Tuscany

Access

The accesses are easy and polycentric. By air, the international airports of Pisa 'Galileo Galilei' and Florence 'Amerigo Vespucci' connect the region with Italy and Europe, while the Marina di Campo airport serves the island of Elba; there are also minor airports with local functions (including Grosseto). The motorway network includes the Milan-Naples (backbone artery with exits for Arezzo, Valdarno and Florence), the Florence-Sea (towards Prato, Pistoia, Lucca and Versilia) and the along the Tyrrhenian coast; the SGC Florence-Pisa-Livorno integrates the connections between the capital cities and the port. The high-speed railway serves Florence (Santa Maria Novella/Campo di Marte) and quickly connects with Rome, Milan and Bologna; capillary regional lines connect Pisa, Livorno, Lucca, Pistoia, Prato, Arezzo, Siena and Grosseto. For maritime transport, Livorno is a passenger and freight hub with connections to Sardinia and Corsica, Piombino is the main gateway to Elba and the islands of the archipelago.

Introduction

Tuscany is a region in central Italy facing the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, framed to the north-east by the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and open to the south towards the Antiapennine ranges. The landscape naturally alternates between mountains, hills and plains: the Apennine framework and the Apuan Alps slope down into a vast system of ridges and inter-mountain basins, then into broader flat patches along the coast and in the large valley floors. The history of the region, united since the 16th century under the aegis of Florence after the long communal and seigniorial season, however, goes back even further, to the heart of the Etruscan civilisation, whose legacy has marked toponyms, customs and agricultural landscapes. This long stratification, together with the artistic centrality of the Renaissance, has given Tuscany a cultural and touristic relevance that knows no seasons: art cities such as Florence, Siena and Pisa, villages like San Gimignano and Pienza, vine-covered hills and Romanesque parish churches have become symbolic images of Italy in the world.

Description

The territory is articulated and legible in sequence: the peaks of the Apennines, culminating in Monte Prado (2,054 m), descend towards historic valleys such as the Casentino, Garfagnana and Mugello, while further south isolated and massive reliefs such as Pratomagno, the Colline Metallifere and Monte Amiata, an ancient volcano covered with beech woods, emerge. The plains are discontinuous but present: the lower Valdarno, the Versilia and the coastal plains of the Maremma open up areas of historical reclamation that are now intensively used. The hydrography is dominated by the Arno, an identity river that connects the Apennines to the Tyrrhenian Sea by flowing through Florence and Pisa; the Serchio structures the Garfagnana, the Ombrone descends towards the Maremma, while the Magra, Cecina, Albegna and Tiber (the latter for a high stretch) complete the river network. The coastline alternates long sandy beaches and pinewoods - in Versilia and in the Park of Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli - with rocky promontories such as Piombino and Monte Argentario; opposite, the Tuscan Archipelago draws a second insular 'continent' with Elba, Giglio, Montecristo, Capraia, Pianosa and Giannutri. Corresponding to this natural variety is a rich endowment of protected areas: the national parks of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, the Casentinesi Forests and the Tuscan Archipelago and the regional parks of the Apuan Alps, Maremma and Migliarino-San Rossore-Massaciuccoli guarantee the protection and enjoyment of different environments, from the Apuan karst to the coastal lagoons. The region also boasts an outstanding UNESCO heritage: the historic centres of Florence, Siena, San Gimignano and Pienza, the Piazza del Duomo in Pisa, the Val d'Orcia, the Medici Villas and Gardens and, more recently, Montecatini Terme as part of the 'Great Spa Towns of Europe'.

Tuscan history began well before Romanisation. The Etruscans organised city-states and agrarian landscapes with drainage works and roads that the Romans reshaped along the Via Aurelia and the Cassia. After the late antiquity fracture, the communal and mercantile age saw the emergence of city powers - Florence, Siena, Pisa, Lucca, Arezzo - in a lively system of alliances and conflicts, but also of extraordinary financial, artistic and urban innovations. With the Medici, Florence became the capital of a modern regional state and workshop of the Renaissance; the Lorraines consolidated agrarian reforms, infrastructures and the first industrial structures in the 18th and 19th centuries. The flooding of the Arno on 4 November 1966 remains a wound and a shared memory, capable also of generating new awareness on the protection of heritage.

The current economy maintains the historical imprint of a productive polycentrism based on districts and integrated supply chains. Agriculture is qualified and value-oriented: grains and fodder coexist with olive groves and historic vineyards; Tuscany is among the cradles of agritourism and experiments with organic farming and the recovery of traditional varieties. Wine-growing offers world-famous appellations, from Chianti Classico to Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, to the reds of Bolgheri; IGP extra virgin olive oil and Tuscan Pecorino DOP represent other quality highlights. The resources of the subsoil have a chapter of their own: the marble of the Apuan Alps has fed stone and artistic industries for centuries, while in Larderello geothermal energy has given rise to a pioneering energy district. The processing industry is recognised in districts such as textiles in Prato, tanning and leather in Santa Croce sull'Arno, jewellery in Arezzo, paper in Lucca, stone in Carrara, mechanics and mobility with the Piaggio tradition in Pontedera; the advanced tertiary sector, university research (Pisa, Florence, Siena), port logistics (Livorno, Piombino) and structural international tourism complete the picture.

Daily culture is made up of festivals and civic rites that weld identity and community. The Palio of Siena, twice a year in Piazza del Campo, is at the same time race, ceremony and memory; in Arezzo the Giostra del Saracino evokes chivalrous skills, in Florence the Calcio Storico lights up the piazzas in June, in Pisa the Luminara di San Ranieri illuminates the Arno on the evening of 16 June, while the Viareggio Carnival enlivens the winter with its allegorical floats. The cuisine exalts raw materials and peasant sobriety: ribollita, pappa al pomodoro and panzanella tell the story of the art of bread, Florentine steak celebrates Chianina beef, Livorno's cacciucco gives voice to the sea, Prato's cantucci close meals dipped in Vin Santo. Alongside, widespread craftsmanship - ceramics, Volterra alabaster, cutlery, weaving - preserves knowledge and formal languages.

For hiking, Tuscany offers a dense network of itineraries. In the mountains, the Casentino Forests offer ancient beech forests, hermitages and panoramic ridges as far as the Falterona; between the Apuan Alps and the Apennines, there is no lack of ridge trails and karst environments, while the Amiata offers monumental forests and snow-covered routes in winter. On the islands, the Grande Traversata Elbana traverses the entire arc of Elba as far as Monte Capanne, amidst Mediterranean scrub and views of the Tyrrhenian Sea. In the hills, the Via Francigena crosses the region from north-west to south-east, touching on parish churches, turreted villages and cultivated fields; in Maremma, the coastal itineraries encounter towers, dunes and renaturised marshes. Thermalism and wellness are intertwined with the walk: Montecatini Terme and the natural springs of Bagno Vignoni, Bagni San Filippo and Saturnia are stops on the way for slow and seasonally adjusted tourism.

Information

Hometown: Florence
 Area: 22097.04 sq. km
Minimum elevation:0m
Maximum elevation: Monte Prado (2054m)
 Number of inhabitants: 3,745,983 (as of 30.09.2015)
 Name in dialect: Tuscany
Inhabitants:  Tuscans
 Provinces:Province of Arezzo, Province of Florence, Province of Grosseto, Province of Livorno, Province of Lucca, Province of Massa, Province of Pisa, Province of Pistoia, Province of Prato and Province of Siena
Municipalities:280
Bordering regions: Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Liguria,  Marche, Umbria
 Institutional site: www.regione.toscana.it