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Tuscany harbours the classic landscapes of Italy, familiar from Renaissance paintings and TV travel shows alike, with their backdrop of medieval hill-towns, rows of slender cypress trees, vineyards and olive groves, and artfully sited villas and farmhouses. It's a picture that has long held an irresistible attraction for northern Europeans. The expat's perspective may be distorted, but Tuscany is indeed the essence of Italy in many ways. The national language evolved from Tuscan dialect, a supremacy ensured by Dante, who wrote the Divine Comedy in the vernacular of his birthplace, Florence, and Tuscan writers such as Petrarch and Boccaccio. But what makes this area pivotal to the culture of Italy and all of Europe is the Renaissance , which fostered painting, sculpture and architecture that comprise an intrinsic part of a Tuscan tour. The very name by which we refer to this extraordinarily creative era was coined by a Tuscan, Giorgio Vasari, who wrote in the sixteenth century of the "rebirth" of the arts. Florence was the most active centre of the Renaissance, flourishing principally through the all-powerful patronage of the Medici dynasty. Every eminent artistic figure from Giotto onwards - Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Alberti, Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo - is represented here, in an unrivalled gathering of churches, galleries and museums. Few people react entirely positively to Florence's crowds and its rather draining commercialism. Siena provokes less ambiguous responses. This is one of the great medieval cities of Europe, almost perfectly preserved, and with superb works of art in its religious and secular buildings. Its beautiful Campo - the central, scallop-shaped market square - is the scene, too, of Tuscany's one unmissable festival, the Palio , which sees bareback horse-riders careering around the cobbles amid the brightest display of pageantry this side of Rome. Other major cities, Pisa and Lucca , provide convenient entry points to the region, either by air (via Pisa's airport) or along the coastal rail route from Genoa. Arezzo serves as the classic introduction to Tuscany if you're approaching from the south (Rome) or east (Perugia). All three have their splendours - Pisa its Leaning Tower, Lucca a string of Romanesque churches, Arezzo an outstanding fresco cycle by Piero della Francesca. Tucked away to the west and south of Siena are dozens of small hill-towns that, for many, epitomize the region. San Gimignano is the best-known, and is worth visiting as much for its spectacular array of frescoes as for its much-photographed bristle of medieval tower-houses, though it's now a little too popular for its own good. Montepulciano, Pienza and Cortona are each superbly located and dripping with atmosphere, but the best candidates for a Tuscan hill-town escape are little-mentioned places such as Volterra, Massa Marittima or Pitigliano , in each of which tourism has yet to undermine local character. If the Tuscan countryside has a fault, it's the popularity that its seductiveness has brought, and you may find lesser-known sights proving most memorable - remote monasteries like Monte Oliveto Maggiore , the sulphur spa of Bagno Vignoni , or the striking open-air art gallery of the Tarot Garden . The one area where Tuscany fails to impress is its over-developed coast , with uninspired beach-umbrella compounds filling every last scrap of sand. The Tuscan islands have rather more going for them - Elba may be a victim of its own allure, but the smaller islands such as Giglio and Capraia retain a tranquil isolation. Tuscany's tourist office is based at Via di Novoli 26, I-50127 Firenze (tel 055.438.2111, www.turismo.toscana.it ) - their Web site gives access to a comprehensive accommodation database and links to all fifteen of Tuscany's area tourist offices. Finding accommodation can be a major problem in the summer: you should definitely reserve in advance, even at budget level. Be warned that the region is also expensive, even by northern Italian standards, with few hotel doubles costing less than L80,000/?42.32 in high season (L100,000/?51.65 in Florence). Agritourism is big business, with a plethora of family-run places dotted around the countryside offering anything from budget rooms in a farmhouse up to luxury apartments within restored castles or Renaissance villas set amidst wine estates. The regional government's Web site ( www.agriturismo.regione.toscana.it ) has plenty of information. Call the toll-free number tel 800.570.530 for timetable and fare information for all forms of transport - trains, buses and boats.
The UsseroSic itur ad astra says "Journeying on to Florence through the Tuscan countryside: Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Arezzo and other delightful towns dot the road to Pisa where who are guested of the Agostini family Villa di Corliano and Palazzo dell’Ussero. The family - and 2 resident ghosts - still welcome guest at the Villa, much as it they were at the height of its fame in the 1770’s starting at $ 45 by night.
The stay at Bagni di Pisa (health giving waters are still offered to an international clientele) and visit Pisa during one of the city’s festivals, staying at the Agostini Palace to enjoy the best view of the festivities
The Villa di Corliano and the Ussero Palace have hosted many illustrious guests such as Gustavus III of Sweden, Christian II of Denmark, the Royal Family of Great Britain, Benedict Stuart Cardinal of York, General Murat, Luigi Buonaparte, Paolina Borghese, Carlo Alberto of Savoy, the poets Byron and Shelley, and various other personages from the history books.
The area of the Pisa hills was already an attraction for enlightened travellers in the first half of the 1700s with the growth of the thermal spa of San Giuliano, which became a fashionable spot for the well-off classes. The mansions on the road along the hills, already renowned as places of gentle idleness and relaxation in the heart of the countryside and also for their small industrial facilities for the transformation of agricultural products, soon assumed the characteristics of true leisure resorts, just like those narrated by Carlo Goldoni and which we can continue to enjoy today."
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