinary machine and one of the most beautiful landscapes in Italy. The Ferrari made the drive exhilarating, but Tuscany gave it a sense of place.
What I also liked was that the experience didn’t feel like a racetrack transplanted onto public roads. We weren’t there simply to drive fast. We were traveling through a region, stopping along the way and experiencing the countryside while someone else quietly took care of the logistics. That is an important distinction.
These driving experiences can be arranged for a single day, as mine was, or extended over two or more days. Different routes can take you through different regions of Italy, turning the Ferrari into something more interesting than a car you drive for a few hours. It becomes part of the journey itself.
Would I choose a Ferrari every time I wanted to explore the Italian countryside?
Probably not. But for one unforgettable day in Tuscany? Absolutely.
Sometimes the journey really is the destination and occasionally, it comes with a very beautiful red Ferrari.