Tuscany, or Toscana, lies in central Italy, midway down the peninsula,
with miles of coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea. 
Rolling hills and dramatic cypress trees provide breathtaking views
seemingly whichever way you look. The Arno, perhaps its most 
famous river, stretches clear across the region from Florence before
making its way to the sea just outside Pisa. The beauty of the Tuscan
landscape proves a perfect foil for the abundance of superlative art and
architecture found here. That same landscape also produces some of Italy's
finest wines and olive oils. The combination of unforgettable art,
sumptuous views, and eminently drinkable wines that pair beautifully 
with the simple food of the region makes a trip to Tuscany something 
beyond special. Tuscany was populated, at least by the 7th century BC, 
by the Etruscans, a mysterious lot who chose to live on hills,
the better to see the approaching enemy. Some 500 years later, 
the Romans came, saw, and conquered; by 241 BC they had built 
the Aurelia, a road from Rome to Pisa that is still very much in use
today. The crumbling of the Roman Empire and subsequent invasions by
marauding Lombards, Byzantines, and Holy Roman Emperors meant centuries
of social turmoil. By the 12th century, the formation of city-states 
was occurring throughout Tuscany, in part, perhaps, because it was 
unclear exactly who was in charge. The two groups vying for power 
were the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, champions of the pope and the
Holy Roman Emperor, respectively. They jostled for control of individual
cities and of the region as a whole. Florence was more or less Guelph,
and Siena, more often than not, was Ghibelline. This led to some bloody
battles, most notably the battle of Montaperti, in 1260, in which the
Ghibellines roundly defeated the Guelphs. Eventually -- by the 14th
century -- the Guelphs became the dominant force. But this did not 
mean that the warring Tuscan cities settled down to a period of relative
peace and tranquility. The age in which Dante wrote his Divine Comedy 
and Giotto and Piero della Francesca created their incomparable frescoes
was one of internecine strife. Florence was the power to be reckoned 
with; she coveted Siena and conquered and reconquered it during the 
15th and 16th centuries. Finally, in 1555, Siena fell for good, and in
rapid succession Pisa, Prato, Volterra, and Arezzo succumbed as well. 
They were all united under Florence to form the grand duchy of Tuscany.
The only city to escape Florence's dominion was Lucca, which remained
fiercely independent until the arrival of Napoléon. Eventually, however,
even Florence's influence waned, and the 17th and 18th centuries saw 
the decline of the entire region as various armies swept across it. 
Some contend that the purest Italian is spoken in Tuscany. 
Tuscans -- and Florentines, in particular -- proudly claim Dante as a
native son, and his Divine Comedy certainly did much to put the Tuscan
vernacular on the map. Boccaccio followed suit with his bawdy Decameron,
written in the 1350s. However, it was the Arezzan Petrarch (1304-74), 
one of the earliest of the humanists of the Italian Renaissance, 
whose use of the vernacular in his poetry was most widely imitated. 
To many, Tuscan art is synonymous with the art of Florence, and that 
bias can be attributed in part to the Arezzan Giorgio Vasari (1511-74),
who, in his Lives of the Artists, created an inescapably Florentine canon.
And though Florentine art is dazzling, the rest of Tuscany should not be
overlooked. Nicola Pisano (active circa 1258-78) carved a beautiful and
groundbreaking pulpit in Pisa, then worked with his son Giovanni on
another in Siena. Giovanni carried the tradition to Pistoia. Ambrogio
Lorenzetti (circa 1319-48) produced wonderful scenes representing 
Good and Bad Government in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena. The frescoes 
on the Legend of the True Cross by Piero della Francesca (circa 1420-92)
in Arezzo are among the 15th century's most stunning fresco cycles. 
Siena-born Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405-64), later Pope Pius II,
carried out his vision of an ideal Renaissance city in Pienza. 
Renaissance art was by no means exclusively Florentine. Today many of
Tuscany's cities and towns are little changed. Civic rivalries that 
led to bloody battles so many centuries ago have given way to soccer
rivalries. Renaissance pomp lives on in the celebration of local feast
days and centuries-old traditions like the Palio in Siena or the 
Giostra del Saraceno (Joust of the Saracen) in Arezzo. Many present-day
Tuscans look as though they might have served as models for paintings
produced hundreds of years ago. In Tuscany, it often seems as though 
the Renaissance was something that took place within living memory.


 
Testimonial

                      ........ The Gang: Tour 2001 and 2003