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This massive Gothic cathedral complex is filled with art by such masters as Michelangelo, Pisano, Pinturicchio, Bernini, Duccio and Donatello. It qualifies as one of Tuscany’s Top 10 sights, and is fully covered on pages 26–7.

Italy’s third largest island offers Tuscany’s best all-around coastal holiday – sandy beaches, water sports, fishing villages, resorts and vineyards. Sight-seeing takes in forts, museums and mine tours devoted to the island’s mineralogical wealth (discovered by the Etruscans, Elba’s iron armed the Roman legions). There are also two villas left from the 11 months Napoleon lived here in exile.

This modestly scaled resort island derives its name from Aethalia , the Greek word for the sparks of its busy iron forges. Portoferraio, where ferries arrive from Piombino, has two fortress/parks, Napoleon’s Villa dei Mulini (his Villa San Martino south of town is more interesting, however), and a small archaeological museum. Porto Azzuro was the island’s Spanish capital and is today a bustling resort that manages to retain something of the old fishing town. Hilltop Capoliveri has the best nightlife and evocative medieval alleyways. Ancient Marciana is a good hill town base for exploring the island’s western half.

Piazza Farinata degli Uberti is ringed by 12th- and 13th-century palaces and the Romanesque Sant’Andrea church. Collegiata di Sant’Andrea museum contains a Masolino Pietà (1425) and a 1447 font carved by Bernardo Rossellino. Masolino shows up again at Santo Stefano with a large Madonna and Child fresco; Rossellino with an Annunciation .

The vaulted cellars of the massive 16th-century Medici fortress are filled with Italy’s national wine museum (though, since vintners send in cases only on a voluntary basis, it’s far from comprehensive). Everything is for sale, and a selection of bottles is opened daily so that you can sample Italy’s oenological bounty by the glass at small tables or outside on the terrace.

Crawling through the ancient tunnels and tombs left by the Etruscans makes for a slightly spooky Indiana Jones-style adventure. The best are in the Maremma around Sorano, Sovana and Pitigliano, and near Chiusi.

Marble quarries make the Apuan Alps above Carrara appear snow-capped year round. Fantiscritti has a museum of traditional stonecutting tools, which can be reached by following the Carrione River to Vara Bridge, a former rail link to the docks that was converted to road use in 1965.

This hilltop Etruscan settlement is a short ride from Florence on a No. 7 bus. The 11th-century cathedral was assembled using ancient Roman columns, and houses Renaissance sculptures by Giovanni della Robbia and Mino da Fiesole. The remains of a Roman theatre and baths are still used for summer concerts. The steep road up to San Francesco church, with its quiet cloisters and quirky missionary museum, passes a popular park, shaded by ilex and peppered with water-colourists reproducing its famous view of Florence.

Fiesole was the hilltop town that Roman Fiorentina was built to compete with. The town has a Roman theatre, small museums of art and archaeology, cool summertime breezes and views across to Florence.

Not a place but a series of daily, rotating workshops at the Palazzo Vecchio, Science Museum (see Florence’s Science Museum) and Museo Stibbert. Children can explore hidden parts of the Palazzo Vecchio, play with Galilean telescopes, and dress up as Medici progeny.