Pisa

Pisa is, for most people, a two-hour stop on the way from Florence to somewhere else. The city's main attraction is the famous leaning tower, which is easy to check out on that kind of short two-hour stop - but the area around the leaning tower of Pisa is almost totally unrepresentative of the rest of the city. The city has many historic monuments and churches worth visiting, and it's also home to one of the country's most prominent universities.

Because of the university in Pisa, the city is home to a lively student population. That means there's ample nightlife and plenty of cheap eats (so long as you get away from the off-kilter tower), and anyone who gets away from the piazza around the leaning tower will certainly find lots to love about Pisa.