Florence, Chianti, Siena & Surroundings

peninsula.

History

Tuscany

The Etruscans

Remnants of prehistoric tribal settlements can be found throughout Tuscany, but it was the more advanced Etruscan civilization, making their mark from the first century BC, that has left a far larger mark in the region. Their very existence is steeped in mystery with scholars still in dispute about their exact roots. Some believe they arrived by sea from the Far East, some argue they came over land from northern Europe, while many believe they are descended from the so-called Pre-Italians of the Bronze Age. All are agreed, however, when it comes to their historical importance. The Etruscans formed the first consistent civilization in the area, and their growth can be traced from the original settlements around the Arno and Tiber rivers, to their later expansion up as far as the current region of Liguria to the north and down to Umbria and Lazio in the south.

Part of this steady progression was due to the Etruscan civilization's skills in construction and agriculture. They built an extensive network of roads throughout Tuscany and beyond; began to clear swamps and marshlands; set up trading networks; farmed and mined; and even headed out to sea. Add to this a legacy of exquisite art works, jewelry and surviving tombs and necropolises, and you can begin to understand what the archeologists and historians have written so excitedly about.

But you don't have to stick your head in dusty old books to enjoy the best of this intriguing civilization. Ancient Etruscan settlements such as Cortona, Arezzo, Fiesole (close to Florence), Chiusi and Volterra are still very much alive in Tuscany today and well within the visitor's reach thanks to Tuscany's extensive transport networks.

The Romans

Incursions by the Greeks, Gauls and Carthaginians heralded the beginning of the end of the glorious Etruscan civilization, but it was the might of Rome that placed the final nail in the Etruscan coffin at the beginning of the third century BC. They absorbed the Etruscan ruling class and bustling conurbations, founded their own rival cities - Lucca, Pisa, Siena and Florence, among others - and brought to Tuscany a long period of relative peace and increasing cultural and economic prosperity. This was an extensive period of construction and modernization - roads, aqueducts, drainage, villas, theaters and entire new settlements all appeared in the Romans' wake.

Roman rule lasted until the fifth century, when their crumbling authority finally disintegrated under a flurry of barbarian invasions. The barbarians (particularly the Goths) left the territory in a state of flux until the Longobards arrived in the sixth century, setting Lucca up as their capital and slowly extending their domination throughout Tuscany.

The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages brought Tuscany prosperity as the Via Francigena (the Francigena Road), which traverses it, became a popular pilgrimage route between France and Rome. In its wake, churches, taverns and towns sprang up, but also rivalry and bitter conflict as Guelph (siding with the Pope) and Ghibelline (siding with the Emperor and feudal rulers) diversions tore the countryside in apart. But, despite the constant battles, it was also a time of financial and artistic prosperity that saw the formation of the increasingly wealthy - but politically turbulent - Tuscan Communes of Pisa, Lucca, Siena, Arezzo and Florence.

Each of these powerful Communes had their time of domination and control: Pisa, the principal port, held power for a while; Siena took over thanks to its wealth from banking; and Lucca grew rich on silk and banking. But it was Florence that ultimately came out on top, thanks to commerce and the beginning of the cultural and artistic movement known as the Renaissance.

This rebirth also marked the end of the Middle Ages, and the beginning of the Italian nation, as Florence set about extending its reign over the entire Tuscan region. Freed from bitter feuds, Florence - and by extension Tuscany - became the creative hub of cultural ideas and inventions. It was an era of unrivalled beauty and splendor, to a great extent thanks to the most famous native dynasty: the Medici.

The Medici

The rise of the Medici clan saw the beginning of an era of unrivalled beauty and splendor that shaped the glorious towns we see today - especially Florence. Many locals believe the city has yet to move on culturally from the Renaissance, which lives on in Florence's Duomo and the works of the giants of painting and sculpture from Michelangelo to Raphael. Under Cosimo I, the Medici become the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, which passed to the Austrian Dukes of Lorraine before being absorbed into the new Italian State.

Florence & the Duomo

The founder of the Medici fortune was Giovanni di Bicci, a skillful banker and businessman, but it was his elder son, Cosimo Il Vecchio (Cosimo the Elder), who was the first to place the family's immense economic power at the service of his political ambitions. This was to make life-long enemies of the city's other merchant bankers - the Strozzi, the Pazzi, the Acciaioli and, above all, the Albizzi. But, although they succeeded in exiling Cosimo in 1434, he was called back by the city just one year later, and went on to govern for 30 years.

The brief rule of Cosimo's successor Piero, later called Piero Il Gottoso(Piero the Gouty), preceded that of his eldest son Lorenzo (born in 1449). Considered the most significant of the Medici rulers and one of the greatest leaders of Italy in his time, he became known as Lorenzo Il Magnifico (Lorenzo the Magnificent), left, thanks to his patronage of artists (most famously Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo), which produced the artistic flourishing in Florence and then Italy, that became known as the Renaissance.

Lorenzo di Medici

After Lorenzo's death, his eldest son Piero, called Il Sfortunato (the Unfortunate) ruled for only two years before being exiled from Florence for his political incapacity and it wasn't until 18 years later that the Medici family returned to Florence. Their return, in 1512, came under Giuliano, the youngest son of Lorenzo Il Magnifico (later called the Duke of Nemours). He governed the city on behalf of his brother Giovanni, who then still a cardinal, was elected Pope Leo X one year later.

Giuliano died childless in 1516 and Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino (son of Piero Il Sfortunato) took over the rule. He married the French Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, but both died very young, leaving the newborn Caterina de' Medici who, at the age of 14, went on to become Dauphine and then Queen of France. On his death, the acknowledged head of the Medici family was Cardinal Giulio, the illegitimate son of Giuliano (brother of Lorenzo Il Magnifico). He is best known for his tumultuous rule as Pope Clement VII in a time where the conflict between Francis I of France and Charles V of Spain brought about the Sack of Rome in 1527.

Following the Sack of Rome, Florence declared itself a Republic-city no longer under the control of the Medici. But less than three years later, Charles V of Spain elevated another family member, Alessandro (the illegitimate son of Giulio), to power. When he was assassinated in 1537, Cosimo I (descended from Giovanni di Bicci's younger son Lorenzo) took control of the city. He was the first true Duke of Florence, later made Grand Duke by Pope Pio V, and it was he who laid the foundations of the unified state of Tuscany that the Medici went on to rule without interruption for the next two centuries.

In 1587, Ferdinando I, the younger son of Cosimo I, succeeded to the throne after his brother Francesco I died without male heirs. Second to his father Cosimo, he was undoubtedly the wisest of the Medici Grand Dukes, ruling with his wife, Christine of Lorraine, until his sudden death in 1609. He was replaced by his son Cosimo II, whose reign is characterized by the political conflict between his wife Maria Magdalena (Austrian) and his mother Christine (French), which manifested itself in both the indecision of Cosimo II and that of his succeeding son, Ferdinando II.

After his death, the subsequent 53-year rule of Cosimo III (1642-1723), left, was even more of a disaster for both the State of Tuscany and the Medici dynasty, as artists and scientists left a Tuscany caught in the stranglehold of the clergy. His stormy marriage to Marguerite Louise of Orléans, cousin of Louis XIV, the Sun King, produced three children: Ferdinando, Anna Maria Luisa and Gian Gastone. The eldest died, leaving Gian Gastone to take over the rule, himself forced into an unhappy and childless marriage with Anna Maria Franziska.

His death made Anna Maria Luisa (herself a childless widower) the last of the Medici family. Her greatest achievement was the Treaty or Convention of the Family, concluded with her successors the Grand Dukes of Lorraine in 1737, which left all the art treasures belonging to the Medici family to the city of Florence.

A Unified Italy

Tuscany entered into a united Italy in 1860, with Florence immediately establishing itself as a vital center of an undivided nation - it became the temporary capital of Italy from 1865 to 1870 and, in 1861, hosted the first Italian exhibition of industry and manufacturing. But this power didn't last long and Rome soon took over and remained as Italy's capital.

Since then, Florence and Tuscany have dragged their heels to some extent when it comes to social change. An explosive population growth in the 20th century brought unrest - which contributed to Tuscany's submission to Fascist rule in 1922. They were badly hit in World War II as a result - the River Arno at one time forming the battle's front line - but much has been reconstructed since then.

I've heard locals complain that Florence and much of Tuscany is yet to move on from its Renaissance heyday, but that is somewhat unfair. Tourism does play a heavy part in the local economy, but the territory has also grown wealthy thanks to its wine, olive oil, cheese and meat production. Although hampered by low employment levels, the territory continues to expand and modernize; hanging on to the best of the old and striving to establish the technology and resources needed to bring in the new.

Umbria

The Etruscans & the Romans

Although often known as Tuscany's quieter sister, landlocked Umbria has played a strategic role in Italy's busy history. Numerous archaeological finds have unearthed a human presence in Umbria dating back to Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods; flints and arrowheads have been found on several river plains and around the shores of Lake Trasimeno; burial chambers close to Spoleto date to the time between the Bronze and Iron Ages.

The main settlers, however, arrived around 1000 BC. This tribe, thought to be of Indo-European origin, became known as the Oscan-Umbrians and is credited with establishing the towns and cities of Terni, Todi, Spoleto, Assisi, Gubbio and Città di Castello. The Umbrians arrived soon after, building an astonishing legacy of tombs, monuments and cultural artifacts, and leaving almost as suddenly with the arrival of the Romans about 309 BC. To the Etruscan remains - the necropolis and Tempio Etrusco at Orvieto, the extraordinary Eugubine Tablets in the Museo Civico at Gubbio, traces in Todi, Betton and Perugia - the Romans added amphitheaters, arches, aqueducts, temples and walls, from Città di Castello to Todi and from Perugia to Orvieto.

As in Tuscany, the Barbarian hordes ended the Roman Empire in Umbria, inaugurating decades of famine, disease and unrest in their place. The tumult started to settle at the end in the fourth century when the Christian Church emerged as a cultural and spiritual figurehead. Further peace arrived with the Longobards, who took possession of large parts of eastern Umbria, eventually establishing the autonomous and prosperous Duchy of Spoleto. This and the rest of Umbria became part of the Papal State in the 11th century, when, like Tuscany, Umbria became a flourishing region with merchants and artisans acquiring respect and positions of authority.

The Middle Ages

The medieval era saw Umbria surge as a religious and commercial center thanks to local-born religious greats such as St Francis of Assisi, right. He particularly is credited with transforming the Italian religious world and setting up Umbria as a center of pilgrimage, not just for everyday believers, but also for the bishops and popes - they adopted the land as their own in the risky years following the Church's move to Avignon, and continued to keep a base here even when the Church had returned to Rome.

The Middle Ages were also a time of great artistic innovation. Painters such as Pinturicchio created such celebrated works that artists such as Raphael, Giotto, Signorelli and Lorenzetti were drawn here to work on the great churches of Assisi, Perugia and Orvieto. The region also established itself as a center of learning thanks to numerous Benedictine and Franciscan monasteries, and the establishment of the University of Perugia in 1308.

To a Unified Italy

From this point on Umbria followed a similar fate to that of Tuscany - internal conflicts (notably Guelph versus Ghibelline) along with steady economic, artistic and spiritual growth up until the 16th century. Despite greater control from the Church, Umbria too joined the Italian State in 1860, settling happily into this new kind of rule.

The Industrial Revolution began to bring Umbria into the 20th century with extensive urban construction (and reconstruction after the Second World War) dotting what is still primarily a rural area. Like Tuscany, it gains much of its wealth from traditional agriculture and tourism. Etruscan wonders, Roman remains and medieval towns and hilltop villages bringing an increasing number of tourists to the region.

Chronology

900 BC Etruscans arrive on the Island of Elba

700 BC Commerce begins with Greece

600 BC Confederation of Etruria's 12 most important cities (the Dodecapolis)

508 BC Lars Porsena, the Etruscan King of