The Cities of Tuscany

Florence, the capital city of Tuscany, IS the Renaissance. Everywhere you look you’ll marvel at its architecture, art, culture and history.

Some “musts” are Michelangelo's David in the Academia, the Duomo, Campanile and Bapistry, the museum of the works of the Duomo, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Bargello, San Marco with Fra Angelica's frescos, Santa Croce, and San Miniato, not to mention the Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens.

As far as shopping goes, Florence is known for its leather, lace, linens, Florentine paper and paper products, and, of course, its wine and food. There are no bargains anymore, but you can certainly marvel at the craftsmanship of the Italian ateliers and know it can’t be replicated.

A trip to Tuscany wouldn’t be complete without spending time in Siena, the hillside town about an hour south of Florence. A former trading post and stopover for pilgrims to Rome over the ages, Siena still retains a medieval flair, probably best exhibited in the centuries-old Palio horse race held twice each summer on the town square, Piazza del Campo.

The Palio is a traditional medieval horse race run around the Piazza each year on July 2 and August 16. This event is attended by large crowds, and is widely televised. Seventeen city neighborhoods vie for the trophy: a painted flag, or Palio bearing an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Ten of the seventeen neighborhoods run in each Palio in an intense, ribald race for bragging honors.

Outside of the Palio times, the Piazza del Campo is regarded as one of the most beautiful civic spaces in Europe and is the heartbeat of the city. As with many medieval cities, over time many streets were constructed leading to it. Since Siena is built on a hill, plan to wear comfortable shoes and go up and down many steps to get anywhere.

Lucca is a delightful, graceful city near the coast in northern Tuscany not far from Pisa. Rich in history, culture, beauty and music, Lucca is the birthplace of Puccini. It is about an hour train or car ride from Florence, and about an hour and 15 minutes by car from Chianti.

Originally a Roman city (you can go into one if the city’s piazza’s and see its circular shape from when it was a colisseum), Lucca was later the capital of Tuscany. Now Lucca is known for its medieval double walls, topped by a park and wide promenade where people stroll, bicycle and view the surrounding mountains.

Lucca has always been a prosperous place, with money made in trading, knitwear and what is purported to be among the finest olive oil in the world, the so-called “green gold.” Because of this prosperity, mild climate for being near the sea (30 minutes away,) Lucca has some of the most magnificent villas and gardens you can tour in all of Italy. This wealth also brought with it great culture, so there are many musical fests year-round, but none more important than the Puccini Opera Festival each summer.

Cortona is a fortified hill town that hugs the Umbrian border on the eastern edge of Tuscany. In recent years it was made famous by American Frances Mayes who wrote about her adventures in rebuilding a villa there in the book, Under The Tuscan Sun. The book was later turned into a popular movie starring Diane Lane.

Although it is about a 1.5 hour drive to Cortona from Florence or Chianti, it still has great strategic advantage for visiting many of the cities and towns in Umbria and eastern Tuscany like Arezzo and Chuisi. It is also only about 10 miles from beautiful Lake Trasimeno and some of its lovely lakeside villages. Lake Trasimeno’s historical significance was that it was the scene of Hannibal’s ambush of the Roman army in 217 BC.

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