Vagli Sotto and Careggine: The Village Beneath the Lake
Lago di Vagli Tuscany hides Fabbriche di Careggine, a drowned village that has resurfaced only four times. Its story, and what to do there now.
Camporgiano and Piazza al Serchio: Tuscany’s Upper Serchio Valley
Camporgiano Tuscany: an Este fortress full of Renaissance pottery, then Piazza al Serchio’s farro fields and craft beer. Explore the upper valley.
San Romano in Garfagnana: A Fortress Where the Past Talks Back
San Romano in Garfagnana Tuscany: the Fortezza delle Verrucole, where guides in period dress bring a garrison to life, and the Orecchiella. Book ahead.
Castiglione di Garfagnana: Lucca’s Island in Enemy Territory
Castiglione di Garfagnana Tuscany: 14th-century walls built to face the neighbors, and a barefoot Holy Thursday procession. Plan your visit.
Castelnuovo di Garfagnana: The Capital a Poet Couldn’t Govern
Castelnuovo di Garfagnana Tuscany: the fortress where Ariosto fought bandits, a September fair held since 1430, and the valley’s best base.
Garfagnana: Tuscany’s Mountain Valley That Looked North
Garfagnana Tuscany: four centuries under Ferrara’s dukes, a village under a lake, farro, chestnuts, and two mountain parks. Plan your visit.
Foiano della Chiana: 487 Years of Giant Puppets and Garlic
Foiano della Chiana hosts Italy’s oldest documented Carnival since 1539, and hides one of Tuscany’s greatest concentrations of Della Robbia terracottas.
Lucignano: Four Rings, One Golden Tree
Lucignano’s four concentric ring streets spiral to a piazza hiding the world’s only tree-shaped reliquary. A Valdichiana village unlike any other.
Monte San Savino: The Sculptor’s Town That Lost Its Synagogue
Monte San Savino gave Italy the sculptor Sansovino, Pope Julius III, and the Arezzo region’s most important Jewish quarter — destroyed in a 1799 pogrom.
Montepulciano: First DOCG, First Pievi, and One Very Steep Barrel Race
Montepulciano produced Italy’s first DOCG wine and now its most precise subzone system. Add underground cellars, a barrel race, and Tuscany’s finest piazza.