Tuscany encompasses a variety of different landscapes, some with completely different vegetation. This is how the rugged Garfagnana differs in geography from the lovely Chianti and the flat coast.
Photo books and travel guides are happy to reduce Tuscany to hills and cypresses, peppered with country houses and castelli in which grapes are vinified. For the Chianti and the soon more popular one Val d'Orcia This description is largely correct, but in the far north, in the Garfagnana and the Apuan Alps, you will find a completely different landscape. Mountains, forests and deep gorges dominate here.
Small towns like Montefegatesi stick to the mountains at dizzying heights and eagles circling above their highest points. The picturesque town of Bagni di Lucca, which Heinrich Heine made known with his travel story of the same name and which is still a popular health resort today, is particularly interesting.
Lucca, the city where the famous composer Puccini was born, also belongs to northern Tuscany. From the Torre Guinigi you have a great view of the Garfagnana mountains.
Volterra, San Gimignano, Florence and Siena
The old Etruscan City of Volterra lies on a rock southeast of Pisa and on its southern slopes begin the barren Colli Metallifere, which looks like a lunar landscape. At night, the city glows like a flying fortress over the hills that look like a sea of waves.
San Gimignano with its gender towers looks like a medieval Manhattan and is clearly visible from afar.
Florence and Siena surround the world-famous Chianti and no less famous are the art treasures of the two different cities, whose schools of painting were in great competition during the Renaissance.
Last updated: 06.02.2024
