Sights in Tuscany
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Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori
This museum in a pretty park features works by the 19th-century Italian Impressionist Macchiaioli school led by Livorno-born Giovanni Fattori. The group, inspired by the Parisian Barbizon school, flouted stringent academic art conventions and worked directly from nature, emphasising immediacy and freshness through patches, or 'stains' (macchia), of colour.
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Abbazia di San Galgano
About 20km southwest of Siena on the SS73 is the 13th-century Abbazia di San Galgano, in its day one of the country’s finest Gothic buildings.
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Cathedral
The 16th-century cathedral has an unfinished facade. Above the high altar is a lovely triptych by Taddeo da Bartolo depicting the Assumption.
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Museo d'Arte Sacra
Works of religious art from the Collegiata and other churches in the town are on display in this modest museum. Those who are interested in medieval religious objects will appreciate the items made from precious metals, including beautifully crafted chalices and thuribles (censers), as well as some exquisitely embroidered textiles.
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Cathedral
The city's unspectacular cathedral, designed by visiting British architect Inigo Jones, was later used by Jones as a model for the layout of Covent Garden.
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Museo dell’Opera Metropolitana
This museum, also known as Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, is in what would have been the southern aisle of the nave of the Nuovo Duomo.
Inside, formerly adorning the cathedral, are the 12 statues of prophets and philosophers by Giovanni Pisano that decorated the facade. The highlight is Duccio di Buoninsegna’s striking early 14th-century Maestà, which is painted on both sides as a screen for the cathedral’s high altar. The front and back have now been separated and the panels depicting the story of the Passion hang opposite the Maestà. Other artists represented are Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and Taddeo di Bartolo, and there’s also a rich collection of tapestries…
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Tower
From the top of Palazzo Comunale's tower on a clear day, you can see as far as the Monti Sibillini to the east and the Gran Sasso to the southeast.
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Orto Botanico
For a leafy stroll or picnic accompanied by birdsong head for Lucca's peaceful Orto Botanico, ensnared in the southeast corner of the city walls.
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Museo della Cattedrale
Next door to the cathedral, this museum safeguards elaborate gold and silver decorations made for the Volto Santo, including a 17th-century crown and a 19th-century sceptre.
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Museo della Natura Morta
The Museo della Natura Morta showcases a fine collection of 16th- to 18th-century still lifes inside and magnificent sprawling gardens out.
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Basilica di Santa Maria dei Servi
The 13th-century Basilica di Santa Maria dei Servi has frescoes by Pietro Lorenzetti in a chapel off the north transept.
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Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi
The Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi showcases the city’s art collection and archaeological remnants from Roman Lucca.
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Rocca
The Rocca is the crumbling shell of the town's fortress with great views across the valley, a small playground - and not much else.
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Oratorio di San Bernardino
Nestled in the shadow of the huge Gothic church of San Francesco is this 15th-century oratory, which is dedicated to St Bernardino and decorated with Mannerist frescoes by Il Sodoma, Beccafumi and Pacchia. Upstairs, the small Museo Diocesano di Arte Sacra has some lovely paintings, including a Madonna del Latte (Nursing Madonna, c 1340) by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Note that admission to the oratory is included in the OPA SI Pass.
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Roman Theatre
On Volterra’s northern edge lies the Roman Theatre, a well-preserved complex complete with a Roman bathhouse.
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Palazzo Orsini
Interlinked Piazza Petruccioli and Piazza Garibaldi provide a majestic walkway towards this 13th-century castle, which was enlarged by the Orsinis in the 16th century, eventually became the residence of the local bishop and is now home to a museum. Its rooms are filled with an eclectic collection of artworks and ecclesiastic oddments from churches in the diocese, including an unattributed and extremely unusual painting of Jesus being circumcised and a 14th-century wooden Madonna and Child statue by Jacopo della Quercia.
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Torre del Mangia
From Palazzo Comunale soars its graceful bell tower, the Torre del Mangia, 102m high, completed in 1297.
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Museo Ornitologico
Due south of the fort is the Museo Ornitologico. Its mournful collection of stuffed birds dates back to 1886 and looks it.
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Porta al Prato
Antonio da Sangallo il Vecchio (may have) restructured the medieval gate leading into the city proper, the Porta al Prato.
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Grotta del Buontalenti
Watch a fleshy Venere (Venus) by Giambologna rise from the waves in the Grotta del Buontalenti.
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Palazzo Tarugi
Palazzo Tarugi, attributed to Giacomo da Vignola, is beside a well, surmounted by a particularly genial pair of lions.
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Fortezza Medicea
The 14th-century Fortezza Medicea, later altered by Lorenzo Il Magnifico, is nowadays a prison (admission one felony).
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Fortezza Medicea
There's a stupendous view over the Val di Chiana to Lake Trasimeno in Umbria from the remains of this Medici fortress, which stands atop the highest point in town. For the less fit, a belvedere at the eastern end of Via Nazionale, down in the centre of town, also has a panoramic view.
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Chiesa di Sant'Agostino
Continuing up Via di Gracciano nel Corso, you will find Michelozzo’s Chiesa di Sant’Agostino.
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Centro di Accoglienza Turistico
Their 'Room 180' shows a 30-minute film about Arezzo in six languages on a 180-degree, wrap-around screen.
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