Casola - a small hill village of about 1,500 people located in the higher part of the Aulella river, on a terrace surrounded by the Aulella and the Tassinaro streams. The community lies between the Lunigiana and the Garfagnana, and also between the Apuane Mountains and the Apennines. An important resource...

Aulla is the main commercial town in the area located at the A15 exit of the Parma-La Spezia motorway. Although not the prettiest of towns (the old town was destroyed by allied bombardments in the Second World War) it is being largely re-developed in modern Italian style. The town, which has a population...

Lunigiana covers an area from the Apennines to the Magra river, belonging in part to Tuscany and in part to Liguria. It takes its name from the Luni, an Etruscan tribe of moon worshippers whose curiously appealing stele remain the symbol of this ancient land. The history of Lunigiana is one of passion;...

Every time I write about Tuscany Italy, my heart and my whole body for that matter experiences an intense feeling of calmness. I know exactly that this feeling comes from the relaxed atmosphere that this part of Italy near Florence gives off. I have found a perfect balance of enjoying the fascinating...

The mountains on the Northern side of the Apuan Alps that ring the upper valley of the Serchio and its side valleys are an area of outstanding beauty due to the variety of nature and the great expanse of woods, the morphology of the land - where steep slopes lead up to rounded summits - the superb views...

The image of the Lunigiana that comes to mind most readily is probably that of the old village nestling around its castle in a position commanding the routes along the valley bottom. For those arriving from the coast, in fact, the valley of the Magra is heralded by the villages of Vezzano Ligure on the...

What you can see shinning brightly in the gullies on the steep slopes of the Apuan Alps is not necessarily snow, but probably the ravaneti, the screes of marble debris at the foot of the quarries that were already being worked in Roman times and were frequented by the great scupltors and architects who...

The Maremma is an area in Italy, consisting of part of southern Tuscany (partly coincident with the province of Grosseto) and part of northern Lazio (in the province of Viterbo on the border of the region). The poet Dante Alighieri in his places the Maremma between Cecina and Corneto, the former name...

Along the Costa degli Etruschi wine route there are numerous firms producing the local wines. The northernmost DOC wine is that of Montescudaio, between the rivers Era and Cecina. Around Bolgheri are the wineyards where the grapes for such outstanding wines as Ornellaia and Sassicaia are grown. Finally,...

The flavours of the Tuscany are strong ones that are often wedded to the aromas of the sea and Liguria. The now famous lard of Colonnata is matured in marble basins and flavoured with rosemary, while pesto is served with testeroli of Pontremoli, pieces of foccacia made of flour and water and baked in...