Unspoiled landscapes, medieval villages, Renaissance pearls… This region brings together the best of Italy, for lovers of history, art and terroir. Here’s a selection.
An undulating landscape rendered moving by the changing shadows of the clouds, slopes harmoniously planted with vines or olive trees, and cypress trees framing ancestral residences like so many sentinels… such is the postcard image that comes to mind when evoking Tuscany. Its winding roads invite you to take your time and discover this land blessed by the gods, home to Chianti, Bolgheri nectars, Montepulciano vino nobile, Montalcino brunello and San Gimignano vernaccia. Some of these wines are ranked among the best in the world. The latter will give you the opportunity to travel back in time to the Middle Ages, stopping off at a village that can be seen from afar. “Ever higher” could have been the motto of its noble families, who built 72 tower-houses up to 50 metres high. Fourteen remain, symbols of their wealth and power. As for the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it still defies the law of gravity. Built in 1173, it began to tilt on the very second floors, due to a waterlogged subsoil. Now stabilised at an estimated five degrees of incline, climbing the 251 steps is not to be forgotten! Another experience awaits travellers to Siena in summer: the Palio, a horse race held in the Piazza del Campo, which is attended by a speciality originally prepared at Christmas, tender almond cookies called ricciarelli. Let’s leave the cobbled streets of this superbly preserved medieval town for the jewel of the province, Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance. It’s impossible to sum up this Medici City in just a few lines, and it’s well worth a long stay. From Brunelleschi to Fra Angelico, Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, there are countless artists who have contributed to the city’s aura, and whose works figure in the pantheon of art history. The expression “open-air museum” takes on its full meaning here.
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