Tuscany is an Italian region located in the centre of the country, with Florence, the most populated city and principal historical artistic economic and administrative pole, as its regional capital. The other provincial capital cities are: Arezzo, Grosseto, Livorno, Lucca, Massa, Pisa, Pistoia, Prato, Siena.
The name is very ancient, it derives from the word “Etruria” used by the Etruscans, then modified in “Tuscia” and finally “Toscana”.
It is a region full of cultural and artistic treasures, focused principally in the capital. It is also famous to be the birthplace of numerous leading figures of the Italian literature, including Dante Alighieri, author of “The Divine Comedy”.
The Tuscan territory is occupied by about 4% of urban areas, a 44% of forests which affects the Apennine mountains areas and with another approximately 7% of Mediterranean woodland, cultivated areas represent about 40% with arable areas in the flatlands, while in the inland valleys and low hills predominate plenty cultivation of the vine and olive groves.
Tuscany, standing on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, is one of the most famous tourist destinations of Italy, appreciated by domestic and international tourists, which in addition to the beauty and the cultural landscape is the element that conquers visitors from around the world: the excellent wineries.
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
Agriculture and livestock are still of great importance today, given the quality of the products supplied, for this reason, to safeguard the ORIGINAL AND AUTHENTIC MADE IN ITALY, Tuscany was the first region in Europe to have adopted a specific law prohibiting the cultivation and the production of genetically modified organisms and their consumption in public canteens, in fact, the region can be defined as GMO-free.
In the central hilly areas, the vine and the olive trees are the main crops. From the first one are obtained the famous wines of the Chianti and from olive groves originate 5 DOP products.
Other crops are cereals, fruits and vegetables.
In the flatter areas, we can find the cultivation of sugar beets, tobacco and the breeding of bovine cattle and pigs with a considerable production of meat.
GASTRONONY
The Tuscan cuisine is simple and genuine, it enhances the simple farm resources that matching together will create unique and delicious dishes.
The bread is the ruler, strictly devoid of salt, giving birth to the panzanella paired with onions, tomatoes and basil.
Other dishes such as the ribollita, the acquacotta protagonist of the Maremma cuisine.
Another important feature of the Tuscan culinary tradition is the use of white meat and game. The products of the farm, where chickens, turkeys, geese, guinea fowls and pigeons graze freely, together with game like rabbits, hares and wild boar; pheasant and porcupine are always on the menu of the great feasts.
Pork is also very much used, just think of the famous Tuscan salami, salted ham, sausages, pork liver with the network and the buristo.
The cinta senese is a breed of pig bred in the wild and semi-wild over most of the territory of the province of Siena, in the southern part of the province of Florence and in the northern part of the province of Grosseto. The salami of Cinta Senese are considered excellent, ham in the first place, but also the meat, in the form of steak or meat sauce, and lard. In general, the products of Cinta Senese are considered belonging to the marker niche.
In addition to pork meat, the Chianina and Maremma, are of excellent quality beef, produced by the respective heads that are bred in the wild or semi-wild, respectively in the Val di Chiana and the Maremma, while the Chianina is preferred to the classic bistecca
alla fiorentina, the Maremma is mostly used in the preparation of stews and braised meats.
The beef interiors are used for the Florentine tripe. The liver, the tongue and the brain have always been at the base of main courses of beef.
Game is very popular in Tuscan cuisine, one of the most popular meats to mention are the boar, whose most famous dishes are the pappardelle with wild boar and the cacciatora stew; hare, deer, roe deer and pheasant, are used both for the preparation of meat sauces for pasta dishes and for stews.
WINE
Tuscany has an area of almost 23,000 square kilometers, with an approximately 66% of hills where there’s the greater part of the cultivation of the vine.
The soils are typically of limestone, sandstone and metal. Wine production amounted to nearly 3 million hl. on a surface area of about 57,000 hectares, with a higher proportion of red grapes, around 70%, giving birth to world famous wines.
The traditional varieties of black vinegrapes are: Sangiovese di Toscana, Black Canaiolo, Ciliegiolo, Prugnolo Gentile, Colorino and Mammolo.
To these are added (but minimally), the International wine, now spread a bit all over the national territory.
The traditional white grape varieties are: Albarola, Ansonica, White Canaiolo, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Tuscan Trebbiano, Vermentino di Toscana and Verdea.
Tuscany is characterized by a production of high quality; in recent years in the face of a decline in the total amount of produced wine has increased the incidence of DOC productions, which reaches now almost 50% of the total.
From traditional varieties 6 DOCG and 36 DOC and numerous IGT are obtained and some productions of the highest level, known in the wine-world with the name of Supertuscans.
The DOCG wines are: Chianti, produced in almost the totality of the Tuscan provinces of Arezzo, Florence, Pisa, Pistoia, Prato and Siena (with 9 different names in the various zones); Brunello di Montalcino, in the types “normal” and “Riserva” produced in the province of Siena; Carmignano (red)in the types “normal” and “Riserva”, produced in the municipalities of Carmignano and Poggio a Caiano in the province of Prato; Aleatico dell’Elba, in the version Passito; Morellino di Scansano; Montecucco Sangiovese; Vernaccia di San Gimignano.
With growing too close to the coastal areas with milder, dry and ventilated climate of the provinces of Livorno and Grosseto, brand names of excellence stand out such as Sassigaia and Tignanello.
The Wine tours are itineraries/routes within territories of high wine production, characterized by important cultural, historical and natural attractions. They allow the tourist to visit the most famous cellars and wineries of the world between pure landscapes and medieval villages of rare beauty.
