Renowned for its art, history and evocative landscape, Tuscany is a region where the past and the present merge in pleasant harmony.
Hilltowns gaze across the countryside from on high, many encircled by Etruscan walls and slender cypress trees.
Handsome palaces testify to the region's wealth while medieval town halls indicate a long - standing tradition of democracy and self - government.
In the countryside, among the vineyards and olive groves, there are hamlets and farmhouses, as well as fortified villas and castles that symbolize the violence and intercommunal strife that tore Tuscany apart during the Middle Ages.
Several imposing castles and villas were built for the Medici family, the great patrons of the Renaissance who supported eminent scentists, such as Galileo.
Northern Tuscany, and the heavily populated plain between Florence and Lucca, is dominated by industry, with intensively cultivated land between the cities and the wild mountainous areas.
The area centred around Livorno and Pisa is now the region's economic hub.
Pisa, at the height of its powers, dominated the western Mediterranean from the 11th to the 13th centuries.
At the heart of central Tuscany lies Siena, which was involved in a long feud with Florence.
Northeastern Tuscany, with its mountain peaks and woodland, provided refuge for hermits and saints, while the east was home to Piero della Francesca, the early Renaissance painter whose timeless and serene works are imbued with an almost religious perfection.