About Tuscany | PlanningaTour.com

Tuscany – Apuan Alps

A DAY OUT ON 13 JUNE

Let me guide you on a journey to the marble quarries in the Apuan Alps, a range of mountains blessed by a limitless topping of this wonderful stone. I’ve been living in Lucca for more than twenty years, but it was only recently that I went to visit the Fantiscritti quarry which experts regard as one of the best in the world for the pure whiteness of its marble.

One hour by car from Lucca and voilà, you are, to paraphrase the Beatles, “in the sky with marble”.
Take the motorway for Genova, exit at Carrara, go through the village of Moseglia, follow the signs for Fantiscritti and in another twenty minutes you’ll reach your destination.

Once there, the first thing you see is the open-air museum with its display of the old tools and ropes used until a few decades ago. They bear witness to the eternal challenge of mankind against nature and you immediately understand the extent of the exhausting and dangerous work. Many of the marmisti in Carrara can still hear the cries of desperation when a block could not be kept on the tracks and casualties were a frequent occurrence. When we marvel at the marble masterpieces in our museums, we don’t often think of the victims who allowed such sculptures to be made.

Those were the times when marble was wrested almost manually out of the mountains by an army of workers, like ants disputing food. In this hell of human beings and their masterpieces, the mountains were finally taken into consideration and technology was allowed to be the winner.
So now there are two quarries at Fantiscritti eating the mountain – one inside using modern excavation techniques and a traditional one on top in the open air. In the internal one, a block that used to take weeks of work to extract is now quarried in an hour by just a few workers.

A guide takes you inside aboard a small bus and describes the cutting techniques and how blocks are transported. You are struck by how enormous the internal quarry is and by the big marble pillars and arches that have been left in place to stop the mountain caving in. In this way, they have involuntarily built a marble cathedral inside the mountain.

When you leave Fantiscritti, turn left and go to Colonnata, the tiny village where the local delicacy lardo is made with processes in use since the Roman period. It is kept in marble containers and seasoned with herbs and is highly regarded all over Italy. Lardo was important in the diet of the people who transported the marble down the mountain to its destination. By the time you’ve looked around and sampled the specialities of the area, the afternoon is gone.

So, on your way back, you stop in Camaiore, a nice old village five miles inland from Viareggio.
You have dinner in one of the many pleasant restaurants and trattorias while waiting for the evening because on June 13 the traditional sawdust carpet event takes place here once again. During the night, the tappetari, the carpet makers, cover the main streets with colored sawdust carpets on which the Corpus Domini procession will take place the following morning at 10 a.m. Between sunset and dawn, a time of 10 to 12 hours, they make carpets which are two metres wide and 40 metres long.

In fact, the tappetari start working on them a few months earlier because first they have to decide on the subjects (usually religious) to be represented, prepare plywood to transfer the drawings on to the ground, and make templates. I will save most of the detail about how the work is done because it’s more fun when you see for yourself how these masterpieces – which will last only a few hours – are created. It’s a really enjoyable event that only bad weather can spoil.

Tuscany – The divine comedy

The man we know simply as Dante was Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Florentine, minor aristocrat, political activist, scholar, writer, poet husband, father and exile, known universally and for ever by his Christian name alone. Aside from biblical characters, Greek philosophers, saints, gods, godesse and a stringo f show-biz persons, not many people are remembered by their first name only. Another one, however, is Beatrice. In real life she was Bice Portinari ( Bice is still a common enough diminuitive of Beatrice) and Dante says he saw her for the first time when they were both aged nine. Over the years she became his idealo f beauty and goodness and the object of his platonic courtly love. She died in 1290, five years before Dante began his great work.
La Divina Commedia is certainly not a comedy in the modern sense of the word. Dante called it simply a commedia and explained to his patron that this was a kind of narrative poem ehere the story begins badly but ends happily. It was Boccaccio who first applied the word Divina when he was writing about Dante in 1373 and it was published as La Divina Commedia for the first time in 1550.
So what i sit? It’s a very long poem describing Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, it’s an adventure, a love story, an allegory and compendium of late medieval thought, requiring extensive knowledge of religion, politics, clasical literature, mythology, philosophy, astrology and so on. I don’t know much about any of these but transations have notes. With Virgil as his guide, Dante goes down into Hell, a deep, squalid, stinking claustophobic pit, where he speaks to many of the world’s great sinners.
He then clibs the airy Island-mountain which is Purgatory where he meets old friends and is purged of his sins.
Finally he enters the radiance of heaven with the help of Beatrice and meets saints, Mary and God.
Lucca gets three mentions in the Commedia.
In the Inferno here is somone called Alessio Interminei, his head covered in shit, who flattered to defraud, and an unnamed seller of public offices, squirming in boiling tar.
The Purgatorio has a poet from Lucca who tells Dante that he’ll meet a young unmarried woman there called “something like Gentucca”, who will give him reason to like the place thug other people don’t.
Dante may have lived in Lucca for a year or two in the middle of the 1310s and some scholars have identified a gentucca who was a merchant’s wife.
Another thing Dante explained to his patron was that, unlike tragedy, where the language is elevated and sublime, the language of “comedy” is simple and humble. I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that it makes him easy to read but here are the first three lines:

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
In the middle of the road of our life
Mi ritrovai in una selva oscura
I found myself in a dark wood
Ché la diritta via era smarrita
Because the stright way had been lost.

No so very different from modern Italian, is it? In fact, one of the long term results of the Commedia was the development of a standard form of Italian.
The first person to import something of Dante into England was Chaucer who encountered the Commedia when he was on a government mission to Italy ( he was there twice, in 1373 and 1378).
The Monk’s Tale in the Canterbury includes his version (not a traslatino) of the story of Count Ugolino of Pisa ( Erl Hugelyn of Pyze) in canto XXXIII of the Inferno.
many people have translated the Commedia into English. If you want to read some of it, i recommend a version that doesn’t reproduce Dante’s rhyme scheme since that has the

Tourism in Lucca

If you are reading this article, the chances are you are either visiting Lucca on holiday, spend some part of the year here, or indeed live here on a permanent basis. You will certainly be aware that the tourist season is in full swing.
But who visits Lucca? Some interesting information has emerged from a recent suvey conducted on behalf of the Provincia di Lucca, i.e. embracing the region around Lucca from the Versilian coast to the Garfagnana, as well as the city itself.
A sample of some 1500 visitors was polled between April and October of last year.
How Many? The first surprise lies in the volume of visitors. It is reckoned that when second houses are taken into account, the total number of person7visits over the year adds up to an amazing 12 million. This figure is far higher than previous official estimates, reflecting the additional effort that is now being made to capture data on visitors who do not use any of the formal tourist services, such as the APT offices.
Where from? Over 60% of visitors to the region are Italians, higher than the average for Tuscany as whole. This figure rises to two-thirds when confined to the coastal resorts of Versilia. The figures are reversed for the Lucca itself where over 60% of visitors are from outside Italy.
Where do they stay? Over 70% stay in hotels, while over the year, it is now reckoned that some 8 million visits are made to holiday or second homes in the region . compared to only 3 million previously reflected in the official figures.
What do they spend? When the cost of accommodation is included, the average tourist here spends a little over Euro 100 each day, slightly more at the coast, and less in the Valle di Serchio. All that adds up to an annual gross spend in the region of around Euro 1,300 million. Not to be sniffed at.
Who are they? The typical visitor to our region is a 40-something independent traveller ( i.e. not with an organised party ) with a higher than average education, travelling probably with partner and/or children, and with their own or hired car. 70% have organised their own accommodation using the internet ( especially foreign visitors ) or by word-of-mouth. The majority favour medium to upmarket hotels, with 25% in rented apartments or villas, and 11% in agriturismi.
Why Lucca? Predictably, culture and art score highly with visitors to the city itself, with 40% citing these as the main attractions. Rest and relaxation come close behind, and are more important to those who head for the coast and the countryside.
Likes/Dislikes? By and large visitors appreciate the goods and services an offer, and the quality and presentation, but find Lucca expensive and are sometimes disappointed by the level of knowledge of foeign languages and the speed of service. Clearly also there is a feeling that services for the disabled, public transport, parking and public facilities generally, especially those for children, ” could do better “.
Further studies will report in more depth on the typical visitor profileand levels of customer satisfaction. Clearly, the volume of tourism here now warrants an evergreater understanding of visitor needs.

Make money in Tuscany thanks to Brunello!

Yes, Brunello, thanks Brunello! … and China! Just a suggestion to change your life and come here to produce your wine! Why not?

Now, with recession hovering over their main markets in Europe and the United States, makers of premium Italian wines are turning to China where wine is becoming increasingly popular and the newly rich easily splash out on a top-price bottle.

Makers of famous Tuscan red Chianti and its upmarket cousins Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello di Montalcino opened The House of Tuscan Wine in Shanghai in July to promote their output in China’s major industrial center.

Italy toasts China

A 1.2 million euro ($1.55 million) investment put together by Tuscan administrative bodies, chambers of commerce and Italy’s oldest bank Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena would pay off as wine imports to China were set to rise after liberalization of import licenses in 2007, Mugnaioli said.

Wine consumption in China has been growing by 8 percent a year over the past few years and is expected to hit 1 billion bottles in 2011, the Consortium of Brunello producers says.

Industry experts say China may become the world’s eighth largest wine consumer by 2012.

Tuscany – China, Corking competition

The French and other major wine producers have been faster than Italians in realizing the huge growth potential of the Chinese market. The competition is fierce for carving out market niches, Mugnaioli says.

“It’s good that there is competition. Every competitor, every wine producer is bringing Chinese consumers closer to wine,” he says, fresh from taking a group of Chinese buyers and reporters on a week-long wine tour early this month.

Italian winemakers have analyzed the Chinese market and changed their previous consumer target, which was in the age group between 40 to 60 years old and was considered to have the best purchasing power, Mugnaioli says.

“Our new target is in a range of 20-35 years old: graduates with stable jobs, well-paid and with a Western model of lifestyle and food habits,” he says.

Red wine is a symbol of class and luxury in China where it accounts for 90 percent of consumed grape wine, experts say.

Enoteca Italiana has started its promotional activity in China with Tuscan wines. However, it hopes other wine-making regions will join the initiative, overcoming their long-standing reluctance to work together, Mugnaioli says.

Italian wine exports to China remain tiny at about $20 million in 2007 compared with total Italian wine exports of about 3.5 billion euros a year, according to industry data.

But exports to China jumped 64 percent last year, making Italy the fourth-biggest wine exporter there after France, Chile and Australia.

Tuscany – Capalbio

Capalbio is a hilly land: located on a dominant hillock over Maremma, but it is also a maritime village with its coast along Costa d’Argento.
Capalbio is culture with its many events and exhibitions, village feasts, alleys, medieval buildings and Etruscan excavations.
It is a relaxing vacation with its farm holidays scattered in the countryside and it is gastronomy with its typical restaurants.

Itineraries:

The Tarot’s Garden:
It is easely recognizable also from far away, infact coloured and high figures emerge from the bush, created by Niki de Saint Phalle, ispired to the 22 Tartots’ Arcana; for more information visit www.nikidesaintphalle.com

Archeology:
To archeology lovers, in the surroundings, there are Etruscans and Roman walls’ruins: in Valle d’Oro area near the city of Cosa, Sette Finestre at the boundary with Orbetello, in Poggio Capalbiaccio, Monteti.

Frescoes:
In the old town you can admire San Nicola’s Church with its valuable frescoes of Umbria school and in Provvidenza’s oratory the most important fresco of all Costa d’Argento: a Providence Madonna, attributed to Perugino and to Pinturicchio.

Every time Capalbio will warmly embrace you and let you feel as you were at home and will make you want to stay here forever.