The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany

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The perfect visual tribute to the timeless beauty of Tuscan villages

Gaze across one of the most extraordinarily rich and varied landscapes in Europe… Here are vineyards and miles of wild mountain scenery; almost any view will take in other villages, clustering around the upper reaches of some hill, or the russet roofs of a fortified town deep in a valley.

Thirty-six villages and towns from all over Tuscany have been chosen for their beauty and for the part they have played in Tuscan history and culture. The vivid, highly descriptive accounts of each village are accompanied by page after page of marvellous colour photographs.

The book opens with those communities clustered around the great towns of Lucca and Florence, home to some of the world’s greatest works of art. As the author and photographer move south through the Chianti region to the valley of the Orcia, devoted to the cultivation of aromatic herbs, they discover the unique characteristics of each region. Here is the small town of Pienza, once called ‘the pearl of the Renaissance’. Here too is Piero della Francesca’s lovely Madonna del Porto, which once decorated the tiny cemetery chapel of Monterchi; and in San Gimignano the medieval towers loom over the town’s squares and streets like the backdrop to some surreal stage set.

Edition type: Compact edition
Extent: 216 pp
Format: Paperback with flaps
Illustrations: 287
Publication date: 2012-05-14
Size: 24.2 x 19.5 cm
ISBN: 9780500289976
Introduction • Around Florence and Lucca: Bagni di Lucca; Castelnuovo di Garfagnana; Castiglione de Garfagnana; Cutgliano; Uzzano; Collodi; Vicopisano; Artimino; Scarperia; Vicchio; Stia; Poppi; Camaldoli • Around Arezzo and Siena: San Gimignano; Casole d’Elsa; Radda in Chianti; Castellina in Chianti; Monterchi; Monte San Savino; Foiana della Chiana; Lucignano; Pienza; Montalcino; San Quirico d’Orcia; Castiglione d’Orcia • The South: Cetona; Radicofani; Sovana; Arcidosso; Abbadia San Salvatore; Saturnia; Pitigliano; Montemerano; Magliano in Toscana; Populonia; Ansedonia

Press Reviews

Beautifully composed photographs … sublime landscapes graceful, knowledgeable text
Country Living

Breathtaking photographs … the riches and variety of tuscanyare laid out for all to see … a well balanced, well presented and well written exploration of one of italy’s most beautiful regions
Contemporary Review



About the Author

James Bentley was a distinguished travel writer who specialized in Italy and France. He is the author of the volumes on Burgundy, Brittany, The Dordogne and England in The Most Beautiful Villages series.

Hugh Palmer is one of most renowned photographers in the UK of gardens and rural life. He has contributed extensively to the Most Beautiful Villages... series.

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