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High Renaissance masterpiece of proportion (see Montepulciano).

Piero della Francesca’s masterwork takes the unusual subject of a heavily pregnant Virgin Mary, her tired face and drooping eyes revealed by angels pulling back the curtains. It was painted in a nearby chapel, where it became a pilgrimage focus for pregnant women until it was removed to this small museum.

The subject of the most popular aerial-shot postcard in Tuscany is a tiny hamlet two streets wide. It is entirely enclosed within medieval walls, whose 14 towers were compared by Dante to the Titans guarding the lowest level of Hell. The town holds a week-long medieval festival in July.

Tuscany’s greatest protected parkland. Coastal Monti dell’ Uccellina (“Mountains of the Little Bird”) is a large area of pine forests, teeming with boar, roe deer and porcupines, bird-filled marshland to the north, as well as tracts of pristine beach. A pack of wild horses and roaming long-horned white Maremma cattle are looked after by Butteri cowboys. Buses from Albarese take you to the park’s centre.

A small hilltop hotel of comfy mini-apartments. The garden has the best views of Renaissance masterpiece Tempio di San Biagio; all rooms have rural vistas.

Built as a convent in 1511, the Morandi is owned by an Irishwoman. Some of the beams, antiques and artwork are reproductions, but the frescoes are genuine 16th-century paintings. There are just 10 rooms.

Maremma’s big DOC red, 85–100 percent Morellino (Sangiovese).

Etruscan artifacts include a silver Antioch amphora, wooden Hittite chariot and the Roman bronze Idolino .

This Englishman’s private collection includes works by Giotto and Beccafumi.

Wacky museum renowned for its armour collections.