The hilltop town of San Gimignano is famous for its towers. But there’s much more to this Tuscan treasure than that.
Boboli Gardens and beyond
The Boboli Gardens and Pitti Palace may get all the attention but there are more Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany that you can visit.
Florence and the museums
The thing about Florence Daydreaming as I walk the streets about Florence, I’m suddenly jolted from my daze by a man crashing into me. The church I’d been looking at is lost from my view as I quickly swing around. Recoiling, I move into a doorway just in time to avoid a second collision with […]
The most beautiful woman in Florence
Venus de’ Medici Once upon a time there was a woman who was the most beautiful in all of Florence. Men and women from all across the lands would travel to the city to see her. Of all the attractions in Florence, she was the one people most wanted to see. Venus de’ Medici was […]
Rumour has it…
You hear a lot of rumours about history as a tourist. But is this one about the Ponte Vecchio in Florence true? Did Hitler really save it?
Excessive Baggage
There was a time when luxury luggage from Gucci was a statement of who you were and why you were travelling. At Florence’s Gucci Museum, you can see it all.
A pope’s pride in Pienza
Pope Pius II had a dream for an ideal city near Rome. More than 500 years ago, he started to make it. This is what it’s become.
Tuscany’s Renaissance landscape
In Renaissance times, this enormous Tuscan landscape was designed so it would be pleasing on the eye. Centuries later, it still has that effect.
The horse race that stops Siena
The centre of the Italian city of Siena is normally a peaceful place, popular with tourists and locals. But when horses are let loose, everything changes.