tuscany

Carved animals at the entrance.

Set in a picturesque valley south of Montalcino.

Opening hours and rules.

The church.

Entrance with Della Robbia ceramic.

View of the abbey from the road.

Days in Florence are full and rich in art and history, but in this city of stone it is difficult to find the soothing color of green provided by plants and trees. After a week in Florence you may wish to rent a car and take off for the Chianti Classico Region. Only minutes out of the historic...

I want to share a few places I went shopping, eating, strolling and various other observations while I was in Florence, April 27 - May4th, 2013. I updated these notes after I returned to Florence in 2015. FLORENCE AIRPORT Getting a taxi at the airport in Florence was easy. Once you exit the...

Over 2,000 years ago the ancient Etruscans around Pitigliano cut into the volcanic tufa rock to create pathways (Vie Cave which means excavated roads or cuts). These pathways are usually three meters wide and half a kilometer or more in length. The depth varies but many are more than 15 meters...

For this month's profile we talked to Nico Pannevis, owner of Sant'Antonio Country Resort, an estate in the heart of Tuscany, near Montepulciano, with villas, cottages and apartments. Nico and Elena Pannevis It was a roundabout route that brought Nico Pannevis to Tuscany by way of Africa and...

Piero della Francesca was an Early Renaissance painter from Sansepolcro (1415 - 1492). The Piero della Francesca Trail takes you on a driving trip across north-east Tuscany and into Le Marche to see three frescoes and one small painting. This trail lets you see his artwork in the places where...

Monte Oliveto Maggiore Abbey (Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore) is a Benedictine monastery built in the 14th century in the Crete Senesi. Over the entrance arch there is a terracotta Madonna with Child and Two Angels by Della Robbia. Lining the walls of the Great Cloister is a magnficent 15th...

Sant'Antimo Abbey (Abbazia di Sant’Antimo) is a 12th century Romanesque church, part of a former Benedictine monastery built in the 9th century. The church includes some of the 9th century buildings. The church has carvings of animals on the portal and inside on top of the columns (some carvings...

By nikkihop from USA, Summer 2011 Two adults and two college girls for week one and nine days of solo bliss for the adults on the Amalfi coast later. Arrive in Rome on June 1, 2011 and return June 16, 2011. Three days in Rome, three days in Florence, two in Venice, one in Assisi on the way to...

The town of Pitigliano.

More Etruscan Pathways. Photo by @BryanS .

More Etruscan Pathways. Photo by @Valerie .

More Etruscan Pathways. Photo by @Valerie .

More Etruscan Pathways. Photo by @BryanS .