Tuscany as a workshop of artistic experiences, as a place of synthesis and rebirth on a universal level. A synthesis of art in this region begins with the cave dwellings of Cetona, the stele-statues of Lunigiana, the presence of ancient civilisations on Elba Island, and then continues with the Etruscan necropolises with tangible signs of a Roman past, the countless testimonies of the Middle Ages, the flowering of the Gothic, the explosion of the Renaissance, the opulence of the Baroque, the Macchiaioli, the flowery art nouveau style, termed Liberty, finally reaching the expressions and trends of contemporary art.

The Etruscans A land of great historic suggestion, in virtue of a conspicuous , high-profile legacy, Tuscany fascinates lovers of ancient civilisations which here have left indelible traces that we invite you to discover. The Etruscan civilisation represents one of the cultures of greatest depth in Italy and in the entire Mediterranean basin. Departing from the region that gave them their name, which is to say the territories between the Arno and Tiber rivers, they extended their domain even to other areas of the peninsula, establishing commercial relations with all the Mediterranean populations. Archaeological excavations and studies have brought to light the vestiges of necropolises, tumuli, settlements, crafts areas and manufactures, especially ceramics and metals, which reveal a cross-section on the uses, customs, daily life, trade relations and history of this people. In the northern part of Tuscany, the remains of a sanctuary of the VI century B.C., found near the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and an impressive tumulus tomb of the VII-VI century B.C., excavated in its immediate environs, have disproved the old hypothesis that Etruscan expansion never passed beyond the Arno in Pisa. The areas of greatest Etruscan interest are undoubtedly located below this river, however. In Volterra, where entire necropolises were swallowed by the harsh and wild landscape of the so-called "Balze," we find the important Museo Etrusco Guarnacci where we can admire splendid urns, sarcophagi, jewellery and bronze. On the "Etruscan Coast" in Cecina, you can visit the reconstruction of a tomb found at Casale Marittimo. The local archaeological museum, housed in the Villa La Cinquantina, exhibits finds from the Etruscan settlements of Badia (Volterra). The planned enlargement of exhibiting headquarters will make room for finds from the entire Volterra area. Situated in the idyllic natural landscape of the gulf of Baratti, Populonia was already important in the Villanovan age (IX-VIII centuries B.C.) and a rich metalworking centre of which today there remain necropolises (with the main burial typologies: pozzo, tumulus, aediculum and cave tombs) and the ruins of the acropolis. To learn more, we invite you to visit the Parco Archeologico di Baratti e Populonia and the Museo del Territorio di Populonia in Piombino. In Florence, tourists are attracted by the Museo Archeologico, one of the most important exhibiting venues in Italy, with jewels such as the "Chimera," one of the most famous Etruscan bronze statues. Around the Florence-Prato area, the remains of the Etruscan walls in Fiesole where you can also visit the Museo Civico Archeologico, and the Museo Archeologico Comunale of Artimino which houses finds from the Etruscan tombs of Boschetti and Montefortini (Comeana). Also noteworthy are the centres on Sienese territory and in the Valdichiana: first of all, Chianciano Terme (with the remains of the pediment of the Temple of Fucoli and countless finds in the Museo Civico Archeologico delle Acque) and Chiusi (with several of the most famous tomb paintings and the splendid canopic vases with an abundance of other finds, in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale). In addition to the well-known Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Siena, many other centres in the province host analogous institutions. And Arezzo is no less with its Museo Archeologico Mecenate, while the area of Cortona abounds in exhibiting venues with finds from the Etruscan era (Antiquario di Farneta, Area Archeologica of Cortona, and the Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca). This articulated panorama could not neglect southern Tuscany: the province of Grosseto is extremely rich with sites and museums. In Grosseto visit the Museo Archeologico e d'Arte della Maremma. Inside you will discover finds contextualised to their place or origin (Roselle, Vetulonia, Vulci). The town of Castiglione della Pescaia is home to the Zona Archeologica in Vetulonia with its vast necropolis. The archaeological ruins of Roselle are sited in a remarkable panoramic setting. The vestiges refer to an ancient settlement, successively inhabited by the Romans. Finds from the Etruscan settlements in the vicinity of Lago dell'Accesa can be visited at the Museo Archeologico in Massa Marittima. In the town of Orbetello, the permanent exhibition of the "Frontone di Talamone" presents the reconstruction of the pediment of an Etruscan temple, found on the hill of Talamonaccio. In Pitigliano, where an excellent wine accompanies your passage to the civilisation of tufa, visit the Museo Civico Archeologico della Civiltà Etrusca. An archaeological museum has recently opened also in Scansano, while finds from the necropolis of Sovana can be visited at the Centro Documentale del Territorio Sovanese.

The Renaissance If there is a land where a trend of art, architecture or thought, has left indelible traces in the cityscape, this is definitely Tuscany. It can doubtlessly be defined as the very icon of the Renaissance which coincides with the peak of the power of Florence in the region and the affirmation of the house of Medici and other great families, from the Pitti to the Strozzi, whose patronage was among the fundamental factors of the extraordinary flowering of culture and figurative arts. Splendid and stately aristocratic palaces defined the measure of the new urban setting and graced cities and minor centres. The villas that became the elect residences in the magnificent countryside of rural Tuscany are amazing for architectural preciousness, wealth of ornamentation, works of art - created by artists who at court found hospitality and economic means - the elegance of parks and gardens which were to be school and experimental workshop for numerous landscape architects far beyond the region's borders. This virtuous circle of the arts commissioned the greatest artists of the time to embellish and ennoble the interiors of churches, noble chapels and burial places. Paintings and even more so, statues and groups of sculpture - suffice it to mention the Medici Chapels in Florence - seal a fertile and brilliant age in the history of the arts. Humanism and the re-evaluation of man's centrality, in thought and practice, were to determine a revolution in creativity, architecture, sculpture and painting. The search for the right proportions and linear harmony in architectural forms, a new conception of space, and geometric synthesis applied to more traditionally classical canons of aesthetics in reply to Gothic canons that dominated till then, resulted in a new dimension that set the individual at the centre of an articulated and global design of the arts, prefiguring a revolution in Italy and all of Europe: in synthesis, the ingeniousness of the Renaissance. Among the greatest artists of the period in which Florence became a workshop of multidisciplinary experiments, three names emerge: Brunelleschi in architecture (author of the wondrous project for the dome, or "cupolone" of Santa Maria del Fiore), Donatello in sculpture (his is the bronze David in the Bargello) and Masaccio in painting (the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in the Carmine). While these were the "guiding" figures, we must not neglect the merits of Leon Battista Alberti, theorist of perspective and unsurpassed master even beyond the borders of Florence where he also left traces in several places of worship (Santissima Annunziata and Santa Maria Novella); Ghiberti, the ingenious interpreter of the Gate of Paradise of the Baptistery; Jacopo della Quercia who left us Fonte Gaia in Siena, and the tomb of Ilaria del Carretto in Luca; Botticelli, one of the best-known names in the Uffizi Gallery. It was in the Florentine "botteghe" (workshops), however, that Renaissance renewal matured: Benozzo Gozzoli and Filippo Lippi drew capability and interpretative vigour from the bottega of Beato Angelico; the universal genius of Leonardo da Vinci matured in that of Verrocchio; the great Michelangelo Buonarroti received his first training in the bottega of Ghirlandaio. While on one hand, plastic and figurative arts reached their peak in the XVI century, changing economic and political relations, combined with the attraction exerted by papal patronage, moved the interest and production of the major artists to Rome. In Florence, though, the active artists included Vasari, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Benvenuto Cellini, to name the most important. Among the great works completed during the Renaissance, let us recall the planning of Pienza, the old Corsignano, according to the humanistic model of Piccolomini pope Pius II and masterfully interpreted by Bernardo Rossellino, one of the many "lesser figures" who contributed to spreading the supremacy of Tuscan arts to the rest of Europe. Again in the land of Siena, in Montepulciano we find numerous examples of Renaissance homes in the old town plan, and the remarkable temple of San Biagio. Isolated in the countryside and constituting an essential part of the landscape, it is among the most luminous examples of religious architecture of the time and was built on a project by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder.

Cities of art

Firenze Florence keeps an exceptional artistic heritage which is a marvellous evidence of its aged culture. Cimabue and Giotto, the fathers of Italian painting, lived in Florence as well as Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano, renewers of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio forefathers of the Renaissance, Ghiberti and the Della Robbias , Filippo Lippi and Angelico ; Botticelli , Paolo Uccello and the universal genius of Leonardo and Michelangelo . Their works, together with those of many other generations of artists up to the artists of our century, are gathered in the several museums of the town : the Uffizzi, the most selected gallery in the world, the Palatina gallery with the paintings of the "Golden Ages" . The Bargello Tower with the sculptures of the Renaissance, the museum of San Marco with Angelico's works, the Academy, the chapels of the Medicis , Buonarroti' s house with the sculptures of Michelangelo , the following museums: Bardini , Horne, Stibbert, Romano, Corsini, The Gallery of Modern Art, The museum of " Opera del Duomo",the museum of Silverware and the museum of "Precious" Stones. Great monuments are the landmarks florentine artistic culture: the Baptistry with its mosaics; the Cathedral with its sculptures, the medieval churches with bands of frescoes; public as well as private palaces: Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Pitti, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Palazzo Davanzati; monasteries, cloisters, refectories; the "Certosa". In the archeological museum you will find plenty of documents of Etruscan civilization.

Siena Siena or the town with the best quality in life. The first town Concil in Europe which decided to close the streets of the centre to traffic in 1996. Siena is an international centre of culture, with a University aged 750 and great Istitutions as the Chigiana Music Accademy, the University for Foreigners, "The Accademia dei Fisiocratici"," The accedemia degli Intronati". This is the town where any single "stone" has remained unchanged over the centuries, the atmosphere is unique for everything bear witness to ancient past which is still alive in the celebrations for "Palio" taking place every year with renewed enthusiasm.

San Gimignano This little town, built in the 10th century along Via Francigena or Romea which, by means of sanctuaries, linked western Europe with Rome, evokes a hardworking and enterprising image of mediaeval Italy, elegant and refined. It is famous moreover for its 72 towers (only 14 of which remain) which were built as a symbol of the wealth of the merchant families who lived there.

Pienza The town came into being from the desire of pope Pius II to transform his native village of Corsignano into a monumental centre of small size but of powerful architectural connotations, not only to commemorate his origins but also to identify a model of the ideal town that corresponded to humanistic thought. The result was a town where the architectonic ideas of Alberti, together with his studies of perspective, were masterfully implemented by his closest collaborator Bernardo Rossellino to create spaces and atmospheres of fine settings and evocative beauty.

Pisa Pisa, famous all over the world for its Leaning Tower which dominates and exalts the magnificence of Piazza del Duomo, boasts a millenary history which mostly developed at the time of the Maritime Republics. Pisa is a real jewel- case with its roman and gothic churches, its squares and palaces that give splendour to the old streets and to the quarters winding along the Arno. It is one of the most important university towns thanks to its several and different faculties and the well- known "Scuola Normale" in Cavalieri Square. Sightseeing Pisa you will not only discover art, history, culture but natural environments too such as Migliarino Park, San Rossore, the Coast, Monte Pisano; all of them offer a charming scenery to the traveller.

Arezzo A charming hilly town in the east of Tuscany, Arezzo boasts ancient origins. It was one of the greatest etruscan "Lucumonie" succesively it became a Roman town having a strategic position. It was an important centre for economic activities and for its oustanding monuments , such as the Amphitheatre with numerous ruins. Famous for its foundries and the artistic manufactures of red-painted vases (the so called coral vases) which spread all over the Roman world. In the Middle Age, Arezzo was a free city-state where the Ghibellina supporters often prevail in an atmosphere of friction with nearby Florence. After the rout of Campaldino (1289) its fortunes were low and apart from a brief period under the Tartari, it definetely yielded to Florentine domination (1384) and became part of Medicean Granducato. Arezzo is set on a hill above the plain made up of the floods from Arno river. In the upper part of the town you can find the Cathedral, the Town Hall, the Medici Fortress, from which the main streets branch off towards the lower part as far as the gates. The upper part of the town maintains its medieval aspect even if we can find later architectonic monuments.


FLAVOURS OF TUSCANY
Wine was brought by the Etruscans. Chianti was and remains synonymous with Italian wine. Over and above being drunk, it is used extensively in local cookery. Chianti bread is baked in a wood-fired oven. It lasts all week: you start with the bread knife and it’s as good on the last day as on the first. Any leftovers become, depending on the season, panzanella, ribollita, pappa col pomodoro, and occasionally also that mixture with poppies which once calmed any epileptics in the family. Toasted it is the basic element of fettuntaor with (black) cabbage on slices. For this you need olive oil, the precious liquid gold which was another gift from the Etruscans and whose flavour underlies all Chianti cookery. When necessary it was used as drastic medication or as the basic ingredient in love potions. Cheese is marzolino and pecorino which was largely the fruit of trade during the twice-yearly pasture changing when flocks passed through Chianti. Chianti also had its “poor man’s spicery”: garlic and onion, sage and bay leaf, pepolino (thyme) and rosemary, radicchio and bitter herbs, basil thyme and salvestrella, juniper berries and acacia flowers. The meat is among the world’s best: beef and veal, pork, cinti senesi and wild boar, free range chickens, guinea fowl and pheasant, duck and mallard, rabbit and hare, pigeon and wood-pigeon. And lamb at Easter. The desserts taste of corn, of fresh eggs, of honey and jams: tarts, pine-seed cakes and sponges, both plain and filled. Take care with Chianti raisin wine, which is neither sweet nor dry: it’s raisin wine. If you’re lucky enough to find any, don’t go dipping biscuits in it. That would be a sin, and not just a venial one.

CHIANTI, ETERNAL WINE
Derivation of the word Chianti, according to a 790 document in the abbey of San Bartolomeo in Ripoli, is hard to identify: probably it evolved from the Latin clangor, meaning the typical sharp sound coming from the dense woodlands, the aristocrats’ hunting horns and the shrieks of animals. But some linguists maintain that it is of Etruscan origin. Land of great wines, thanks to the monks who cleared woodland to plant vineyards around the abbeys, and thanks to the peasants who perpetuated the cultivation thereof. The modern history of “ Chianti Classico began in the 19th century with the “father” of modern vine growing and winemaking in Chianti who was the inspiration for production discipline: baron Bettino Ricasoli. In 1874 he codified the rules for making wine (traditional Tuscan vinification system) and defined Chianti blend proportions, attributing a percentage to each of the main grape varieties: “from Sangioveto the wine receives its main dose of bouquet and a certain vigour of sensation; from Cannaiulothe sweetness that tempers the hardness of the former but without removing the perfume since the latter also has this characteristic. Malvasia, which could be done without in wines intended for ageing, tends to dilute the product of the first two grapes, increases its flavour and renders it lighter and more readily suitable for everyday use at table”. So what prevailed was a Chianti for everyday drinking, medium bodied and suitable for all occasions and all food. So to attenuate the tannic Sangiovese a certain percentage of white grapes was required ( Trebbianoand Malvasia) and other, softer red grapes ( Cannaiolo and Colorino) which also gave a little colour to the “pallid” Sangioveto. In a glass of that ruby red wine, tending to garnet if aged, with its bouquet of sweet violets, spices and small wild fruit, with its structured, harmonious elegant taste, keen and slightly tannic, which then becomes velvety, we find all the pride of this land. The Black Cock on the labels was adopted for the first time by the Consorzio Marchio Storico Chianti Classico, founded by thirty-three producers in Radda, 1924. DOC status was granted in 1967 and DOCG in 1984. To consolidate the renewal of the main Chianti vine species – Sangiovese – and to improve wine quality, over the last few years Operation Chianti 2000 has involved the replanting of a great many vineyards with the introduction of new clones. Impetus for this winegrowing evolution was given by the world success of The Supertuscan. The introduction of allochthonous species (which produce excellent Chardonnaywhites) has demonstrated the great enological value of this terroir. One of the few in the world to be acknowledged as a land of wine: with its limitless vineyards, high concentration of wine producing cellars and its wine lodges and wine bars where Chianti effectively becomes a lifestyle.