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Lucca’s best wine shop is guaranteed to raise the hairs on your neck, with its hundreds of bottles crowded into small cellar rooms.

Labyrinthine old budget hotel in an 18th-century palazzo. The comforts are basic, but it’s well-maintained and friendly. The rooftop gardens have a gate with direct access to the city’s pretty public park.

The one-time best place in town has gone a bit touristy, but the Tuscan dishes are tasty as ever.

Heavily influenced by Greek art. Funerary urns and large statues and bronze votives of the 8th–4th centuries BC.

The “Etruscan Coast” south of Livorno includes pine-shaded, sandy, semi-secluded Marina di Albarese and the sandy resort of San Vincenzo.

Pick up a map in town or at Sorano’s fortress, to explore the tombs and vie cave hidden in the countryside.

Crawling through the ancient tunnels and tombs left by the Etruscans makes for a slightly spooky Indiana Jones-style adventure. The best are in the Maremma around Sorano, Sovana and Pitigliano, and near Chiusi.

Tuscans are nicknamed mangiafagioli , bean-eaters, because of their love of the white cannellini beans. Cooked al dente (to a hard bite) like pasta, the beans are sometimes served simply dressed in fresh olive oil and cracked black pepper, but the best preparation is all’uccelleto , stewed with fresh tomatoes, sage, garlic cloves, olive oil and pepper.

Marble quarries make the Apuan Alps above Carrara appear snow-capped year round. Fantiscritti has a museum of traditional stonecutting tools, which can be reached by following the Carrione River to Vara Bridge, a former rail link to the docks that was converted to road use in 1965.

Try Fappani’s delicious home-made sweets with your morning coffee, preferably on the terrace of this café set in the heart of the seaside promenade’s shopping district.