Regione Toscana

Capital	Florence
President	Claudio Martini (Olive Tree)
Provinces	Arezzo Firenze Grosseto Livorno Lucca Massa-Carrara Pisa Pistoia Prato Siena
Municipalities	287
Area	22,990 km²
- Ranked	5th (7.6 %)
Population (2001)  - Total  - Ranked  - Density	3,497,806 9th (6.1 %) 152/km²
Map higlighting the location of Toscana in Italy

Tuscany (Italian Toscana) is a region in central Italy, bordering on Latium to the south, Umbria to the east, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria to the north, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. It is often regarded as among the most beautiful parts of Italy.

Points of interest

Tuscany was the region in which the Italian Renaissance produced its first results. The unique artistic patrimony of this region includes architecture, painting and sculpture, collected in dozens of famous museums like the Uffizi in Florence and in situ in even quite small cities.

Tuscany is also known for its wines (most famous of which are Chianti, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino) and has 120 protected regions (nature reserves).

Notable tourist destinations in Tuscany include Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Maremma (in Grosseto province), Crete Senesi, and (Siena). Though it is famous for its villas, Tuscany is currently promoting "agritourism" (Agriturismo), in which visitors stay on working farms.

History

See main article: History of Tuscany

Provinces of Tuscany

• Arezzo
• Florence (Firenze)
• Grosseto
• Livorno
• Lucca
• Massa-Carrara
• Pisa
• Pistoia
• Prato
• Siena

Other notable cities and towns in alphabetical order

• Abbadia San Salvatore
• Borgo San Lorenzo
• Calci
• Capalbio
• Castiglione della Pescaia
• Castiglion Fiorentino
• Certaldo
• Collodi
• Cortona
• Empoli
• Fiesole
• Follonica
• Fucecchio
• Montalcino
• Montecatini Terme
• Montepulciano
• Orbetello
• Pienza
• Piombino
• Poggibonsi
• San Gimignano
• Settignano
• Sinalunga
• Vinci
• Volterra

Islands

• Elba
• Montecristo
• Giannutri
• Giglio
• Pianosa

Geographical data

Area: 22,992 km²

Population (2000): 3,536,392

Population density: 163/km²

Number of administrative areas: 278

Notable personalities born in Tuscany

• Leon Battista Alberti
• Dante Alighieri
• Beato Angelico
• Roberto Benigni
• Gian Lorenzo Bernini
• Giovanni Boccaccio
• Luigi Boccherini
• Andrea Bocelli
• Sandro Botticelli
• Filippo Brunelleschi
• Duccio di Buoninsegna
• Oreste Del Buono
• Giosuè Carducci
• Benevenuto Cellini
• Carlo Collodi
• Baccio D'Agnolo
• Donatello
• Marsilio Ficino
• Rosso Fiorentino
• Piero della Francesca
• Galileo Galilei
• Lorenzo Ghiberti
• Giotto
• Giovanni Gronchi
• Francesco Guicciardini
• Mario Luzi
• Niccolò Machiavelli
• Curzio Malaparte
• Masaccio
• Pietro Mascagni
• Lorenzo de Medici
• Antonio Meucci
• Michelangelo
• Amedeo Modigliani
• Aldo Palazzeschi
• Francesco Petrarca
• Niccolò Pisano
• Pontormo
• Vasco Pratolini
• Giacomo Puccini
• Andrea della Robbia
• Luca della Robbia
• Girolamo Savonarola
• Bernardino da Siena
• Santa Caterina da Siena
• Giuseppe Ungaretti
• Giorgio Vasari
• Andrea del Verrocchio
• Amerigo Vespucci
• Leonardo da Vinci

External links

• Regione Toscana (Official page) (http://www.regione.toscana.it/)
• Turismo in Toscana (http://www.turismo.toscana.it/index2.htm)
• Typical Tuscan cooking and recipes (http://www.piattitoscani.it/)
• Castles of Tuscany (http://www.castellitoscani.com/)
• Photos of Tuscany (http://www.lodgephoto.com/galleries/index.html#italy)