|
 Florence - Photo (c) James Lawson |
|
|
Florence and Tuscany beyond FlorenceThinking Tuscany one cannot think of Florence, a place that deserves a visit all for itself. Visiting Tuscany beyond Florence:
Low lying hills with clean, graceful curves under a limpid light, plains, forests
and vineyards join with the serenity of cypress and pine to make this country a
temple of beauty. By some mysterious influence, sometimes called "the Tuscan
miracle", this harmony has gifted the Tuscan people with great artistic sense.
Southern Tuscany is a land of hills, soft and vine-clad in the Chianti district south of Florence, quiet and pastoral near Siena, dry and desolate round Monte Oliveto Maggiore and massive and mysterious in the Collli Metalliferi (metal-bearing hills) south of Volterra. On the borders of Latium, Maremma, with its melancholy beauty, was formerly a marshy district haunted by bandits and shepherds. Much of the area has now been reclaimed.
This is where Italian cooking was born, at the court of the Medici. Florence
offers its alla fiorentina specialties: dried cod (baccala') with oil, garlic and
pepper, costata grilled steak fillets with oil, salt and pepper, fagioli (beans
with oil, onions and herbs); Leghorn produces triglie red mullet and cacciucco
(fish soup) and Siena offers the panforte, a sugar cake containing almonds,
honey and candied melon, orange or lemon.
Siena:
Tuscany gastronomic itineraries:
Hotels in Tuscany
|
Chianti hills - 
Coopers - 
