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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.

The Italians dress well – maybe not always Armani, but usually stylish. Bring one nice outfit. Few restaurants require jacket and tie. Many churches do not allow you to enter with bare knees or shoulders (no shorts, miniskirts, singlets or tank tops); a light shawl around the waist or shoulders solves it.