The flavours of the Tuscany are strong ones that are often wedded to the aromas of the sea and Liguria. The now famous lard of Colonnata is matured in marble basins and flavoured with rosemary, while pesto is served with testeroli of Pontremoli, pieces of foccacia made of flour and water and baked in...

Nowhere in Italy do the wines so vividly reflect the countryside as in the central Italy region of Tuscany. The bold, full-bodied, mostly red wines are as hearty of the residents, the food, and the soul of this historic province. Chianti Perhaps, the best known of Tuscany’s wines, Chianti is a...

Pontremoli is believed to have been first settled around a thousand years before Christ. It was known in Roman times as Apua. The commune later became an independent municipality in 1226 thanks to Federico II who charters the free municipality, partly because of its mountainous situation. This situation...

Lunigiana covers an area from the Apennines to the Magra river, belonging in part to Tuscany and in part to Liguria. It takes its name from the Luni, an Etruscan tribe of moon worshippers whose curiously appealing stele remain the symbol of this ancient land. The history of Lunigiana is one of passion;...

Presently, in the afternoon, I shall follow Via Porta Rossa, with its old palaces of the Torrigiani (now, Hotel Porta Rossa), and the Davanzati into Mercato Nuovo, where, because it is Thursday, the whole place will be smothered with flowers and children, little laughing rascals as impudent as Lippo...

On coming into the Piazza del Duomo, perhaps from the light and space of the Lung’ Arno or from the largeness of the Piazza della Signoria, one is apt to think of it as too small for the buildings which it holds, as wanting in a certain spaciousness such as the Piazza of St. Peter at Rome certainly...

Casola – a small hill village of about 1,500 people located in the higher part of the Aulella river, on a terrace surrounded by the Aulella and the Tassinaro streams. The community lies between the Lunigiana and the Garfagnana, and also between the Apuane Mountains and the Apennines. An important...

While marble plays the leading role in the economy of the slopes of the Apuan Alps facing the Tyrrhenian Sea, there are, however, extensive woods of beech, chestnut and fir surrounding towns and villages of notable artistic and historical importance such as Seravezza, which, in its oldest part, has an...

Nowhere in Italy do the wines so vividly reflect the countryside as in the central Italy region of Tuscany. The bold, full-bodied, mostly red wines are as hearty of the residents, the food, and the soul of this historic province. Chianti Perhaps, the best known of Tuscany’s wines, Chianti...

Every time I write about Tuscany Italy, my heart and my whole body for that matter experiences an intense feeling of calmness. I know exactly that this feeling comes from the relaxed atmosphere that this part of Italy near Florence gives off. I have found a perfect balance of enjoying the fascinating...