Complimentary bus pickup: The Il Ciocco Hotel provides a complimentary bus pickup service from Pisa on July 17. A detailed schedule will be published in early July.

Local train station: Barga-Gallicano (some connections through Lucca). You can find detailed European railway schedule information here. From Barga-Gallicano it is a 10-minute and (approximately) 12 euro taxi ride to Il Ciocco. Trains to Barga-Gallicano may be taken from either Pisa or Lucca. If you take it from Pisa, recheck after you are on the train that it actually goes to Barga-Gallicano. It has happened to me that, after being told at Pisa Centrale that the train did go to Barga-Gallicano, I actually had to change in Lucca. If you are coming from Florence (Firenze), it is usually faster to take the hourly express train nonstop to Pisa and change there, even though you pass by Lucca. The train fare from Pisa to Barga-Gallicano is quite low - about 2 euro is my best recollection. The journey from Lucca to Barga-Gallicano is v-e-r-y slow but also very picturesque. I believe that in July the massive sunflowers will be in full bloom, and the train winds up the hills passing the beautiful sunflower fields and many small towns. One additional warning though - the train is not air-conditioned. It is not usually very hot in the Tuscan hills, but that can happen. At the (very small) Barga-Gallicano station you might have to go into the snack bar that is adjacent. The taxi driver sometimes doubles as the bartender. You can also telephone Il Ciocco (+39-0583-7191). If you do so in advance, after you know what time your train is scheduled to arrive, they should be able to have a taxi waiting. If you are not able to make these arrangements in Italian, try to double check that the person you are speaking to understands what you want. Buon viaggio!

Driving: Please consult the Il Ciocco Web site for a map with local directions.

Pisa hotels: If you arrive early and plan to spend some time in Pisa, you may wish to consult this list of hotels in Pisa.

A taxi from Barga-Gallicano station costs about 12 euro. One from Pisa or Florence costs about 120 euro. You can check up on current international exchange rates here.