Tuscany Things to Do

Tuscany is so famed for its food and wine that you can almost taste the flavors just by saying the name. So it’s no surprise that they love to celebrate every fruit and vegetable, meat and fish that comes into season.

When you’re traveling around Tuscany watch for signs advertising a Festa or a Sagra – a festival or a fair. Very often they’re food or wine-based and you’ll be in for a treat. The main food and wine festival season begins in April or May, and reaches a peak around October with mushrooms, chestnuts, chocolate, and truffles.

If you’re traveling the towns and villages of Tuscany this summer and feel like you’ve just walked into a time warp, you’ve probably lucked out and hit upon a Medieval Fair. Every year a few towns throw themselves wholeheartedly into days-gone-by and dress up in medieval costumes, entertain with storytellers and wandering minstrels, showcase ancient arts like blacksmithing and candlemaking, and generally celebrate the things that made their towns what they are. Here’s a brief list of where and when you can find some of these events:

Once one of Italy’s wealthy fiefdoms, Lucca retains all the beauty of art and architecture that you’d expect from northern Italy and Tuscany. Smaller than Florence, it gained its freedom from Rome in the 12th century and except for one small glitch when Pisa took control, it was self-governing for 500 years until Napoleon arrived and gave the city to his sister.

Siena is a lovely city rivaling Florence in its architecture and art; the divide being that Siena’s highpoint was the Medieval era and Florence’s, the Renaissance. Throughout much of Italy, some of the most spectacular traditions from these eras have endured through the centuries.