traveldk.com

The greatest gallery of Renaissance art on earth, a veritable living textbook of Western art’s most shining moments, showcasing masterpieces from Giotto and Botticelli through Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci to Titian, Caravaggio and Rembrandt.

Francesco I opened this gallery of the family’s art collections on the third floor of their offices.

You can buy gold jewellery direct from this world-renowned manufacturer.

Sightseeing is exhausting. Therefore, do as the Italians and take a nap after lunch.

This is the best café in the city, with home-baked cornetti (croissants) and outdoor tables.

Venanzio Vannucci produces his own lardo di Colonnata (pork lard in spices) and his recipe is not to be missed. Also try the ravioli with mountain herbs and the guinea fowl with truffles.

Tuscany’s only white DOCG, a dry to semi-sweet pale honey elixir.

Siena’s main passeggiata street (for evening promenading) is lined with palaces. Until Palazzo Pubblico was finished, the city council met in the piazza wedged between San Cristofano church and the 13th-century Palazzo Tolomei, now a bank. Further up the street, Piazza Salimbeni is flanked by Renaissance Palazzo Tantucci, Gothic Palazzo Salimbeni and Renaissance Palazzo Spannocchi. Together this group of buildings houses Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the city’s chief employer and oldest bank (established 1472), and its small, worthy collection of Sienese paintings.

Of the Versilia beach resorts, Viareggio has the most style and substance. The Liberty Style (Art Nouveau) of its many villas, cafés and buildings harkens back to the resort’s heyday in the 1920s. Its carnival parade (see Viareggio’s Carnevale), along the popular palm-shaded seafront promenade Viale G. Carducci, is renowned throughout Italy.

Southernmost Riviera-style resort on the coast, a mix of grand old buildings and simple tourist hotels. The promenade is lined with restaurants and shops on one side, and a crowded but sandy beach on the other (all stretches are privately run: you pay for a chair and umbrella). Not the cleanest water, but the calm sea and sandy beach are good for children.