Things to do in Northern & Western Tuscany
-
A
La Corte dei Vini
Strategically placed between Piazza Napoleone and Piazza San Michele, this friendly ‘enoteca e picola cucina’ (wine bar and small kitchen) is a great choice for an aperitivo or casual meal. It specialises in rustic dishes, including tortelli Lucchesi (meat ravioli) and minestra di farro della Garbagnana (soup made with spelt). Get here early to score a choice table on the front terrace.
reviewed
-
B
Cantina Senese
Food- and value-conscious harbour workers are the first to fill the long wooden tables at this wonderfully unpretentious and friendly eatery, with neighbourhood families arriving later. Ordering is frequently done via faith in one’s server, rather than by menu. The mussels are exceptionally good, as is the cacciucco di pesce (fish stew).
reviewed
-
C
Leningrad Café
Another hip venue, this café-club down a quiet alley in the San Martino quarter of town pelts out everything from garage, punk and indie rock to rock 'n' roll, swing and soul. DJs spin during the week and Saturday sees cabaret steal the show.
reviewed
-
Parco Nazionale dell'Arcipelago Toscan
According to local legend, when Venus rose from the waves, seven precious stones fell from her tiara, creating seven islands off the Tuscan coast. They range from the 530 sq km of Elba, the largest, to tiny Montecristo, at just over 1000 hectares. All except Montecristo, nowadays a closed marine biological reserve, rely mainly on income from tourism. This national park was established in 1996 to protect the delicate ecosystems of the islands.
But it's not only the land that's protected - the 60,000 hectares of sea that washes around the islands make up Europe's largest marine protected area. Here, typical Mediterranean fish abound and rare species, such as the wonderfully…
reviewed
-
D
Cemetery
Soil shipped from Calvary during the Crusades - and reputed to reduce cadavers to skeletons within days - is said to lie within the white walls of this hauntingly beautiful cemetery, a beautiful final resting place for many prominent Pisans, arranged around a garden in a cloistered quadrangle. Many of the more interesting sarcophagi are of Greco-Roman origin, recycled in the Middle Ages.
During WWII, Allied artillery destroyed many of the cloisters' precious frescoes. Among the few to survive was the Triumph of Death - a remarkable illustration of Hell - attributed to an anonymous 14th-century painter known as 'The Master of the Triumph of Death'. Fortunately, the mirrors…
reviewed
-
E
Duomo
Pisa's duomo was paid for with spoils brought home after Pisans attacked an Arab fleet entering Palermo in 1063. Begun a year later, the cathedral, with its striking cladding of alternating bands of green and cream marble, became the blueprint floor for Romanesque churches throughout Tuscany. The elliptical dome, the first of its kind in Europe at the time, was added in 1380.
It is the three pairs of firmly closed, 16th-century bronze doors of the main entrance (west), designed by the school of Giambologna to replace the wooden originals destroyed (along with most of the cathedral interior) by fire in 1596, which the crowds ogle over. Quite spellbinding, hours can be spen…
reviewed
-
F
Duomo
At first glance Prato's 12th-century Duomo, with its stark exterior of white-and-green marble bands, solitary terracotta lunette by Andrea della Robbia and magnificent Filippo Lippi frescoes behind the cathedral's high altar, appears a typical Tuscan affair. But look closer and the Pulpito della Sacra Cintola to the right of the western entrance pops into vision. This highly unusual exterior pulpit was grafted on to the outside of the cathedral to display the Virgin Mary's sacra cintola (sacred girdle) five times a year (Easter, 1 May, 15 August, 8 September and 25 December).
The girdle, so the story goes, was given by the Virgin to St Thomas, and brought to Prato from Je…
reviewed
-
G
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina
One of Pisa’s architectural gems is the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina. A fine example of Pisan-Gothic style, this now-deconsecrated church was built between 1223 and 1230 to house a reliquary of a spina (thorn) from Christ’s crown. Its ornately spired exterior is encrusted with tabernacles and statues but the interior is simple and perfectly suited to quiet reflection. Inside, the focal point is Andrea and Nino Pisano’s Madonna and Child (aka Madonna of the Rose, 1345–48), a masterpiece of Gothic sculpture that still bears traces of its original colours and gilding. At the other end of the church is a copy of the graceful Madonna del Latte (Our Lady of Milk, 1…
reviewed
-
H
Museo Nazionale di San Matteo
From Piazza Garibaldi, veer east along the Lungarno to visit the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, a repository of medieval masterpieces housed in a 13th-century former Benedictine convent. This fine gallery has a notable collection of 14th- and 15th-century Pisan sculptures, including pieces by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, Andrea and Nino Pisano, Francesco di Valdambrino, Donatello, Michelozzo and Andrea della Robbia, but its collection of paintings from the Tuscan school (c 12th to 14th centuries) is even better, with works by Berlinghiero, Lippo Memmi, Taddeo Gaddi, Gentile da Fabriano and Ghirlandaio on show. Don’t miss Masaccio’s St Paul, Fra’ Angelico’s Madonna …
reviewed
-
I
Volto Santo
Lucca-born sculptor and architect Matteo Civitali (1436-1501) spent most of his life working on churches and villas in and around in his hometown and refused to be influenced by his counterparts in Florence. He is considered the leading exponent of a strictly Lucchese Renaissance art, and he designed both the Cattedrale di San Martino pulpit and the 15th-century tempietto (small temple) in the north aisle that contains the Volto Santo.
Legend has it that this simply fashioned image of a life-sized Christ on a wooden crucifix, in fact dated to the 11th century, was carved by Nicodemus, who witnessed the crucifixion. A major object of pilgrimage, it's carried in procession…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
J
Leaning Tower
Yes, the really does lean.
In 1160 Pisa boasted 10,000-odd towers – but had no bell tower for its cathedral. Loyal Pisan Berta di Bernardo righted this in 1172 when she died, leaving a legacy for construction of a campanile (bell tower). Work began in 1173 but ground to a halt a decade later, when the structure’s first three tiers were observed to be tilting. In 1272 work started again, with artisans and masons attempting to bolster the foundations but failing miserably. Despite this, they keep going, compensating for the lean by gradually building straight up from the lower storeys and creating a subtle curve.
Over the centuries, the tower has tilted an extra 1mm eac…
reviewed
-
K
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
No museum provides a better overview of Piazza dei Miracoli's trio of architectural masterpieces than the Museum of the Cathedral, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. Home to cathedral canons between the 12th and 17th centuries, it has a profusion of works of art once displayed in the tower, cathedral and baptistry. Highlights include Giovanni Pisano's ivory carving of the Madonna and Child (1300) carved for the cathedral's high altar and his Madonna del Colloquio (Madonna of the Colloquium).
Legendary booty includes various pieces of Islamic art including the griffin that once topped the cathedral and a 10th-century Moorish hippogriff.
reviewed
-
L
Casa di Puccini
Just north of the Piazza Cittadella is Casa di Puccini, the modest house where one of the 20th century's greatest composers was born in 1858. He lived there until studies at Milan's music conservatory beckoned him aged 22.
Inside, everyday objects tell the tale of the composer's life. Specs and pen lay poised on the desk next to the Steinway piano on which Puccini, the last in a line of celebrated Lucca musicians, wrote much of Turandot (1926) while staying at his seaside villa in Viareggio in 1921. The opera, unfinished when he died, was the last before throat cancer got the better of him after last-ditch surgery in Brussels failed in 1924.
reviewed
-
Fattoria di Celle
A tea house, aviary and other romantic 19th-century follies mingle with cutting-edge art installations created in situ by the world’s top contemporary artists at the Fattoria di Celle, 5km from Pistoia. The extraordinary private collection and passion of local businessman Giuliano Gori, this unique sculpture park showcases 70 site-specific installations sprinkled around his vast family estate. Visits – reserved for serious art lovers – require forward planning (apply in writing at least five weeks in advance) and entail a three- to four-hour hike around the art-rich estate, led by the collection’s curator, Miranda McPhail.
reviewed
-
Antonio Mattei
Practically every tourist shop in Florence sells them; they are dunked in Vin Santo as sweet dolci world-wide and have become synonymous with Tuscany at large. Yet it is in Prato that these rock-hard, seriously crunchy rusk-like biscuits studded with almonds were cooked up. Known around the world, sure, but the Real McCoy only comes in a thick paper, cobalt-blue bag, tied with string and embossed with the mark of its maker: Antonio Mattei. Created by the artisan biscuit maker in 1858, biscotti di Prato or cantucci (as they are also known) are still baked up on the very spot where they were born.
reviewed
-
M
Piazza dei Miracoli
No Tuscan sight is more immortalised in kitsch souvenirs than the iconic tower teetering on the edge of this famous piazza, which is also known as the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) or Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square). The piazza’s expansive green lawns provide an urban carpet on which Europe’s most extraordinary concentration of Romanesque buildings – in the form of Cathedral, Baptistry and Tower – are arranged. Two million visitors every year mean that crowds are the norm, many arriving by tour bus from Florence for a whirlwind visit.
reviewed
-
Museum of the Cathedral
Housed in the Cathedral’s former chapter house, the Museum of the Cathedral is a repository for works of art once displayed in the Cathedral and Baptistry. Highlights include Giovanni Pisano’s ivory carving of the Madonna and Child (1299), made for the Cathedral’s high altar, and his mid-13th-century Madonna del Colloquio (Madonna of the Colloquy), from a gate of the Duomo. Legendary booty includes various pieces of Islamic art, including the griffin that once topped the Cathedral and a 10th-century Moorish hippogriff.
reviewed
-
N
Chiesa e Battistero dei SS Giovanni e Reparata
The 12th-century interior of the deconsecrated Chiesa e Battistero dei SS Giovanni e Reparata is a hauntingly atmospheric setting for early evening opera recitals staged by Puccini e la sua Lucca, which are held at 7pm every evening from mid-March to October, and on every evening except Thursday from November to mid-March. Professional singers present a one-hour programme of arias and duets dominated by the music of Puccini. Tickets are available from the church between 10am and 6pm.
In the north transept of the church is a baptistry crowning an archaeological area comprising five building levels going back to the Roman period.
Today's church is largely the 12th-century …
reviewed
-
O
Palazzo Pfanner
The privately owned Palazzo Pfanner is a 17th-century palace where parts of Portrait of a Lady (1996) with Nicole Kidman and John Malkovich were shot. Take the outdoor staircase to the frescoed and furnished piano nobile (main reception room), and then visit the ornate 18th-century garden, the only one of substance within the city walls. (Felix Pfanner, may God rest his soul, was an Austrian émigré who first brought beer to Italy – and brewed it in the mansion’s cellars.)
reviewed
-
P
Trattoria da Leo
Ask a local to recommend a lunch spot, and they will inevitably nominate this bustling trattoria. The clientele of tourists, students, workers and ladies taking a break from shopping have one thing in common: an appreciation for the cheap food and friendly ambience on offer. The food ranges from acceptable to delicious, with stand-out dishes including the vitello tonnato (cold veal with a tuna and caper sauce) and torta di fichi e noci (fig and walnut tart). No credit cards.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Q
Museum of Mural Painting
The Museum of Mural Painting, within the Chiesa di San Domenico, houses a collection of largely Tuscan paintings. Artists represented include Filippo Lippi, Paolo Uccello and Bernardo Daddi with his touchingly naive polyptych of the miracle of the Virgin's girdle. Enjoy too the 14th- to 17th-century frescoes and graffiti.
A combined ticket, bought at any of the three sites, gives entry to the Museo di Pittura Murale, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and Castello dell'Imperatore.
reviewed
-
R
Enoteca D.O.C. Parole e Cibi
Changes its menu weekly; you can enjoy fresh pasta dishes, superb seafood and a variety of carpaccio served with bread that - for once - is entirely worth that vexing coperto (cover charge in restaurants). The wines are excellent; it styles itself as an enoteca, olioteca (oil) and whiskyteca so you can be confident of getting top quality lubricants, whatever your preference. For dessert, a sugary, chocolate pastry, with vanilla cream.
reviewed
-
S
Ristoro al Vecchio Teatro
The Vecchio Teatro’s genial host is proud of his set menu, and for good reason. The four courses are dominated by local seafood specialities and diners will encounter delights such as torta di ceci infranti con le arselle (an unusual savoury cake of smashed chickpeas with mussels) and risotto with prawns and orange. The dessert finale includes a castagnaccio (sweet chestnut cake) that has been known to prompt diners to spontaneous applause.
reviewed
-
T
Antica Trattoria il Campano
The adventurous Tuscan menu - pasta with leeks in cod sauce, octopus salad, or beef marinated with tomatoes, almonds and hazelnuts - at this long-time trattoria has the added advantage of being translated in English. Of the dining areas - under vaulted arches down or beneath bare rafters up - downstairs is the more elegant. Tagliere del Re (minimum two people) - a wonderfully rich platter of 12 kinds of Tuscan antipastos - is a meal in itself.
reviewed
-
U
Palazzo Blu
West of Corso Italia, facing the river, is the Palazzo Blu, a magnificently restored 14th-century building that sports over-the-top 19th-century interior decoration. Home to the Foundation CariPisa art collection, which comprises predominantly Pisan works from the 14th to the 20th century, the palazzo also hosts temporary exhibitions. Access is via a 20-minute guided tour only (at 4pm, 4.30pm and 5pm daily unless pre-booked).
reviewed
