Page 35 - StudyTravel Magazine August 2019 Issue
P. 35

REGIONAL FOCUS                   STUDYTRAVEL MAGAZINE AUGUST 2019








                                        Tuscany





                A region of amazing contrasts, Tuscany is known for its world-class art,
               mouth-watering gastronomy and rich culture, as NICOLA HANCOX discovers.





          Tuscany, or Toscana, is a re-    enzo de’ Medici Institute www.          IN 1339 THE
          gion in central Italy. Considered   ldminstitute.com. The institute’s
          a country within a country,      main campus in Florence is              CITY OF
          Patricia Ramspeck from Scuola    based in the San Lorenzo area,          FLORENCE
          Leonardo da Vinci Siena www.     known for its markets and prox-         WAS THE FIRST
          leonardo-siena.com describes     imity to the duomo (cathedral).
          a region populated with rolling     Linguaviva www.linguaviva-           EUROPEAN CITY
          hills, sunfl owers, medieval tow-  group.com has a school based           TO PAVE ITS
          ers, elegant piazzas and mag-    in central Florence which, says         STREETS
          nifi cent palaces. “Tuscany is the   Director Giorgia Biccelli, is a
          birthplace of the Renaissance,   living, breathing UNESCO World
          a cultural, culinary and artistic   Heritage Site. “Florence is an
          capital,” she enthuses.          open-air museum,” agrees
             With the Apennines in the     Chiara, with the Uffi zi Museum
                                           and Accademia Gallery (home to
          east and the Tyrrhenian Sea in   a
                                           and Accademia Gallery (home to nd Accademia Gallery (home to
          the west, Tuscany checks every   Michelangelo’s Statue of David)
          landscape box. And within, “the   among the most popular.
          hilly zone between Florence and     Medieval villages and historic
          Siena you can fi nd the Chianti   towns pepper the region, as
          area”, adds Chiara Poggi at Scu-  do churches and beautiful
          ola Leonardo da Vinci Firenze    abbeys, says Geraldine Vil-
          www.leonardo-fl orence.com,       liger from Scuola Leonardo
          “famous for its vineyards and its   da Vinci Firenze. The land-
          high-quality gourmet products”.  scapes of Crete Senesi,
             The cities of Florence, Siena,   Orcia Valley and Garfagnana
          Pisa, Lucca and Arezzo “are      have inspired artists for
          renowned all over the world for   centuries. “Most visitors are
          their beauty, as well as their ar-  familiar with the gentle hills of
          tistic and gastronomic tradition”,   Tuscany,” notes Patricia. nicola-
          says Elena Putignano from Lor-   hancox@studytravel.network


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