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Tiny resort favoured by jet-setters. The village is set back amid the pine forest, the beach lined with colourful little beach cabanas.

One of the string of impeccable, regimented-umbrella beaches along the northern Versilia, Forte dei Marmi is built around a 15th-century marble port. It stands out for its fine sands, Grand Ducal fort (1788) and the summer villas of well-to-do Italians and minor nobility hidden amid the pines.

Michelangelo’s proud David (1501–4) stands pensively at the end of a corridor lined by the artist’s Slaves . The plaster casts crowding one long room hint that this is still a fine arts academy (the statues’ black “pimples” are reference points to help students copy the works). (see Florence’s Accademia)

The Serchio River Valley north of Lucca’s plain is bounded on the east by the Apuan Alps, which are home to the Grotta del Vento (Cave of the Winds). To the west are the wilds of the Garfagnana Mountains. Stopping points in the region include Borgo a Mozzano, which consists of an inn and the lithe Ponte del Diavolo bridge. In legend, this was built by the Devil in exchange for the first soul to cross it (villagers sent a dog).

Today virtually forgotten, in the 19th century Bagni di Lucca was one of Europe’s most fashionable spas (all the English Romantic poets came). The world’s first casino opened here in 1837.

Barga’s white Duomo has a marvellously detailed 13th-century pulpit carved by Guido da Como. The Este dukes once owned the 14th-century fortress of Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, and installed the poet Ludovico Ariosto as commander and toll-taker.

Don’t over-pack your itinerary. Take time to enjoy the ice cream instead.

Odd sculpture garden of giant Tarot card images mosaicked with Gaudí-esque coloured tile chips. Niki de Saint Phalle, the artist, recently passed away, but her work goes on.

Grubby Grosseto lacks real charm, but its Museo Civico Archeologico e d’Arte della Maremma is a must for Etruscan lovers. Many of the more portable finds from the Maremma are housed here, along with works of art from city churches, including Guido da Siena’s 13th-century Last Judgement and a Sassetta Madonna of the Cherries . The 13th-century church of San Francesco has fresco fragments and a high altar Crucifix (1285) attributed to Duccio.

Florence’s sculpture gallery, installed in a medieval town hall and prison, contains early Michelangelos, Mannerist Giambologna’s gravity-defying Flying Mercury (1564) and the city’s best Donatello collection, including Davids in marble and bronze (the first nude since antiquity) and a puzzled St George (1416).

Terracotta-producing town with a miracle-heavy Renaissance Collegiata church. Flanking the high altar are chapels designed by Michelozzo and decorated with Luca della Robbia terracottas. The right one contains a fragment of the True Cross, the left an icon of the Virgin (supposedly painted by St Luke), which was buried here during the early Christian persecutions and ploughed up by an ox while the church foundations were being dug. Also on view are fine Baroque paintings and a Mannerist Giambologna crucifix.

This hilly isle off l’Argentario (ferries from Porto Santo Stefano) has a medieval hamlet Castello above the docks, a beach at the port and an even better low-key resort and beach on the bay at Campese. Ansonico, the local wine, is known mainly to the habitués who crowd here on summer weekends.