Discover Tuscany’s Blog: exploring Tuscany and all its hidden corners…

We just got back from the year AD 1398 as did the hundreds of people that attended the medieval festival in Volterra this past weekend, the city’s largest annual event. We also got back to work after our short holiday, and that made it especially hard to return to modern times!

On Sunday August 24th for an entire day for a small fee of 9 euros we entered medieval Volterra and we were able once again to imagine how it was to live in that age.

Read more about our day in medieval Volterra »

photo by ellepizero

This is just a quick post to let our readers know that this Sunday, August 31 the town on Montepulciano in southern Tuscany will be the set of the annual competition between the town’s 8 contrade (or districts) known as the Bravìo delle Botti.

The event is a contest between the various village districts to see who can roll their wine-barrel up hill and cross the finish line in front of the Duomo first. The “botti” are wine barrels that weigh 85 kilos and have a capacity of 500 liters of wine and the distance from the start to the Duomo is about 1650 meters. Montepulciano is famous for its “Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG” and “Rosso di Montepulciano DOC“, both robust red Tuscan wines.

Read more on the Bravio delle Botti »

photo by littlemalt

Just a few days ago the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing drew to an end. The 29th edition of the summer Olympics was highly anticipated and debated due to the complex political climate; many times, the real protagonist of the games - the sports and its athletes - risked being left in the background.

Regardless of the political environment, we think it correct to honor the athletes that participated putting months and months of hard training to the test, often for just a few minutes of competition.

Read more about Tuscany in Beijing»

photo by one from rm

The Palio of the Assumption took place on the 16th of August in Siena’s Piazza del Campo as it does every year, but this particular edition truly showed its ancient, exciting roots more so than past races.

It all began with the traditional Sienese way of sorting out who had the best chances of winning and this race saw a serious factor to be considered: “4 greens” would be racing on the piazza that day (contrade with green in their flags) and this is believed to be a portent of something unpleasant to come.

To start off, the weather was so unpleasant that it impeded not one but two trial runs. This also made it necessary to lay down another layer of tuff on the piazza almost as the drums were starting to beat.

Read more about the Palio race »

All over Italy local laws have sprung up prohibiting one thing or another, and the risk is taking home a hefty fine as a souvenir

It is well known that Italians are specialists in making laws and rules (and, unfortunately, just as good in not respecting them). So when the Berlusconi government gave the go-ahead to town mayors to create local laws to face the so-called “security emergency”, these didn’t wait to be told twice! In many cities in the Bel Paese, a series of new rules and regulations have been approved and anyone coming to vacation in Italy will do well to know about some of them, especially since many of these regard common behaviors such as eating a sandwich or taking a nap, feeding pigeons or getting a massage on the beach. The Independent in a recent article pokes fun of Italians and put tourists on guard with this article: “Tourists Beware: If it is fun, Italy has a law against it“. Tuscany is no exception. On some of our beaches it is now against the law to have an improvised massage often offered by immigrant masseuses to sunbathers. On a few beaches, there are even bans against “beach” activities such as beach soccer and racketball and even sandcastles!

Read more on the summer of bans

This Sunday August 17 and next Sunday August 24 in Volterra enjoy a recreation of a medieval town with craftsmen, musicians, jugglers, and people dressed in period clothing as either common people or noblemen. This year the festival takes place inside the city walls in the park by the fort that affords more space than the past editions held in just the central streets around Piazza dei Priori.

Read more on Volterra AD 1398, a day in the Middle Ages

Last night we joined over 35,000 Fiorentina fans at the Artemio Franchi stadium in Florence to cheer the Viola team as they battled the Slavia Prague in the first leg of the Champion’s League qualifier. It was a good match, Fiorentina dominated the field throughout the entire game and won the match 2-0 which places the team in a favorable position to win the tie match on the 27th of August and move forward into the exciting group stages of the European contest.

Read more details of the Fiorentina-Slavia match »

This weekend we took a short trip to San Gimignano, arriving Saturday evening and leaving by Sunday evening. San Gimignano is a small but unique “borgo” or village in the province of Siena, surrounded by 12th century walls and characterized by numerous medieval towers which make the view of the town from afar breathtaking.

Read More about our San Gimignano Trip