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Churches are usually free, except San Gimignano’s Collegiata, Pisa’s Duomo and Florence’s Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce. However, you often pay for entry into the best chapels. The piazzas are free theatres of life; for the (steep) price of a cappuccino you can have a front-row seat at a café table. Medieval alleyways and the vine- and olive-clad slopes around them are a joy to wander.

Sights and museums are run by a variety of agencies, so discounts or free admissions vary. The age cut-off may be 6, 12, 14, or 18, or just students and seniors over 60 or 65. National museums are free to everyone under 18 and over 60 unless you are American (relating to reciprocity agreements). Many towns now sell cumulative tickets covering several sights.

Those under 26 can buy a Carta Verde for a 20% discount on any train ticket; for the over 60s, this is called Carta Argento.

For periods longer than 21 days, a short-term lease is often cheaper than renting a car. Unlike with rentals, you also get full insurance coverage with no deductable, plus a brand-new car straight from the factory.

Prices are often higher towards the centre of town and the more stars to the hotel rating. Making do with a one- or two-star hotel (fewer amenities) is preferable to looking outside the centre or in the uninteresting train station neighbourhoods where cheap hotels congregate. Avoid, if possible, the continental breakfast, the minibar and making phone calls: all are overpriced.

In food-loving Italy, price or category of restaurant has little to do with how good the food is, so a cheaper osteria or trattoria can be just as tasty as a fancy ristorante. Appetizers tend to cost almost as much as first courses for much less food. House wine is cheaper than bottled; tap water (acqua dal rubinetto ) is usually free. Tavole calde and bars offer cheap and quick hot meals.

Assemble a picnic fit for an Etruscan king from the small delicatessens (alimentari ), greengrocers (fruttivendolo ), bread and pastry shops (panetteria or pasticceria ) and wine stores (enoteca or fiaschetteria ).

Cash will often secure you a discount in shops and smaller hotels. Sometimes they’re just passing on to you the savings on the credit card commission. Other times, especially in shops, they’re avoiding putting the income on their books. Just make sure you leave with some kind of receipt (by law you have to carry it 400 m beyond the store).

Spring and autumn are becoming more crowded than summer, and hotels and airlines are often extending their high-season prices accordingly. Roughly mid-October to before Easter, though, is low season in Tuscany, when rates on air fares and hotels drop. However, the coastal and spa destinations tend to shut down in winter.

Some fashion items are no cheaper in Italy than abroad. This is especially true of Made in Italy shoes, but Tuscany’s traditional cobblers will make you relatively inexpensive shoes to order. When possible, save your purchasing for one store so you can hurdle the limit for a sales tax refund (see Shopping Tips). Seek out artisan products from the craftspeople themselves.