IT - Tuscany

Tuscany is a region of central Italy which borders Liguria to the north-west, Emilia-Romagna to the north, Marche and Umbria to the east, Lazio to the south.

To know:
Thanks to its history and its strong cultural and linguistic unity, it is one of the Italian regions with the oldest and most defined identity, so much so that it is considered by some to be a real “nation”. The name is very ancient and derives from the ethnonym used by the Greeks and Latins to define the land inhabited by the Etruscans: “Etruria”, then transformed into “Tuscia” and then into “Tuscany”.

When to go:
From a climatic point of view, Tuscany has different characteristics from area to area. The average annual temperatures, which record the highest values ​​around 16 ° C along the Maremma coast, tend to decrease as we proceed inland and north; in the plains and in the internal valleys (middle Valdarno and Val di Chiana) the maximum summer values ​​are reached, which often approach and touch the 40 ° C and contrast with rather rigid winter minimums, sometimes even a few degrees below zero.

The snowfalls, frequent in the winter season on all the Apennine mountains and on the top of Monte Amiata, can also reach the neighboring hilly areas but it is not impossible that the snow also reaches the plains and more rarely.

Territories and tourist destinations.
Urban centers:
Florence – It was the cradle of the Italian Renaissance. Here worked, protected and favored by the lords of the city, the Medici, the greatest protagonists of art in all its manifestations and sciences. The Florentine genius left churches, palaces and monuments of extreme beauty to the city; its museums collect an infinite number of masterpieces, such as its churches and palaces. City of international fame, it is a destination for world tourism that shows no sign of diminishing. Capital of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, then for a brief period also capital of Italy, Florence is now rightfully one of the world capitals of culture.
Arezzo – It was an Etruscan and Roman city, then a proud and proud municipality that fought for a long time with Florence which finally subdued it. Its monumental heritage boasts among the most important architectures the Romanesque church of Santa Maria, San Francesco, the Gothic Cathedral. The Medici fortress recalls the definitive subjection to Florence, from whose dominion even the inhabitants of Arezzo had repeatedly tried to escape.
Grosseto
Livorno
Lucca – walled city, preserves an artistic heritage of great caliber; the Duomo, where you can see the famous tomb of Ilaria del Carretto, San Michele in Foro, San Frediano are its most significant churches. In the medieval village there are the Guinigi towers and the palaces and towers of via Fillungo. The market square overlaps, surrounded by a curtain of houses that follow its perimeter, to the Roman amphitheater.
Pisa – Its leaning tower is one of the best known monuments in the world. Destination of international tourism, the ancient Maritime Republic boasts numerous important monuments, but it is above all for the Piazza dei Miracoli that it can boast the qualification of World Heritage Site
Pistoia
Prato – Second city in Tuscany by population, third in central Italy after Rome and Florence, suffers from the cumbersome proximity of Florence, with which it is in fact conurbated. Known nationally for the textile industry and for the cantucci, biscuits with almonds that are often dipped in Vin Santo, it offers us of its past a splendid Romanesque-Gothic cathedral in which Michelozzo and Donatello worked.
Siena – Piazza del Campo and its Palio are world famous. In addition to them, the city offers an extensive and well-preserved historic center, nestled in the hills of the Crete Senesi.

Other destinations:
Casentino
Metalliferous Hills – This includes the centers of Sassetta, Campiglia Marittima, Suvereto, Monteverdi Marittimo, Pomarance, Castelnuovo di Val di Cecina, Radicondoli, Chiusdino, Monterotondo Marittimo, Montieri, Roccastrada, Massa Marittima, Gavorrano, Scarlino and Castiglione della Pescaia.
Chianti hills, Albegna and Fiora hills, Crete senesi, Grosseto Maremma, Montalbano (mountain), Monte Amiata, Mugello – Corresponds to the Sieve valley, a tributary of the Arno.

Florentine plain
Val d’Orcia – Listed on the list of World Heritage Sites, the Val d’Orcia extends in the province of Siena with the exception of a stretch of the lower valley in the province of Grosseto. There are the Sienese centers of Castiglione d’Orcia, Montalcino, Pienza, Radicofani, San Quirico d’Orcia, with the hamlets of Monticchiello, Bagno Vignoni, Rocca d’Orcia, Campiglia d’Orcia, Bagni San Filippo, Vivo d ‘ Orcia, and the village of Montenero d’Orcia in the province of Grosseto.
Val di Cecina, Valdarno.
Valtiberina in its Tuscan stretch the Tiber crosses the following centers: Anghiari – Badia Tedalda, Caprese Michelangelo, Monterchi, Pieve Santo Stefano, Sansepolcro, Sestino.

Tuscan coast:
Etruscan coast, Pisan coast, Maremma coast – Orbetello, Monte Argentario, Versilia.

Thermal centers:
Bagni di Lucca – In Lucca.