intuscanyvillas.com updated, please visit: http://www.intuscanyvillas.com

TUSCANY
The region takes its name from the ancient and highly advanced civilization of the Tusci or Etruscans who lived here for about a thousand years before the birth of Christ and left behind them numerous interesting traces. Especially in the southern part of Tuscany. The countryside is rich in natural and artistic attractons.

The road network is excellent with four motorways (the A/1 A/11 A/12 and A/15) and a large number of trunk roads and main roads often passing through wonderful scenery. The railway network includes stretches of the most important national lines. Pisa and Florence are the busiest of the airports.

The region's economy is mostly based on tourism and handicrafts but the agriculture trade and industry play an impontant role too. Nearly all the cities have important works of Mediaeval and Renassance art and many works by famous artists are kept in hermitages and monasteries and in the picturesque old towns of the region.

The Spa towns of Tuscany are well known for their mineral water springs and attract many tourists. Among the better-known are Montecatini (Pistoia). Chianciano (Siena) Casciana Terme (Pisa) and Bagni d Lucca (Lucca).

Call Today for Reservations

Among the winter sport resorts you'll find: Abetone Cutigliano and San Marcello in the province of Pistoia Abbadia San Salvatore in the province of Siena and Prato delle Macinaie and Prato della Contessa in the province of Grosseto.

Local traditions often date back centuries. Festivals are celebrated in Massa Marittima and the Carnival in Viareggio Traditiona. Local arts and crafts produce a variety of objects made of sliver, leather, straw, pottery a alabaster and marble and the finely embroidered lingerie is much admired.

There are a number of deer in the mountain reserves and in the marshland and there is much fishing especially underwater fishing in the area around Argentario and near the islands.

The climate is mediterranean along the coast temperate in the hills and valleys and continental in the Apennines.

Lucignano is a small town, set like a pearl among the green of the gentle Aretine hills at 414 m. above sea level. Its architecture is elliptical in form, a very special, rare example of medieval construction