Tuscany, Italy ~ Travel

Monday 14 November 2011

Tuscany, Italy

22:13

homesweethome

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Tuscany (Italian: Toscana, pronounced [tosˈkaːna]) is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres (8,900 sq mi) and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (Firenze).

Tuscany is known for its gorgeous landscapes, its rich artistic legacy and its vast influence on high culture. Tuscany is widely regarded as the true birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and has been home to some of the most influential people in the history of arts and science, such as Petrarch, Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Amerigo Vespucci, Luca Pacioli and Puccini. Due to this, the region has several museums (such as the Uffizi, the Pitti Palace and the Chianciano Museum of Art). Tuscany has a unique culinary tradition, and is famous for its wines (most famous of which are Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino).

The Via de' Tornabuoni in Florence, the city's top fashion and shopping street, contains some of the world's most luxurious clothing and jewelry houses, such as Cartier, Ferragamo, Gucci, Versace and Bulgari, to name a few.

Six Tuscan localities have been designated World Heritage Sites: the historic centre of Florence (1982), the historical centre of Siena (1995), the square of the Cathedral of Pisa (1987), the historical centre of San Gimignano (1990), the historical centre of Pienza (1996) and the Val d'Orcia (2004). Furthermore, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves. This makes Tuscany and its capital city Florence very popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of tourists every year. Florence itself receives an average of 10 million tourists a year by placing the city as one of the most visited in the world (in 2007, the city became the world's 46th most visited city, with over 1.715 million arrivals).

Tuscany south coast of Monte Argentario

Main artistic centres

In the province of Arezzo:

Arezzo

Castiglion Fiorentino

Cortona

Lucignano

Poppi

Sansepolcro

In the province of Florence:

Florence

Fiesole

Certaldo

In the Province of Grosseto:

Grosseto

Massa Marittima

Orbetello

Pitigliano

Roselle

Sorano

Sovana

In the province of Livorno:

Campiglia Marittima

Livorno

Piombino

Populonia

Suvereto

In the province of Lucca:

Barga

Castelnuovo di Garfagnana

Castiglione di Garfagnana

Lucca

Pietrasanta

Viareggio

Villa Basilica

In the province of Massa-Carrara:

Massa-Carrara

Pontremoli

Fivizzano

In the province of Pisa:

Pisa

San Miniato

Volterra

Vicopisano

In the province of Prato:

Carmignano

Poggio a Caiano

Prato

In the province of Pistoia:

Pescia

Pistoia

In the province of Siena:

Colle di Val d'Elsa

Pienza

Montepulciano

Montalcino

San Gimignano

Siena

Vineyards in the Chianti region

Language

Apart from standard Italian, the most spoken language in Tuscany is the 'Tuscan dialect' (lingua toscana), or the Tuscan dialect (dialetto toscano). In many respects it wandered less than other Romance dialects from the Latin language and evolved linearly and homogeneously, without major influences from other foreign languages. There are currently 3.5 million speakers of the language.

San Gimignano

Italian is in practice a "literary version" of Tuscan. It became the language of culture for all the people of Italy, thanks to the prestige of the masterpieces of Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini. It would later become the official language of all the Italian states and of the Kingdom of Italy, when it was formed.