Tuscany
-- Elle Decoration
Discover the wonders of this captivating region with Cadogan's classic guidebook: the medieval glories of Lucca and San Gimignano, the Renaissance charms and murky Medici decadence of Florence, the wine routes of Chianti, Siena's frenzied Palio horse race, the hill towns, Pisa's Leaning Tower--all set against Tuscany's golden landscapes, coastline, and islands.
* Bursting with personal knowledge and practical information from the prolific authors Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls, plus fully updated by a writer with intimate local knowledge
* Includes hand-picked itineraries for history buffs, art connoisseurs and nature lovers
* Features an impressively comprehensive section on that cradle of Western civilization, Florence
* Complete with easy-to-use maps and recommendations for local accommodation and eateries
* Celebrates the extensive and opulent cultural history of Tuscany
* Discover a wealth of hidden treasures, from medieval castles to the sacred Vie Cave, in the "lost corner" of the ancient Etruscan heartland
* Explore the Florence of Dante that inspired Renaissance Italy's seminal work The Divine Comedy
* Become a "Bacchus in Tuscany" and embark on a wine tour of the region sampling famous Chiantis or lesser known tipples such as the little known Elba Rose
Excerpt: Florentine Duality
Dante's Vita Nuova, the autobiography of his young soul, was only the beginning of Florentine analysis; Petrarch, the introspective 'first modern man.' Was a Florentine born in exile; Ghiberti was the first artist to write an autobiography; Cellini wrote one of the most readable; Alberti invented art criticism; Vasari invented art history; Michelangelo's personality, in his letters an sonnets, looms as large as his art. In many ways Florence broke away from the medieval idea of community and invented the modern concept of the individual, most famously expressed by Lorenzo de' Medici's friend, Pico della Mirandola, whose Oration on the Dignity of Man tells us what the God on the Sistine Chapel ceiling was saying when he created Adam: '...And I have created you neither celestial nor terrestrial, neither mortal nor immortal, so that, like a free and able sculptor and painter of yourself, you may mould yourself entirely in the form of your choice. ...click here to read the rest
Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls can be reached at: michel.pauls@wanadoo.fr
