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Quality leather-bound notebooks.

The ultimate Renaissance Man: a genius painter, inventor and proto-scientist, with a penchant for experimentation but a short attention span (he left much unfinished). His sfumato technique of blurring outlines and hazy backgrounds lent his works tremendous depth and realism.

One of Leonardo da Vinci’s first paintings, produced between 1472 and 1475 apparently while still a student in Verrocchio’s workshop. It displays his early mastery of sfumato technique and Renaissance penchant for the Classical.

Italian 20th-century Art Nouveau, seen mostly on façades and shop signs.

Though Florence had already subjugated Pisa in the 16th century, Pisa’s silty harbour and unsure loyalties prompted Grand Duke Cosimo I to hire Buontalenti to build him a brand-new port from scratch. Livorno and Pisa have hated each other ever since.

Livorno is Tuscany’s second city, but short on sights when compared with, say, Pisa. There is just the somewhat wishfully named Venezia Nuova (“new Venice”) canal district, Pietro Tacca’s Mannerist masterpiece Monumento ai Quattro Mori (1623–6) at the port, and the Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori. The latter is devoted to native son Fattori, chief painter of the 19th-century Macchiaioli (Tuscan “impressionists”). Artist Amedeo Modigliani was also born here (but worked in Paris), as was composer Pietro Mascagni.

This simple, cheerful trattoria has a weekly changing menu and documents dating it back to 1395.

Fourteenth-century farm complex and inn, with a refined restaurant in the converted stalls. The high-class Tuscan cuisine is served in a rustic, fire-warmed setting. Booking advised.

The “Lover’s Inn” moniker dates back to the hotel’s 14th-century origins. The large, apartment-like accommodation has a refined rustic style under the more formal brick loggias surrounding the courtyard.

This 19th-century villa to the south of town has been turned into 10 sumptuously appointed suites surrounded by lush gardens which hide a small pool.

High Renaissance-styled rooms in a 1527 building designed by Antonio Sangallo the Elder. The best, if slightly noisier, rooms open onto a magnificent loggia overlooking the square. Canopy beds add to the antique air.