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Medieval forerunner to Siena’s panforte , a dense spice cake sweetened with fruits and honey.

The world’s only decent fruitcake, a dense chewy nougat studded with fruits, nuts and spices.

A summertime salad of stale bread soaked in water and vinegar and topped with diced tomatoes, onions, basil and olive oil.

Pappardelle are Tuscany’s extremely wide noodles, yellow ribbons of pasta usually folded around a sauce made from cinghiale (wild boar) stewed so long it falls apart. Wild boar is freshest in autumn, during the hunting season, and is also often prepared as a main course, stewed in red wine.

“Strada degli Olivi” beelines for the beach. Trail 1 (7.2 km) clambers around San Rabano abbey’s ruins. Trail 2 (6 km) passes medieval towers to the rocky south shores. Trail 3 (9.6 km) meanders amid prehistoric caves. Trail 4 (12 km) wanders everywhere. Trails 3 and 4 are occasionally closed (Jun– Sep).

Pistoia has a dearth of decent hotels, but this modern place with many amenities is a good start. It’s got a great location, too, halfway between the train station and the Duomo.

Italy’s finest, tastiest sheep’s milk cheese was perfected by the shepherds of Pienza. It comes in various states, from soft (non-stagionato and marzolino ) to harder and sharper (semi-stagionato and the full stagionato ). It is sometimes preserved under ash, or wrapped in grape leaves, or dusted with pepperoncino . The harder types are good with red wine or grated over pasta.

Wonderfully old-fashioned, its huge rooms stuffed with a mix of antiques and classic 1950s and 60s furnishings. Run by a Welsh ex-pat.

Little has changed in this pensione for over 120 years, save the addition of firm beds and new furnishings. The larger rooms overlooking café-lined Piazza della Repubblica are best. The Abbolafaio brothers’ welcome is warm, and they have two other hotels in town (one near the station, the other on the Arno), so are likely to have room.

The archetypal Florentine pensione of terracotta-floored rooms and wide halls cluttered with worn antiques and overstuffed easy chairs. The airy top-floor loggia looks out over Piazza Santo Spirito. A place for Romantics.