Florence to the Italian Alps: An Off-the-Beaten-Path Family Road Trip
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Most families do Italy the same way. Florence, Rome, maybe the coast, all in a rush, all in line. We did something slower, and it turned out to be the best trip we have taken as a family. We started with pasta in the Chianti hills and ended up in a mountain town in the Ligurian Alps that almost nobody outside Italy has heard of.
If you want the real, unhurried version of this country, the one your kids will actually remember, here is the Tuscany to Piedmont road trip we did, start to finish.
Start in Chianti, with the people who started it all for us
Begin near Florence, in the Chianti hills, with Accidental Tourist. Majla and Marco have been opening their home and teaching families to make pasta from scratch since 1998, inside a house built around a 900 year old watchtower. Take the pasta class, stay a couple of nights in their Chianti tower that sleeps up to ten, and let this set the tone for the whole trip.
I am not exaggerating when I say this couple changed how we travel. They are the ones who later sent us up into the mountains, to the town you will read about below. Real hospitality opens doors you did not know were there.
Point the car at the mountains
From Chianti, you drive northwest, watching Tuscany slowly turn into Piedmont and then into the Ligurian Alps. Rent a car for this trip, no question. The whole point is the freedom to stop in a town you have never heard of because it looked pretty from the road. [CAR RENTAL – add your TravelPayouts car rental link here.]
You can break the drive wherever you like, but the destination that makes this trip special is the top of the Val Tanaro.
Base yourself in Ormea
Ormea is a small mountain town where Piedmont leans into Liguria, and it became the heart of our whole trip. Farm mornings learning where gelato actually comes from, gentle hikes the kids could handle, a castle you can walk up to at night, and a wine bar where the entire town shows up after dark. I wrote the whole thing up here: Ormea with kids, the town that stole our hearts.
Majla and Marco host families here too, which is how we ended up staying. You can also see stays in Ormea here.
Day trips into the real Italy
From Ormea you are surrounded by places worth a day each. Medieval Garessio with its riverside playground. The long arcades of Pieve di Teco, where a 21 year old chef came home from one of Italy’s best culinary schools to build something. A whole valley of small family wineries. I put the day trips in their own guide here: day trips from Ormea.
Why this trip matters more than it looks
Here is the part I care about most. The towns on this route are the opposite of overtouristed. Some of them are quietly fighting to survive, as young people leave and shops close. And the families who choose to travel this way, slowly, curiously, spending their days and their money in places that are not on every list, we are part of what keeps these towns alive.
You do not have to think of it that way to enjoy the trip. But once you have eaten at a young chef’s table in a town that was not sure it wanted her, or watched a farmer show your kids how the milk becomes the gelato, you start to see travel a little differently. The good kind of differently.
When to go and how long you need
Give yourself at least a week, ideally ten days. Two or three nights in Chianti to start, then the rest up in the mountains with Ormea as your base. Late spring through early autumn is easiest with kids. If you would rather have a culturally immersive family trip organized for you instead of driving it yourself, I love what Travec is doing with intentional family group trips. Code BRAVEFAMILY takes 200 dollars off.
We never travel without SafetyWing for insurance, and everything we pack is in my Amazon shop, including the travel stroller that has survived every road on this trip.
Keep reading: Ormea with kids, day trips from Ormea, and 4 off-the-beaten-path Italian towns most families miss.
Affiliate disclosure: this post contains affiliate links, including Booking.com, SafetyWing, Amazon, and Travec. If you book or buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Accidental Tourist and Airbnb links are shared because we love them. I only recommend people and places we truly believe in.
Xoxo, Marae: your travel mom bestie
www.bravefreetravel.com