Return to the Tuscany photos
Tuscany (Toscana) is one of 21 regions in Italy. Its nine provinces (population 3.5 million) include Firenze (the capital), Lucca, Pisa, and Siena, and even the island of Elba. It features the Etruscan Appennines and the Tuscan uplands, with gently rolling hills and many cypress trees. The chief feature is the Arno River, which flows through Florence and Pisa to the Tyrrhenian coast. While there is industry and art, there is much farming (corn, olives, etc.). Tuscany is also the home of the famous Chianti wines. Tuscany (particularly but not only Florence) was the birthplace of the Renaissance in art and literature, and the Tuscan dialect is regarded to be the "purest" Italian language. According to Goethe, Tuscany looks like Italy should! While the smoggy and crowded city of Florence is in many ways the exception, we agree about surrounding countryside and smaller towns.This first page of Tuscany (to be completed, and others to come) shows the winery at the Certosa, the fortress-like home of a handful of Cistercian monks just a mile or so out of Florence. The olives there were just ripening. (We'll go back when the place is open and take more pictures!) The clock tower, the student in the doorway, and the view of the rolling hills are from the beautiful hill-top town of Montepulciano. The street scenes are from the jewel town of Pienza, near Siena. These towns are small and immaculately kept by friendly citizens--a welcome contrast to the traffic, smog of Florence and the frequent snobbery of its citizens. They are the essence of central Italy.
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