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ENIT (Ente Nazionale Italiano per il Turismo) is Italy’s state tourism board and provides basic information for people planning to visit the country. However, provincial tourism boards are better for more detailed information.

Local informazioni turistiche offices (indicated as “APT” or “Pro Loco”) are good for free maps, sight opening hours and hotel directories. The amount of information beyond that varies widely, but most are friendly.

Citizens of the EU, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand need only a valid passport to visit Italy for up to 90 days as tourists. A visa is needed for non-EU citizens who are planning to stay more than three months. All visitors to Italy should by law register with the police within three days of arrival. Most hotels will register visitors when they check in.

For travellers entering Italy from outside the EU, limits on personal items are as follows: 200 cigarettes (or 250g of tobacco), one litre of alcohol or two litres of wine. Special permits are required to import guns.

Most shops and businesses open at 8 or 9am, shut for riposo from 12:30 or 1pm to 3 or 4pm (museums and churches, too), and close around 6 to 8pm. In larger cities the riposo is disappearing in favour of orario continuato – “straight through”.

Italy is on 220V/50 cycles. To operate a 110V device you need a converter (most laptops and camcorders have this built in). To plug it in, you need an adapter from your pronged plugs to continental Europe’s two round pins.

Most hotels 3-stars and above get satellite TV with CNN and BBC news. Train station and central piazza newsstands are best for finding English-language magazines and newspapers - International Herald Tribune (with an Italy Daily insert), USA Today , The Times (London) and New York Times .

Tuscany has a mild climate, although the August heat can be oppressive, and snow is common in January. Spring’s middle ground keeps hotels booked, but autumn, when grapes (September) and olives (October) are harvested and boar and truffles hunted, is the true Tuscan time of year.

High season in Tuscany runs through from Easter to October. Hotels in Florence are booked solid for Easter, and the beach resorts are packed in July and August. Cities, by contrast, are deserted from 15 to 31 August. The traditional “shoulder seasons” – Tuscany’s most crowded times – are mid-September to mid-October and late April and May. National holidays include 1 and 6 January, Easter Sunday and Monday, 25 April, 1 May, 15 August, 1 November and 8, 25 and 26 December.

You cannot fly direct to Tuscany, but Alitalia, Continental and Delta can connect you through Rome or Milan to Florence or Pisa.

Both British Airways and Ryanair fly London to Pisa. Also, Easyjet flies to Rome and Bologna, and BMI (British Midland) flies to Rome, Venice and Milan. From these cities, you can easily head to Tuscany by train or car. From Ireland, it’s best to go via London, though Aer Lingus flies direct to Milan and Rome.

Cathay-Pacific handles flights from Australia and New Zealand to Italy, in partnership with Qantas, via Hong Kong. There are usually more flights, and it’s cheaper, to fly to London first, then Italy.

There are flights to Rome from most European capitals; Air France also flies from Paris to Florence, Lufthansa from Munich and Frankfurt to Florence, SN Brussels from Brussels to Florence. Ryanair also flies to Pisa from other European cities.

Most airleines are now using their own websites to promote sales, last-minute deals, and web-only fares. Expedia and Travelocity collate best fares on offer from the US, UK or Canada. You can take most advantage of these offers if you have a flexible schedule.

Tuscany’s biggest international airport is Pisa’s Galileo Galilei. Regular trains take only five minutes into Pisa; shuttle trains to Florence about an hour.

Florence’s small Aero-porto Amerigo Vespucci/Peretola is served by Volainbus, a shuttle connecting to Florence’s main train station every 30 minutes. Tickets may be bought from the driver.

From London, you can take the Eurostar to Paris and pick up a train to Florence, Pisa or Milan. Trains into Tuscany range from express EC/IC/EN (all require high-speed supplements), through speedy IR, to the slow diretto and espresso . Most international lines stop only at Florence. Make sure you get off at Firenze-Santa Maria Nov-ella. Some coastal trains from France stop at Pisa.

Tourist information and hotel bookings are across from track (binario ) 16 and left luggage is next to it. Train information is across from track 5. Exit past the end of track 16 for the underground passage that avoids the traffic outside and leads to the centre.

Italian trains, run by FS, are speedy and efficient, but don’t cover every Tuscan corner. Each station posts its own schedule – departures on yellow, arrivals on white – and newsstands sell national schedules. Ticket queues can be long (automated machines are now helping), and strikes (sciopero ) annoyingly frequent. Stamp one end of your ticket at the station’s or track’s yellow box before embarking.

Coaches (pullman ) can be slower and no cheaper than trains; use them to reach towns inaccessible by train.

The best way to explore Tuscany’s back roads, hill towns and vineyards. Local outfits are rarely cheaper than international companies, and arranging a rental from your home country is invariably cheaper.

TCI (Touring Club Italiano) maps are best, widely available in Italy but infrequently outside it. Michelin maps have more sightseeing indications, including scenic roads highlighted in green. Italian road signs (green for routing via Autostrada highways, blue for state roads) indicate destinations (albeit inconsistently) more often than route numbers. Always know the name of the first village and major town or city along any road you wish to take.

Largely ignored, speed limits are 30–50 kmph (20–30 mph) in town, 80–110 kmph (50–70 mph) on two-lane roads, and 130 kmph (80 mph) on highways. Left lanes are for passing, but on wide enough, hard-shouldered roads, Italians regularly pass by swerving into the oncoming traffic, which obliges by using its own hard shoulder.

Tuscany’s only toll roads are the A1 autostrada and the Florence-Pisa A13. Petrol is very expensive. Diesel is widely available. Most filling stations close on Sundays, but even when closed many stations have automated machines that accept notes and, increasingly, credit cards.

Few hotels have their own parking facilities, though many have deals with local garages. A round blue sign with a red slash means no parking. Legal parking is always marked: white-lined spaces are free (though often restricted to residents), yellow spaces off-limits, blue spaces available for an hourly fee, which you pre-pay at a nearby machine (display the ticket it dispenses on your dashboard), or with a scratch-off card, available at tobacconists’ (tabacchi , indicated by a white-on-brown “T” sign).

Buy tickets at tobacconists’, bars or newsstands. Stamp one end on the bus (autobus ) when you board. Most are good for a set time period during which you may transfer buses.

Taxis have ranks at airports and stations. Any hotel or restaurant will call you a taxi. Standard rates go up with luggage, after 8pm, on Sundays and for trips outside the city centre. Tip about 10%.

Airlines and tour companies offer discount packages combining travel and accommodation. Many, though, stick to large international hotel chains, usually on the periphery of town. You get a discount rate, but frequently, better deals can be found at hotels in town and city centres.

Tours make life easy when travelling in Italy – getting round language barriers and transport complications – but they often suck out much of the fun of travel in the process. You see the tour company’s idea of Tuscany, not the Tuscany of chance and adventure.

All manner of study vacations are run in Tuscany. For a flavour of what’s on offer, check out the websites listed in the directory.

Tuscany offers terrain both tough enough for die-hard peddallers and easy enough for dilletantes who want to experience the details of this beautiful landscape at a leisurely pace. Ciclismo Classico and Experience Plus offer a range of guided and self-guided bike trips, and I Bike Italy does single-day trips around Florence.

Learn to make ribollita soup, stuffed pastas and the perfect bistecca (beef steak) in the kitchens of Tuscan chefs. The top schools in the Chianti are run by cookbook diva Lorenza de’ Medici at Badia a Coltilbuono and Italian TV chef Giuliano Bugialli.

There is no more romantic way to see Tuscany at a pleasingly slow pace than in the saddle. For horse riding in the Maremma, in northern Tuscany and the Chianti, try Equitour or II Paretaio.

Immerse yourself in the language as well as the sights. The best schools are in Florence. (The British Institute and ABC Centro di Lingua e Cultura Italian both offer short courses.) Siena, where many say the most perfect Italian is spoken, has the Centro Internazionale Dante Alghieri. Local tourist boards can help you find courses and tutors in other towns.

Tuscany is awash with artistic example and inspiration. And New York’s prestigious School of the Visual Arts – which runs summer courses in Tuscany – could aid your personal renaissance.

Many churches and museums offer guided tours – some are free, others not. Many towns now also have self-guided walking tours, using rented electronic wands as guides. Ask at the local tourist office.

Shop hours are roughly 8am–8pm with a long lunch break (see Opening Hours).

Expected in markets, much less so in shops. Many market stallholders hail from Middle Eastern countries where bargaining is an art form. The full ritual involves you acting less and less interested, while the stallholder acts more and more offended. Any price agreed upon is good – the stallholder will always make a profit.

Italy’s sales tax (IVA) is incorporated into the price tag of every item. If you spend more than €155 in a shop, you can get the tax refunded. Ask the store to help you fill out the forms; then bring all such forms and the receipts to the customs office at the airport of the last EU country you’ll be visiting to complete the paperwork. Your refund will be mailed (though it may take months). Stores marked “Tax Free Shopping for Tourists” speed up the process.

UK and Irish citizens can bring home virtually anything duty free (though theoretical amounts such as 90 litres of wine apply). US citizens are limited to $400-worth of goods duty-free, including 1 litre of alcohol, 200 cigarettes, and 100 cigars. Canadian, Australian and New Zealand limitations are roughly similar. Except to the British Isles, you may not bring home flowers, bulbs, fruits, vegetables, meats (unless tinned), or cheeses runnier than a brie.

Tuscany, especially Florence, is home to some of the world’s great leather workers, making jackets, bags, shoes, wallets and belts. From the stalls of San Lorenzo market to the boutiques of Ferragamo and Gucci and the leather school in Santa Croce church, you can find something fetching to fit your budget.

Tuscany contains the houses of Gucci, Pucci and Ferragamo. There are Gucci and Prada outlet stores (see Shops and Cafés), and lesser-known classy local fashion boutiques such as Florence’s Madova gloves or Enrico Coveri clothing. High fashion is rarely cheaper than in other countries, but there is the cachet of having found those great shoes in Florence.

Italy is renowned for its hand-painted ceramics. Tuscany’s pottery tradition is among the best in Italy. You can find everything from Richard Ginori porcelain and high-class Rampini designs (see Ceramiche Rampini, near Radda) to traditional rustic patterns in Montepulciano, Siena and Cortona, and the more prosaic terracotta production in Impruneta.

Italians are masters of industrial design, from Ferraris to funky Alessi tea kettles. If the Ferrari doesn’t fit your budget, consider shopping for elegant, quirky kitchen implements, homewares, or post-modern lighting systems, many sketched out by today’s top international designers on behalf of Italian firms.

Florentines are masters of the craft of marbled paper, creating intricate, colourful designs by swirling oil-based inks on the surface of a water pan then dipping the paper. They sell it as wrapping paper, and bookbinders sheathe hand-bound books in it. Stationery shops also cover rough-papered journals with leather, sold alongside simple, old-fashioned fountain pens and calligraphy sets.

Churches are usually free, except San Gimignano’s Collegiata, Pisa’s Duomo and Florence’s Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce. However, you often pay for entry into the best chapels. The piazzas are free theatres of life; for the (steep) price of a cappuccino you can have a front-row seat at a café table. Medieval alleyways and the vine- and olive-clad slopes around them are a joy to wander.

Sights and museums are run by a variety of agencies, so discounts or free admissions vary. The age cut-off may be 6, 12, 14, or 18, or just students and seniors over 60 or 65. National museums are free to everyone under 18 and over 60 unless you are American (relating to reciprocity agreements). Many towns now sell cumulative tickets covering several sights.

Those under 26 can buy a Carta Verde for a 20% discount on any train ticket; for the over 60s, this is called Carta Argento.

For periods longer than 21 days, a short-term lease is often cheaper than renting a car. Unlike with rentals, you also get full insurance coverage with no deductable, plus a brand-new car straight from the factory.

Prices are often higher towards the centre of town and the more stars to the hotel rating. Making do with a one- or two-star hotel (fewer amenities) is preferable to looking outside the centre or in the uninteresting train station neighbourhoods where cheap hotels congregate. Avoid, if possible, the continental breakfast, the minibar and making phone calls: all are overpriced.

In food-loving Italy, price or category of restaurant has little to do with how good the food is, so a cheaper osteria or trattoria can be just as tasty as a fancy ristorante. Appetizers tend to cost almost as much as first courses for much less food. House wine is cheaper than bottled; tap water (acqua dal rubinetto ) is usually free. Tavole calde and bars offer cheap and quick hot meals.

Assemble a picnic fit for an Etruscan king from the small delicatessens (alimentari ), greengrocers (fruttivendolo ), bread and pastry shops (panetteria or pasticceria ) and wine stores (enoteca or fiaschetteria ).

Cash will often secure you a discount in shops and smaller hotels. Sometimes they’re just passing on to you the savings on the credit card commission. Other times, especially in shops, they’re avoiding putting the income on their books. Just make sure you leave with some kind of receipt (by law you have to carry it 400 m beyond the store).

Spring and autumn are becoming more crowded than summer, and hotels and airlines are often extending their high-season prices accordingly. Roughly mid-October to before Easter, though, is low season in Tuscany, when rates on air fares and hotels drop. However, the coastal and spa destinations tend to shut down in winter.

Traditionally, a ristorante is the most formal, and expensive, eatery; a trattoria a family-run, moderately-priced joint; an osteria anything from a simple trattoria to the equivalent of a pub with a few dishes or platters of mixed meats and cheeses along with wine.

Italian meals, especially dinners, are drawn-out affairs of two to four hours, with the courses listed below followed by an espresso and digestive liqueur (digestivo ) such as grappa . Breakfast is traditionally just an espresso or cappuccino with a croissant.

The appetizer course is most traditionally crostini and/or cured meats such as prosciutto and various salami. Also popular are panzanella , a summery salad of stale bread soaked in water and olive oil with tomatoes and garlic, and a caprese salad of tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.

The first course might be pasta, such as pappardelle alla lepre (with hare) or al cinghiale (see Pappardelle al Cinghiale), pici (hand-rolled spaghetti) and gnocchi (dumplings of ricotta and spinach, or potato). Soups (minestre ) include ribollita (see Ribollita), pappa al pomodoro (tomato and bread pap), and zuppa di farro (emmer wheat). Risotto is made with seasonal vegetables.

The main course. Meats include bistecca or manzo (beef), vitello (veal), agnello (mutton), pollo (chicken), maiale (pork), cinghiale (boar), coniglio (rabbit) and anatra (duck). They are usually simply grilled or roasted. A grigliata mista is a hearty mixed meat platter. Fish include branzino (bass), acciughe (ancho-vies), baccalà (cod), orata (bream), rombo (turbot), and sogliola (sole), usually grilled, roasted or all’acqua pazza (simmered in white wine and tomatoes).

The sweet. Most popular are simple cantucci e vin santo (see Cantucci), though milk (panna cotta, latte portugese ) and egg (crème caramel) custards are popular, as is the tiramisù trifle and torta della nonna (see Torta della Nonna). The lighter macedonia is a diced fresh fruit cup.

No Italian meal is complete without red (rosso ) or white (bianco ) wine (vino ). Try a carafe (un litro ) or a half-carafe (mezzo litro ) of the usually excellent house wine (vino della casa ), or a bottle of Chianti, Brunello, Vino Nobile, Vernaccia or other fine Tuscan label (see Wine Houses). Italians temper their wine intake with equal amounts of water, either fizzy (gassata, frizzante ) or still (non-gassata or naturale ).

The pane e coperto cover charge is unavoidable. If the menu says “servizio incluso ” (or the waiter confirms so when you ask “E’ incluso il servizio? ”), service charge is built in, but it is still customary to round up the total. If it is not included, tip a discretionary 10–15 percent.

Jacket and tie are rarely required. Service ranges from heartily chummy to restrained, but is usually professional. Waiters expect you to linger over your meal and won’t rush you (some tourists mistake this for slow service).

Italian hotels are categorized from 1 (basic) to 5 (deluxe) stars, based largely on the amenities rather than charm or location. At 3 stars and above, all rooms have at least a private bathroom, TV and telephone.

Working farms – usually vineyards – can offer accommodation, up to 30 beds. This translates to largely inexpensive lodgings in bucolic settings. Some are luxury, some exceedingly rustic. Local tourist boards have lists of agriturismi , as do the three major consortiums Agriturist, Terra Nostra and Turismo Verde.

Ask to see lots of pictures (including from the windows in each direction) and a layout of the property. Find out how many others might share the villa or other houses on the property.

Villa agencies in the UK include Abercrombie & Kent Chapters and Cottages to Castles. In the US, try Rentals in Tuscany, Marjorie Shaw’s Insider’s Italy, the Parker Company and Villas International.

The tourist office has a list of these invariably cheap options, which can range from a lovely room and semi-private access to a cramped spare room in someone’s modern apartment. Amount of contact with the family varies, but it can be a great way to meet locals.

Campgrounds (campeggi ) are widespread, usually on the periphery of towns and on the coast and islands. Italians tend to eschew tents for camper vans. You end up paying almost as much as at a cheap hotel.

Every city, and a few towns, have cheap beds in sex-segregated, shared dorms. They are full of international students and usually impose a curfew of midnight or so. Most official IYH hostels are on the edges of towns.

The best-known hotels can book up months in advance. Florence tends to be overbooked at Easter, and in May and June. Other than that, you should have no problem finding a room.

Sometimes for a small fee, tourist offices and private hotel consortiums will help you find a room. The latter can be found at Florence’s train station, Pisa’s tourist office, Siena’s Piazza San Domenico bus stop and San Gimignano’s Via San Giovanni. The countless Internet booking services have an assorted stable of hotels in their databases.

Always change money at a bank for the best rates. Bring your passport as ID. “Cambio” exchange booths are good out of banking hours. Avoid exchanging a traveller’s cheque at a shop or hotel; the rate is miserable.

The fastest, easiest and cheapest way to get local currency is via an ATM (bancomat ), drawing money directly from your home acount.

MasterCard and VISA are the most widely accepted cards. American Express is also accepted in many places, with Diner’s Club running a distant third. You can get credit card cash advances from ATMs, but this is an expensive option.

While still the safest way to carry money, traveller’s cheques are being overtaken by the evolution of easier and cheaper ATMs. A few cheques are good for emergencies, though. Buy them denominated in dollars or euros.

In January 2002, Italy joined 11 other EU countries in adopting the euro to replace the lira. Euro coins come in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 euro cents and €1 and €2. Bills come in €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500.

Most pay phones in Italy now accept only pre-paid phone cards (scheda telefonica ). You can buy these in €5 or €10 denominations at tobacconists (tabacchi ) and newsstands. Some phones still also accept coins. There is also a range of pre-paid carta telefonica internazionale which give you a number to call and a code for making international calls.

Having loved ones at home call you – say, at your hotel – is invariably cheaper than using the Italian phone system. Otherwise, use the cards described above or international phone booths in major post offices. The cheapest way to call home is with a calling card (with an international plan) tied to your home phone account. To reverse the charges from any phone, dial the international operator on 170. Calls from hotels are usually expensive. If you want to call Italy from abroad, dial your international prefix (011 in the US, 00 in most other countries), then Italy’s country code of 39, then the number, including that initial zero (which, in the past, was dropped).

Internet rooms and cafés, and pubs with a PC in one corner are popping up constantly (ask at the tourist office; they tend to appear and disappear frequently). Increasingly, hotels are installing a common-use computer with Web access, sometimes free, sometimes for a small fee.

Italy’s post, while improving, can still be glacially slow. Letters might arrive home in three days or three months. You needn’t visit a post office (ufficio postale ); just ask any tobacconist or news-agent for stamps (francobolli ) for the country to which you are mailing; they know the amount to give you. Then drop it in the slot of the post box (usually red) labelled “per tutte le altre destinazioni ” (not “per la città ”).

Dial 113 for general emergencies or the specific number for the police, ambulance or fire brigade. The car breakdown number is a pay towing service.

Italy is a remarkably safe country. Apart from pickpockets, there is little to fear. Violent crime is rare, and though women (especially young foreign women) may be propositioned strenuously, it’s mostly harmless. Even so, women should exercise caution when travelling alone. Many Italians drive aggressively, so be careful behind the wheel.

Pickpockets work the crowds on buses and around train stations and other areas where tourists congregate. Keep all your valuables (save a day’s-worth of cash) well out of sight.

Beware of forceful beggars including children who may be skilled at lifting valuables in a flash. A common ruse is for a group of children to swarm around the victim holding up pieces of cardboard with words scrawled on them. While you are either trying to fend them off or scrabble around for small change, the pickpocketing has already happened.

Scams, while not particularly rampant, are mostly attempted on the more clueless-seeming tourists. For instance, taxis might try to set the meter for “out of town” rates rather than local, or give the wrong change. Restaurants might try to pad the bill with items not ordered or try and double-charge your credit card.

There are two main police branches you might deal with, the regular polizia and the more useful, military-trained, national carabinieri force. The police office is called the questura .

EU visitors should obtain a form E111 from a post office in their home country, which entitles them to emergency medical treatment. Citizens from elsewhere must have medical insurance that covers Italy. Usually you must pay any hospital charges up front and apply for reimbursement when you get home. Blue Cross/Blue Shield members can visit affiliated hospitals in Italy.

Italian hospitals (ospedale ) are semi-privatized and efficient. The emergency room is called pronto soccorso . For uncomplicated visits not requiring admission, they’ll usually give you a check-up and write a prescription with no other paperwork involved. A free medical translating service for tourists is based in Florence.

Italian pharmacies (farmacie ) are usually very well equipped and knowledgeable in helping you with minor ailments. At night and on Sundays, a sign is posted at each pharmacy listing which ones in town have the turn to stay open.