Pratovecchio Stia: Where Dante’s Exile Began and Tuscan Cloth Is Still Made
Pratovecchio Stia combines the castle Dante cursed in the Inferno, the Romanesque Pieve di Romena, the source of the Arno, and the workshop where Panno Casentino cloth is still made by hand.
Vicchio: The Small Town That Made Two of the Greatest Painters in History
Vicchio gave the world Giotto and Fra Angelico — two painters who changed Western art. It also hid a radical priest, a rebel school, and Tuscany’s newest wine region.
Montieri and Boccheggiano: The Mountain of Copper, Now Fossil-Free
Montieri hides Italy’s only hexapetal church, a medieval gold brooch, and copper-red scoria hills — all powered by geothermal energy. Zero fossil fuels.
Roccastrada and Its Villages: Boulders, Battlefields and a Famous Fresco
Roccastrada’s villages grow from giant boulders, guard the castle in Italy’s most debated fresco, and hold the memorial to Tuscany’s worst mining disaster.
Bagnone: The Borgo That Sounds Like Water
Bagnone cascades down a hillside above a rushing torrent, crowned by a Malaspina castle and crossed by a medieval bridge. It earned its Orange Flag for a reason.
Equi Terme: Caves, Hot Springs, and a Canyon Between Two Mountain Ranges
Equi Terme packs Neanderthal-era caves, 27°C thermal springs, a zipline, and the 50-meter canyon walls of the Stretti di Giaredo into one tiny Lunigiana hamlet.
Filattiera: The Byzantine Garrison on the Pilgrim Road
Filattiera began as a Byzantine fortress called Kastron Soreon in 610 AD. Its Romanesque church of river pebbles is one of the most elegant stops on the Via Francigena.
Fivizzano: The Florence of Lunigiana, Printed Before London
Fivizzano had movable-type printing before London, Medici walls before most Tuscan towns, and an earthquake that nearly erased it all. The elegant heart of upper Lunigiana.
3 Days in Lunigiana: Castles, Testaroli, and the Oldest Road to Rome
A 3-day itinerary through Tuscany’s northernmost valley — from prehistoric stele statues to Malaspina castles, from the Via Francigena to the oldest pasta in Italy, with a side trip to Cinque Terre.
3 Days in Mugello: The Valley Florence Doesn’t Tell You About
A 3-day Mugello itinerary covering Giotto’s birthplace, Renaissance knife workshops, chestnut villages, Pinot Noir wine, and the MotoGP circuit — all 30 minutes from Florence.