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Carrara is a quarry town, its snowy white marble the source of grandiose sculpture from ancient Rome to Michelangelo to Henry Moore. The town’s Duomo is pure Carrara marble, and marble-cutting shops and sculptors’ studios fill the streets. On the main square, look for the plaque and relief of stone-carving tools that mark the house where Michelangelo once stayed. The Museo del Marmo features the ancient Roman altar Edicola di Fantiscritti.

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.

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

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.

Though Florence had already subjugated Pisa in the 16th century, Pisa’s silty harbour and unsure loyalties prompted Grand Duke Cosimo I to hire Buontalenti to build him a brand-new port from scratch. Livorno and Pisa have hated each other ever since.

Livorno is Tuscany’s second city, but short on sights when compared with, say, Pisa. There is just the somewhat wishfully named Venezia Nuova (“new Venice”) canal district, Pietro Tacca’s Mannerist masterpiece Monumento ai Quattro Mori (1623–6) at the port, and the Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori. The latter is devoted to native son Fattori, chief painter of the 19th-century Macchiaioli (Tuscan “impressionists”). Artist Amedeo Modigliani was also born here (but worked in Paris), as was composer Pietro Mascagni.

Elegant small city of avid cyclists, church concerts, Romanesque façades and exquisite Renaissance sculpture. Another one of Tuscany’s Top 10.

This posh, if overbuilt, thermal spa town is worth staying in to experience one of the 19th-century, Grande Dame hotels. Above the town, medieval Montecatini Alto is a favourite escape for summer breezes and cappuccino on the piazza, while nearby Monsummano Terme has the attraction of natural cave saunas.

Tuscany’s favourite daytrip offers more than just a leaning tower. The gorgeous collection of Romanesque buildings called the “Field of Miracles” ranks among Tuscany’s Top 10 sights (see Campo dei Miracoli, Pisa).

Stranded up a northern spit of Tuscany is Pontrémoli and its Museo delle Statue-Stele. Some of the museum’s 20-odd prehistoric menhirs (tombstone-like slabs) date from 3000 BC, the more elaborate ones from 200 BC.

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.