Tuscany

The duomo isn't just the most spectacular structure in Florence – it's up there with Rome's Colosseum and Pisa's Leaning Tower as one of Italy's most recognisable icons. Its polychrome marble facade is vast, striking and magnificent. But what makes the building so extraordinary is Filippo Brunelleschi's distinctive red-brick dome, one of the greatest architectural achievements of all time. Scale the steep, narrow staircase up to the base of the dome and peer down on the toylike cathedral interior far below – then climb some more for a stunning city panorama.

Horses race around it twice a year, local teens hang out on it, tourists inevitably gasp on seeing it for the first time – Siena's strangely sloping, perfectly paved central piazza is the city's geographical and historical heart, staked out since the 12th century. Presided over by the graceful Palazzo Comunale and fringed with bustling cafe terraces, Piazza del Campo is the finest spot in Siena to promenade, take photographs and lap up the soul-soaring magic of this unique, gloriously Gothic and architecturally harmonious city.

This ancient wine region is the Tuscany you have seen in postcards, where cypress alleys give way to pea-green vineyards and silver olive groves, honey-coloured stone farmhouses and secluded Renaissance villas built for Florentine and Sienese nobility. Luxurious accommodation and the very best of modern Tuscan cuisine provide the right ingredients for an idyllic short escape – peppered with romantic walks and road trips along narrow green lanes to wine cellars for tastings of Italy's best-known wine, the ruby-red, violet-scented Chianti Classico.

Few art galleries evoke such an overwhelming sense of awe and wonderment as the world-class Uffizi, at home in a 16th-century Medici palazzo in Florence. Vast, labyrinthine, architecturally magnificent and rich in history, the building alone stuns. Add to this an art collection chock-full of Renaissance masterpieces, with works by Giotto, Botticelli, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Raphael, Titian and Caravaggio all jostling for the limelight, and you'll know you've arrived in art-lover heaven. Allow ample time to savour slowly, in several bite-sized visits if need be.

'To cook like your mother is good, but to cook like your grandmother is better' says the Tuscan proverb. And indeed, in foodie Tuscany age-old recipes are passed between generations and form the backbone of the local cuisine – a highlight of any Tuscan trip. Devour feisty T-bone steak in a family-run trattoria such as Mario by Florence's central food market, savour modern Tuscan fare amid a sea of ancient Antinori vines at Rinuccio 1180 in Chianti, shop at local markets bursting with seasonal produce and wish fellow diners 'Buon appetito!'

Whether you want to wallow in the idyllic beauty of the landscape from an infinity pool on a luxurious Tuscan estate or get your hands dirty in the fields, an agriturismo (rural accommodation on a working farm, winery or agricultural domain) is a five-star way of experiencing country life in Tuscany. Home-cooked dinners of seasonal farm produce and mountains of green space are a given. Barbialla Nuova has just the right mix of adventure (unpaved country roads) and panache (stylish decor and staggering views).

The most precious product in the Italian pantry, the pig-ugly white truffle is snuffed out by dogs in damp autumnal woods around hilltop town, San Miniato. Much secrecy, mystique and cut-throat rivalry between local tartufaio (truffle hunters) surrounds the business – making a bite into a truffle-laced omelette all the more exciting and glam. From October to December, join the excitement of a truffle hunt, or follow your nose to San Miniato on November weekends when the Mostra Mercato Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco (National White Truffle Market) takes over the town.

Throw yourself into local life with an exuberant and eye-catching festival – a compelling snapshot of Tuscan culture, washed down with much food, wine and merrymaking. Come the warm days of spring and summer, almost every town hosts its own fest: locals don medieval costumes and battle with giant crossbows or lances, often reenacting ancient political rivalries between different contrada (neighbourhoods). The prize? Wonderful trophies evocative of medieval pageantry such as the golden arrow and silk banners of Massa Marittima's Balestro del Girifalco.

These towers form one of the world's most enchanting skylines, sheltering everything from family homes to contemporary art galleries, and bringing history alive for every visitor – San Gimignano's medieval towers are an iconic Tuscan sight. Few can be scaled these days – Torre Grossa in the Palazzo Comunale is a notable exception – but you can explore in their shadow and reflect on the civic pride and neighbourhood rivalry that prompted their construction and gave this diminutive hilltop town its unique appearance.

Cruise in second gear on quiet, gently rolling roads along this unassuming valley laced with vines, the medieval abbeys of Sant'Antimo and San Galgano, splendidly Renaissance Pienza and the blockbuster wine towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino. Explore abbeys where pilgrims once overnighted en route along the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome, indulge in a long, lazy Brunello-fuelled lunch and congratulate yourself on uncovering one of Tuscany's finest road trips – there's good reason why the Val d'Orcia is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

It's a step off the trodden tourist trail, but that only adds to the impossible charm of laid-back Arezzo, a small town in eastern Tuscany that shows Siena a thing or two when it comes to cinematically sloping central squares. Medieval churches safeguarding precious crucifixes, frescoes and sacred works of art stud Arezzo's shabby-chic streets and, should you be in the market for an artwork of your own, one of Italy's best-known antiques fairs is held here on the first weekend of each month.

Hire a bike, stock up on gourmet picnic supplies and freewheel along the cobbled streets of lovely Lucca in northwestern Tuscany, zooming through a progression of tree-shaded piazzas and stone-paved alleys concealing medieval churches, a Romanesque cathedral and cinematic 17th-century palazzi (palaces). End with a gourmet lunch of local produce atop the monumental city walls, slicked with a circular, silky-smooth cycling path (a sweet loaf of buccellato from pastry shop Taddeucci is a Lucchese must), or hit the open road to swoon over opulent villas in the countryside.

This rugged mountain range, protected within the Parco Regionale delle Alpi Apuane, beckons hikers, bikers and drivers with a peaceful, soul-soothing trail of isolated farmhouses, medieval hermitages and hilltop villages. Its most spectacular sights are the slopes providing a backdrop to the town of Carrara, scarred with marble quarries worked since Roman times. Come here to visit a quarry and sample lardo di colonnata (thinner-than-wafer-thin slices of local pig fat), one of Tuscany's greatest gastronomic treats, in the tiny village of Colonnata.

Aperitivo (predinner drinks accompanied by cocktail snacks) is one of Tuscany's finest food and wine rituals, best partaken of after a passeggiata (early-evening stroll) with seemingly half the town along Florence's boutique-beaded Via de' Tornabuoni, Lucca's Via Fillungo or another car-free urban strip. People-watching is an essential part of both elements. In Florence, grab a pew on the pavement terrace of wine-bar Le Volpi e l'Uva, with Florentine hipsters sipping garden cocktails in Santarosa Bistrot or between red-brick walls at Mad Souls & Spirits and enjoy.

History resonates when you stand in the middle of this piazza. Showcasing structures built to glorify God and flaunt civic riches (not necessarily in that order), this cluster of Romanesque church buildings possesses an architectural harmony that is remarkably refined and very rare. Hear the acoustics in the baptistry, marvel at Giovanni Pisano's marble pulpit in the duomo and confirm that, yes, the famous tower does lean. Living up to its name, this square really is a field full of miracles.

Elba is the Tuscan paradise no one imagines. A Mediterranean island woven with sweetly scented orange trees, olive groves and century-old palms, Elba is a sensorial landscape clearly designed for go-slow beach lounging, heady coastal hikes and hairpin motoring from hilltop village to bijou fishing cove. Napoleon was banished here in 1814, meaning the island has a few historic sights to visit. And then there's the wine and olive oil, two glorious nectars crafted with pride and passion on family estates unchanged for centuries.

Head to the hills north of Lucca to feast on chestnuts, mushrooms, honey and other earthy fruits of the forest in this off-the-beaten-track corner of Tuscany. Hike through wildflower-festooned fields and meander slowly along bumpy back roads from one laid-back medieval mountain village to another. Stay in an agriturismo and spend your days hiking, mountain biking and devouring homemade dinners around a shared farmhouse table. From the Garfagnana, the beaches and artistic enclaves of the Versilian coast aren't too far away should the need for modern civilisation kick in.

Offering a heady mix of scenery, art, history and religion, the Santuario della Verna in eastern Tuscany and the hilltop town of Assisi in neighbouring Umbria are two of the most important Christian pilgrimage sites in the world. Visit the windswept monastery in the Casentino where St Francis is said to have received the stigmata, and then move on to his birthplace, where Giotto's famous fresco series in the upper church stuns every beholder with its beauty and narrative power.