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Italy: Tuscany (Toscana)

Overview

Tuscany covers 22,990 sq km (8,877sq mi) and contains the provinces of Arezzo, Florence (Firenze), Grosseto, Leghorn (Livorno), Lucca, Massa Carrara, Pisa, Pistoia and Sienna. Tuscany’s population of around 3.5 million is concentrated along the coast and between Florence (the regional capital, with a population of 400,000) and Pisa, an area where cultural tourism is the major industry (unemployment is relatively low at around 5 per cent). Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance, is one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Cradle of Italian art and science, it’s a living museum and the most popular cultural site in Europe, containing a wealth of art, bridges, churches, palaces and statues (including Michelangelo’s David in the Uffizi gallery). Due to its popularity, Florence is in danger of being overwhelmed by tourists, who number over 7 million a year.

Sienna is Florence’s great historical rival, the largest surviving medieval town in Europe and home of the famous Palio horse race. Other notable Tuscan cities, each with its own remarkable cathedral (duomo), include Arezzo, Leghorn, Lucca, Pisa (with its famous 13th century leaning tower), Pistoia and Prato.

In few places in the world have man and nature blended so harmoniously as in Tuscany, with its rare combination of pleasant climate, stunning scenery, beautiful towns and cities, cultural heritage and culinary delights. The countryside has a unique charm, with gently rolling hills, farmhouses, vineyards, olive and cypress groves and soft colours. It’s criss-crossed with white roads (strade bianche) and dotted with the stone farmhouses (casali) that many foreigners find irresistible, particularly if they’ve seen the film Stealing Beauty or read the book Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes.

The most famous area of Tuscany is Chianti, the oldest officially designated wine-growing region in the world. It’s marvellous walking country and has been dubbed ‘Chiantishire’ due to the large number of Anglo-Saxon visitors and summer residents (there are some 4,000 houses owned by foreigners – mainly American, British and German). One of Italy’s most expensive wines is produced in the Montalcino area (it costs from €70 per bottle!), and the finest olive oil (and other fine wines) are to be found in the ‘golden’ triangle bounded by Florence, Sienna and Volterra. Truffles (tartufi) are found in Val d’Orcia and San Giovanni Val d’Arno.

Among the region’s best coastal resorts are the Argentario peninsula, Forte dei Marmi, Lido di Camaiore, Marina di Castiglioncello, Marina di Pietrasanta and Viareggio, which is blessed with wide, sandy beaches. The island of Elba (where Napoleon spent his ‘hundred days’ from May 1814 to February 1815) has some excellent sandy beaches, although two-thirds of its 224km2 (86mi2) is composed of woodland. It’s Italy’s third largest island (after Sicily and Sardinia) and is reached by ferry from Leghorn and Piombino. Other islands of the Tuscan archipelago include Capraia, Giannutri, Giglio, Gorgona, Montecristo (where Dumas set his classic tale) and Pianosa.

On the Maremma coast (in the middle of the Tuscan coast) are the Maremma and Uccellina parks, the latter consisting of 25,000 acres of wild and beautiful unspoilt countryside. Nearby is Monte Argentario, a peninsula attached to the mainland by three isthmuses containing the coastal resort towns of Orbetello, Porto Ercole and Porto Santo Stefano. The area is noted for its beautiful villas and marinas (such as Cala Galera) and is a fashionable summer holiday retreat among wealthy Romans and Florentines. Other popular holiday areas on the southern Tuscan coast include Ansedonia, Punta Ala (with its marina and golf course) and Talamone. There are famous spas at Bagni di Lucca, Bagno Vignone, Casciana, Chianciano, Montecatini, San Casciano Bagni, Saturnia and Terme.

Property: Tuscany’s architecture is typified by its stone farmhouses and stunning fortified hilltop towns with a profusion of towers and turrets, such as Cortona, Monteriggioni and San Gimignano. The region is noted for its fine villas and palazzi, painted in traditional Tuscan red, farmhouses (casali), stone village houses, and warm-coloured stone and terracotta roofs. Property in central Tuscany is among the most expensive in the country, particularly anywhere within an hour of the cities of Florence, Sienna or Pisa. ‘Chiantishire’ is one of the world’s most expensive rural residential areas and there are currently few rural homes available there, although townhouses and apartments in the area’s towns are available. Less expensive properties can be found north of Lucca, in Lunigiana and around Arezzo. Prices in the region start at €620 per sq m (usually for little more than a remote ruin) and reach €7,000 per sq m in a popular area of Florence such as Poggio Imperiale. Prices have risen by more than 50 per cent in Florence in the last five years.

Communications: Tuscany boasts an excellent rail and road network, although traffic jams on motorways in the region are commonplace, and it has major international airports at Florence and Pisa, while Leghorn is a busy port.

© Survival Books Limited 2003

“Buying a Home in Italy” 3rd Edition, David Hampshire.

Reproduced with the permission of Survival Books Limited.

Further information on this topic can be found in “Buying a Home in Italy” 3rd edition, by David Hampshire.

For extensive information about buying a property in Italy, you can purchase this book at www.survivalbooks.net

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