News

The latest news about Tuscany. Good and bad news from Italian and international newspapers.

Lucca is Top Idyllic Place to Live

September 16, 2009

Forbes magazine recently published “Europe’s Most Idyllic Places to Live” with a raking of five favorite simple, unspoiled and near-heavenly locations to take up residence in Europe according to a panel of experts in the fields of travel and relocation. Lucca came in second place, a charming medieval city in Tuscany, just after the Greek…

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Calcio Storico in Florence – June 24

June 22, 2009

Photo by TomStardust The teams of the Florence’s Calcio Storico (Blues, Whites, Greens and Reds) have faced off over the last two weeks in the semi-finals to decide which two teams compete in the traditional Tournament of St. John in Florence’s Piazza Santa Croce on June 24. The soccer game played in costume is one…

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About the EarthQuake in Abruzzo in Central Italy

April 9, 2009

As you probably already know, on the night of April 6 a strong earthquake (5.8 on the Richter scale) hit the region of Abruzzo in central Italy. The medieval city of L’Aquila, the region’s capital, was hit hard and other minor cities around it, like Onna, have been almost completely destroyed. The buildings were too…

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Florence Museums open on Easter Monday 2009

April 1, 2009

This is the list of Florence State museums that will be open on April 13 (“Pasquetta” or Angel’s Monday) as advertised on the official site. Many of these are generally open on Sundays so they’ll be open on Easter Sunday. Check the site above for hours and to double check which ones will be open…

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Montepulciano gets New Moon

March 19, 2009

photo by dan taylor While it hasn’t been made official yet, the word is out that New Moon, the second Twilight sequel, will not be shot in Volterra as we had reported earlier. Twilight fans and locals are very disappointed, but it seems the production is being “realistic” and saying a town the size of…

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“Twilight” vampires are landing in Tuscany

February 11, 2009

The tiny medieval village of Volterra in central Tuscany will be the setting for the shooting of “New Moon“, the second chapter of the “Twilight” series by Stephenie Meyer. As I read in a recent article on Variety Magazine , Eagle Pictures announced that the cast would move to Volterra for the shootings for the…

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Lucca says stop to ethnic food?

January 30, 2009

Today I read on il Corriere della Sera (see the article in Italian) that Lucca‘s center-right city government has passed a local law that will not allow the opening of new restaurants preparing dishes “of a different ethnic origin”. So no more Kebab or Couscous shops at least within the old city walls, the most…

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High speed railway arrives in Italy

January 16, 2009

Last December 14 saw the inauguration of the new high speed railway connecting Milan and Rome, crossing most of the country on a north-south direction. This is one of the biggest public infrastructure works carried out in Italy in the last decades. The project is foreseen to be fully completed within the end of the current year.

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Tuscan Olive Oil

November 21, 2008

It’s time for ‘olio nuovo’ in Tuscany Tuscany today is still a region with a strong rural character, its agricultural products being synonymous of quality and excellence in Italy and abroad. If the month of September is traditionally dedicated to the grape harvest and the production of great Tuscan wines, October and November are dedicated…

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Our new DT Travel Guide is online!

November 18, 2008

We finally made it! After several long and intense months of work, we launched a new version of our Discover Tuscany Travel Guide a few days ago! We completely reorganized the content and navigation, added new sections and new pictures and integrated this Blog and the Forum. The Florence section is growing so much that…

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