traveldk.com

Tuscan cousin of Impressionism (late 19th century).

The ceilings at this butcher’s have been hung with prosciutto and the walls festooned with salami since 1729. Good wines, too.

Wines, sweets and preserves in a quirky 19th-century reproduction décor of wrought iron, mosaics, painted ceilings and marble floors.

Stay in one hotel or apartment and make day-trips. Changing hotels is a time-consuming hassle, and weekly rates are cheaper.

A bit of everything hand-crafted and Tuscan: leatherwork, wrought iron, copper pots etc.

Late Renaissance, 16th-century offshoot based on the twisting poses and rich colour palette of Michelangelo.

The Frescobaldi Marquises, Tuscany’s largest private winemaking concern, have been viticulturalists for 30 generations (England’s Henry VIII kept some stock on hand). One of the first to experiment with non-native grapes (Pinots, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot). You can visit several estates.

Not only did Masaccio imbue Renaissance painting with an unflinching naturalism, he also perfected single point perspective (Florence’s Santa Maria Novella’s Trinità ). Not the best draughtsman, but his strong brushstrokes and penetrating scenes are a cornerstone of Renaissance art.

Two hill towns in one. The “Old Town” centres on a triangular piazza with the Duomo and the crenellated mayor’s palazzo (a museum of local antiquities and Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Maestà ). The upper “New Town” was founded in the 14th century by the conquering Sienese. Their fortress offers sweeping views over the hills.

This old mining town has a number of esoteric museums on the subject. Of particular artistic interest are the Dark Ages reliefs decorating the Romanesque Duomo. The Palazzo del Podestà houses a museum containing Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Maestà (1330s) and a tiny pre-Etruscan menhir (flat stone carved vaguely as a person). The upper “new town” (developed in the 14th century) is defended by the Gothic Torre del Candeliere and ramparts, offering fine views over the town and Colline Metal-lifere (literally the “iron-rich hills”).