This is how to holiday in Tuscany without the crowds getting in the way

It's dusk in early June and my husband and I are sitting on a garden bench admiring the dome and campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral soaring above the terracotta roofs of Florence. Just a handful of other people are strolling through the surprisingly little-known gem that is Giardino Bardini, which straddles a hill bound by the city's remaining medieval walls.

Florence and the famed hilltop villages of Tuscany have become such tourist magnets that experiences like this feel rare. However, it is possible to play hide and seek with the crowds to relish Florence's Renaissance gems and savour la dolce vita, Tuscan style.

First things first. Don't come in July and August when the heat and tourist hordes reach their peak. May and, to a lesser extent June, as well as September and October offer some respite from both.

You must go to the Uffizi, Europe's finest museum of medieval and Renaissance art, and it will be crowded. Book a guided tour, which will provide much-needed context and help you focus on a few masterpieces rather than being overwhelmed by the magnitude of magnificent works. Avoid Tuesdays when the cruise ships dock in Livorno and the first Sunday of the month when many museums are free.

Skip the inside of the Duomo Cathedral but pay attention to the exquisite details of its exterior and check out the 13th-century mosaics inside the nearby Baptistery as well as the Museo dell' Opera featuring centuries of art from the Duomo. And do visit the Basilica of Sante Croce, plastered with frescoes by Giotto, and home to the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante, Machiavelli and other greats.

Wander the frescoed courtyard of Palazzo Vecchio, which has been Florence's town hall for seven centuries, and, if you can't make it to the Accademia, admire the replica of Michelangelo's David out front as well as the remarkable sculptures in the Loggia della Signoria and along the exterior of the church of Orsanmichele nearby. All these are free.

Visit some of Florence's museums that fly under the radar, such as the Bargello for its exceptional sculpture, the Museo Galileo, devoted to the history of science, and the Museo di San Marco specialising in the work of Early Renaissance artist Fra Angelico.

We stay in an Airbnb on Piazza Santa Spirito, in the heart of the Oltrarno artisanal quarter, south of the Arno. Sarah Winman's bestselling novel Still Life is set here and I recommend it as a love letter to Florence, art in general and the exquisite moments that shape a life. While it isn't crowd free, Piazza Santa Spirito has an appealing local vibe. It's dominated by the Basilica di Santo Spirito, which was designed by Brunelleschi but never finished, hence its striking minimalist facade. Inside you pay just two euros to marvel at the lime wood crucifix by a 17-year-old Michelangelo who gave it to the basilica as thanks to the prior for letting him study the cadavers at the church's hospital next door.

Make time to wander Oltrarno's narrow winding streets where you'll discover artisan workshops for jewellery, leatherwork, porcelain, gold leaf, specialty paper, perfume, bronze work and more.

Florence's wine windows have become a thing. Thanks Instagram. They may have been around since the 17th century as a way for noblemen to sell their vino without paying tax, but now they draw crowds who stand in the street taking selfies. If you're interested in wine, much better to go to a serious wine bar like Obsequium (also in Oltrarno) where you can taste a curated range of Tuscan wines and olive oils.

We love Oltrarno's restaurants, too, enjoying a spectacular meal at Il Santo Bevitore, set in a former coach house and one of the trailblazers of farm-to-table cooking, and feasting on Florence's signature T-bone steak at Osteria del Tegoliao. The next day we buy exceptional panini at Schiaccia on tucked-away Piazza della Passera, a few hundred metres from the Ponte Vecchio, to make steak sandwiches for a picnic in the Boboli Gardens. We return later to celebrate our Oltrarno sojourn with pink grapefruit and fig gelato at artisanal Gelataria della Passera.

Now, it's time to pile into the rental car and head for the Tuscan hills. There's so much to see and do that it can feel overwhelming, especially when you consider that Tuscany is more than half the size of Switzerland. Here are some suggestions for savouring the highlights with appealing alternatives to over-touristed sites.

Archrival to Florence, Siena is also remarkably rich in art and architecture and, if you stay inside the compact hill town with its narrow cobblestone streets and medieval red-brick buildings, you'll enjoy calm evenings when most of the day-trippers have left.

Framed by palazzi on three sides, the Piazza del Campo, Siena's scallop-shell-shaped main square, slopes gently down to the grand Palazzo Pubblico, a crenelated medieval palace which was home to the city-state's enlightened ruling council. Easily the grandest piazza in Italy, this is where the colourful Palio horse race has taken place since the 1600s. When we arrive, a jubilant wedding party is walking across the tessellated terracotta tiles from the town hall to celebrate at one of the alfresco restaurants on the piazza.

Check out Lorenzetti's remarkable Allegory of Good and Bad Government murals at the excellent Civic Museum before heading over to the 12th-century Siena Cathedral, a splendid confection of Romanesque Gothic black-and-white-striped marble. Marvel at the elaborate Old Testament stories that cover every inch of the marble mosaic inlay and graffito floor, Pisano's medieval Carrara marble pulpit and Donatello's statue of St John the Baptist.

Pisa's leaning tower draws the selfie-stick-toting hordes while nearby Lucca feels like an oasis. We rent bikes to cycle along the 4.2-kilometre 16th-century walls, shaded by poplars, elms and chestnut trees, for fabulous views of the intricately carved duomo and lush botanic garden. A walk through the car-free old town reveals the ornate 12th-century Romanesque facade of San Michele, perhaps Italy's most beautiful church.

We stroll Via Fillungo, Lucca's impressive shopping street, to reach the spectacular oval Piazza Anfiteatro framed with medieval houses built over the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre. You can also visit the museum of the opera composer Puccini, in the house where he was born. We dine at Giglio, on the terrace of a lovely 18th-century palazzo, where traditional Italian fare has been updated with a deft modern touch.

Take a side trip to Pietrasanta, the world's capital of marble-processing and a veritable open-air sculpture museum, as well as the nearby Carrara marble quarries.

While Cortona has become the darling of tourists enraptured by Frances Mayes' memoir Under the Tuscan Sun, a much richer alternative is the historic centre of Arezzo (don't be put off by the surrounding modern town), with its sloping Piazza Grande and majestic Palazzo delle Logge, designed by renowned Renaissance architect and Arezzo native Giorgio Vasari. The Piazza Grande hosts Italy's oldest antiques fair the first weekend of every month as well as the biannual Saracen Joust, a knightly tournament between the town's four districts dating from medieval times.

We lunch under the colonnade before admiring (with few other visitors) one of Tuscany's Renaissance masterpieces, Piero della Francesca's colour-saturated frescoes of the Legend of the True Cross in the medieval San Francesco Basilica. The hilltop Cathedral has more gems by della Francesca and Donatello. And do visit the fresco-filled Vasari House Museum, a rare example of a Renaissance artist's house.

With its 14 iconic towers, San Gimignano has the dubious reputation as the most visited hill town in Tuscany, while not far away the less-touristy Volterra offers richer layers of history as well as a fascinating tradition of alabaster craftsmanship. On Via Porta all'Arco (artisan lane) there are alabaster workshops as well as book binders, jewellery stores, and leather and bronze shops.

More than 2000 years ago, Volterra was an important Etruscan city state, whose ancient walls still preserve six original gates. Its Etruscan Museum (Tuscany is named after the Etruscans) is full of artifacts from centuries before Christ, while it also sports one of Italy's most well-preserved Roman theatres, built in the 1st century BCE. The medieval Palazzo dei Priori is the oldest town hall in Tuscany, the Romanesque cathedral has a magnificent gilded coffered ceiling, and the 15th-century Medici Fortress defines the town's skyline.

South of Siena, Val d'Orcia's exquisite landscape of rolling hills, fields of green and gold framed by cypress-tree-lined winding roads and unspoiled medieval villages has been so beautifully preserved it's now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We start our explorations in Pienza, crafted as an ideal Renaissance city by Pope Pius II in the 15th century. Highlights include the cathedral with its stunning medieval masterpieces and the pope's frescoed Palazzo Piccolomini, both of which frame a white travertine marble square. After a summery lunch at Ristorante Sperone Nudo on a flower-dotted square, we walk the new three-kilometre Sentiero dell'Arte e dell'Anima, or Path of Art and Soul, lined with 28 benches created by well-known artists; it starts with a magnificent view of the valley from the cathedral belvedere and continues down the hill into the countryside.

Other must-visit spots include the Radicofani Fortress with its spellbinding views; the atmospheric spa town of Bagno Vignoni whose central square is actually a pool surrounded by restaurants and bars; and the hilltop village of Montalcino with its 14th-century fortress and medieval streets lined with enoteca serving the famed Brunello di Montalcino Sangiovese red wine.

We stay in an Airbnb in the hilltop hamlet of Castelnuovo dell'Abate, south of Montalcino, its little terrace overlooking a patchwork of olive groves and grape vines, kids kicking soccer balls on the cobblestoned laneway below us. At the bottom of the hill, we dine at Vineria Aperta, a hip little enoteca draped with fairy lights where the simple dishes are full of flavour and the local wines tell the story of this beautiful valley laid out before us.

The writer travelled at her own expense