Photo:1
Photo:2
Photo:3
Photo:4
Photo:1 Photo:2 Photo:3 Photo:4 |
| Geography | |
| 2>
Hilly landscape in Val d'Orcia
Tuscany landscape near Siena
Thornthwaite climate classification of Tuscany
A: Im > 100
B: 80 < Im < 100
B1-B2: 20 < Im < 80
C2: 0 < Im < 20
C1: −33,3 < Im < 0
D: Im < −33,3
Roughly triangular in shape and situated between the northern part of the Tyrrhenian Sea, with some islands Tuscan Archipelago, and the central Apennines, Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres (8,878 sq mi). Surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few (but fertile) plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country. Most of the work done here is farming. Whereas mountains cover 25% of the total area — 5,770 square kilometres (2,230 sq mi), and plains a mere 8.4% of the total area, almost all coinciding with the valley of the River Arno, summing for 1,930 square kilometres (750 sq mi), — overall hills make up two-thirds (66.5%) of the region's total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres (5,904 sq mi).
The climate is fairly mild in the coastal areas, and is harsher and rainy in the interior, with considerable fluctuations in temperature between winter and summer[5] giving the region a soil building active freeze-thaw cycle in part accounting for the region once having served as a key breadbasket of ancient Rome.[6]
[edit] Tags:Region,Siena,Val D'orcia,Tyrrhenian Sea,Tuscan Archipelago,Ancient Rome,Rome, | |
| Appennini and Villanovan cultures | |
| 3>
Main articles: Apennine culture and Villanovan culture
The pre-Etruscan history of the area in the late Bronze and Iron Ages parallels that of the early Greeks.[7] The Tuscan area was inhabited by peoples of the so-called Apennine culture in the late second millennium BC (roughly 1350–1150 BC) who had trading relationships with the Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations in the Aegean Sea.[7] Following this, the Villanovan culture (1100–700 BC) saw Tuscany, and the rest of Etruria, taken over by chiefdoms.[7] City-states developed in the late Villanovan (paralleling Greece and the Aegean) before "Orientalisation" occurred and the Etruscan civilisation rose.[7]
Prato
[edit] Tags:Apennine Culture,Villanovan Culture,Bronze,Iron Ages,Greeks,Second Millennium Bc,Minoan,Mycenaean,Aegean Sea,Chiefdoms,City-states,Prato,Civilisation,Etruria,Greece, | |
| Etruscans | |
| 3>
Main article: Etruscan civilization
The Chimera of Arezzo, Etruscan bronze, 400 BC
The Etruscans created the first major civilisation in this region, large enough to establish a transport infrastructure, to implement agriculture and mining and to produce vibrant art.[8] The Etruscans lived in Etruria well into prehistory.[7] The civilization grew to fill the area between the Arno River and Tiber River from the 8th century BC, reaching its peak during the 7th and 6th centuries BC, finally succumbing to the Romans by the 1st century.[9] Throughout their existence, they lost territory (in Campania) to Magna Graecia, Carthage and Celts.[8] Despite being seen as distinct in its manners and customs by contemporary Greeks,[10] the cultures of Greece, and later Rome, influenced the civilisation to a great extent. One reason for its eventual demise[9] was this increasing absorption by surrounding cultures, including the adoption of the Etruscan upper class by the Romans.[8]
[edit] Tags:Etruscan Civilization,Chimera Of Arezzo,Etruscans,Transport,Agriculture,Mining,Arno River,Tiber River,Romans,Magna Graecia,Carthage,Celts,Arezzo, | |
| Romans | |
| 3>
Soon after absorbing Etruria, Rome established the cities of Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace.[8] These developments included extensions of existing roads, introduction of aqueducts and sewers, and the construction of many buildings, both public and private. However, many of these structures have been destroyed by erosion due to weather. [8] The Roman civilization in the West collapsed in the 5th century and the region was left to the Goths, and others. In the 6th century, the Longobards arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their Duchy of Tuscia.[8]
[edit] Tags:Florence,Lucca,Pisa,Goths,Longobards,Duchy Of Tuscia, | |
| The Medieval Period | |
| 3>
Palazzo Vecchio in Florence
See also: March of Tuscany
Pilgrims travelling along the Via Francigena between Rome and France brought wealth and development during the medieval period.[8] The food and shelter required by these travellers fuelled the growth of communities around churches and taverns.[8] The conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, factions supporting the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in central and northern Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries, split the Tuscan people.[8] These two factors gave rise to several powerful and rich medieval communes in Tuscany: Arezzo, Florence, Lucca, Pisa, and Siena.[8] Balance between these communes were ensured by the assets they held; Pisa, a port; Siena, banking; and Lucca, banking and silk.[11] By the renaissance, however, Florence had become the cultural capital of Tuscany.[11] Another family that befitted from Florence's growing wealth and power were the ruling Medici Family. Lorenzo de' Medici was one of the most famous and the benefits of his time are still being observed today in the fantastic art and architecture in Florence today. One of his famous descendants Caterina Catherine de Medici married Prince Henry (later as King Henry II) of France in 1533.
The Black Death epidemic hit Tuscany, starting in 1348.[12] It eventually killed 50% to 60% of Tuscans.[13][14] According to Melissa Snell, "Florence lost a third of its population in the first six months of the plague, and from 45% to 75% of its population in the first year."[15] In 1630 Florence and Tuscany were once again ravaged by the plague.[16]
[edit] Tags:Italy,Palazzo Vecchio,Pilgrims,Via Francigena,France,Medieval Period,Guelphs And Ghibellines,Papacy,Holy Roman Empire,Lorenzo De' Medici,Catherine De Medici,Plague,Medici,Lorenzo, | |
| The Renaissance | |
| 3>
See also: Italian Renaissance
Blue-and-white faience albarello with Pseudo-Kufic designs, Tuscany, 2nd half of 15th century
Tuscany, especially Florence, is regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance. Though "Tuscany" remained a linguistic, cultural and geographic conception, rather than a political reality, in the 15th century, Florence extended its dominion in Tuscany through the annexation of Arezzo in 1384, the purchase of Pisa in 1405 and the suppression of a local resistance there (1406). Livorno was bought as well (1421).
From the leading city of Florence, the republic was from 1434 onward dominated by the increasingly monarchical Medici family. Initially, under Cosimo, Piero the Gouty, Lorenzo and Piero the Unfortunate, the forms of the republic were retained and the Medici ruled without a title, usually without even a formal office. These rulers presided over the Florentine Renaissance. There was a return to the republic from 1494 to 1512, when first Girolamo Savonarola then Piero Soderini oversaw the state. Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici retook the city with Spanish forces in 1512, before going to Rome to become Pope Leo X. Florence was dominated by a series of papal proxies until 1527 when the citizens declared the republic again, only to have it taken from them again in 1530 after a siege by an Imperial and Spanish army. At this point Pope Clement VII and Charles V appointed Alessandro de' Medici as the first formally hereditary ruler.
The Sienese commune was not incorporated into Tuscany until 1555, and during the 15th century Siena enjoyed a cultural 'Sienese Renaissance' with its own more conservative character. Lucca remained an independent Republic until 1847 when it became part of Grand Duchy of Tuscany by the will of its people. Piombino was another minor independent state, under both Spanish and Tuscan influence.
[edit] Tags:Italian Renaissance,Blue-and-white,Faience,Albarello,Cosimo,Piero The Gouty,Piero The Unfortunate,Florentine Renaissance,Girolamo Savonarola,Piero Soderini,Cardinal Giovanni De' Medici,Pope Leo X,Pope Clement Vii,Charles V,Piombino, | |
| Modern Era | |
| 3>
See also: Grand Duchy of Tuscany
In the 15th century, the Medicis, who ruled Florence, annexed surrounding land to create modern Tuscany. The War of Polish Succession in the 1730s meant the transfer of Tuscany from the Medicis to Francis, Duke of Lorraine and Holy Roman Emperor. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon, Tuscany was inherited by the Austrian Empire as successor to the Holy Roman Empire. In the Italian Wars of Independence in the 1850s, Tuscany was transferred from Austria to the newly unified nation of Italy.
Under Benito Mussolini, the area came under the dominance of local National Fascist Party leader Dino Perrone Compagni. Following the fall of Mussolini and the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Italy, the Italian Social Republic was established in the northern regions of Italy, with its de facto border at the Gothic Line, a defensive position just north of Florence. Following the end of the Social Republic, and the transition from a Kingdom to the modern Italian Republic, Tuscany once more flourished as a cultural center of Italy.
[edit] Tags:Duke Of Lorraine,Holy Roman Emperor,Benito Mussolini,National Fascist Party,Dino Perrone Compagni,Kingdom Of Italy,Italian Social Republic,Gothic Line, | |
| Culture | |
| 2>
This section requires expansion.
Tuscany has an immense cultural and artistic heritage, expressed in the region's churches, palaces, art galleries, museums, villages and piazzas. Many of these artifacts are found in the main cities, such as Florence and Siena, but also in smaller villages scattered around the region, such as San Gimignano.
[edit] Tags:San Gimignano, | |
| Art | |
| 3>
Michelangelo's David
Tuscany has a unique artistic legacy, and Florence is one of the world's most important water-color centres, even so that it is often nicknamed the "art palace of Italy" (the city is also believed to have the largest concentration of Renaissance art and architecture in the world).[17] Painters such as Cimabue and Giotto, the fathers of Italian painting, lived in Florence and Tuscany as well as Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano, renewers of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio, forefathers of the Renaissance, Ghiberti and the Della Robbias, Filippo Lippi and Angelico; Botticelli, Paolo Uccello and the universal genius of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.[18][19]
The region contains numerous museums and art galleries, many housing some of the world's most precious works of art. Such museums include the Uffizi, which keeps Botticelli's Birth of Venus, the Pitti Palace, and the Bargello, to name a few. Most of the frescos, sculptures and paintings in Tuscany are held in the region's abundant churches and cathedrals, such as Florence Cathedral, Siena Cathedral, Pisa Cathedral and the Collegiata di San Gimignano.
[edit] Tags:Botticelli,Michelangelo,Leonardo Da Vinci,Uffizi,Pitti Palace,Cimabue,Andrea Pisano,Brunelleschi,Donatello,Masaccio,Filippo Lippi,Birth Of Venus,Florence Cathedral,Siena Cathedral,Pisa Cathedral,Collegiata Di San Gimignano, | |
| Art Schools | |
| 3>
A painting from the Sienese school
Main articles: Florentine school, Sienese school, and Lucchese School
In medieval period and in the Renaissance, there were four main Tuscan art schools which competed against each other: the Florentine School, the Sienese School, the Pisan School and the Lucchese School.
The Florentine School originated from refers to artists in, from or influenced by the naturalistic style developed in the 14th century, largely through the efforts of Giotto di Bondone, and in the 15th century the leading school of the world. Some of the best known artists of the Florentine School are Brunelleschi, Donatello, Michelangelo, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Lippi, Masolino, and Masaccio.
The Sienese School of painting flourished in Siena between the 13th and 15th centuries and for a time rivaled Florence, though it was more conservative, being inclined towards the decorative beauty and elegant grace of late Gothic art. Its most important representatives include Duccio, whose work shows Byzantine influence; his pupil Simone Martini; Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti; Domenico and Taddeo di Bartolo; Sassetta and Matteo di Giovanni. Unlike the naturalistic Florentine art, there is a mystical streak in Sienese art[who?], characterized by a common focus on miraculous events, with less attention to proportions, distortions of time and place, and often dreamlike coloration. In the 16th century the Mannerists Beccafumi and Il Sodoma worked there. While Baldassare Peruzzi was born and trained in Siena, his major works and style reflect his long career in Rome. The economic and political decline of Siena by the 16th century, and its eventual subjugation by Florence, largely checked the development of Sienese painting, although it also meant that many Sienese works in churches and public buildings were not discarded or destroyed by new paintings or rebuilding. Siena remains a remarkably well-preserved Italian late-Medieval town.
The Lucchese School, also known as the School of Lucca and as the Pisan-Lucchese School, was a school of painting and sculpture that flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries in the western and southern part of the region, with an important center in Volterra. The art is mostly anonymous. Although not as elegant or delicate as the Florentine School, Lucchese works are remarkable for their monumentality.
[edit] Tags:Sienese School, | |
| Main artistic centres | |
| 4>
Arezzo
Florence
Pisa
Prato
Siena
Grosseto
Lucca
San Gimignano
In the province of Arezzo:
Arezzo
Castiglion Fiorentino
Cortona
Lucignano
Poppi
Sansepolcro
In the province of Florence:
Florence
Fiesole
Certaldo
In the Province of Grosseto:
Grosseto
Massa Marittima
Orbetello
Pitigliano
Roselle
Sorano
Sovana
In the province of Livorno:
Campiglia Marittima
Livorno
Piombino
Populonia
Suvereto
In the province of Lucca:
Barga
Castelnuovo di Garfagnana
Castiglione di Garfagnana
Lucca
Pietrasanta
Viareggio
Villa Basilica
In the province of Massa-Carrara:
Massa-Carrara
Pontremoli
Fivizzano
In the province of Pisa:
Pisa
San Miniato
Volterra
Vicopisano
In the province of Prato:
Carmignano
Poggio a Caiano
Prato
In the province of Pistoia:
Pescia
Pistoia
In the province of Siena:
Colle di Val d'Elsa
Pienza
Montepulciano
Montalcino
San Gimignano
Siena
[edit] Tags:Pienza, | |
| Language | |
| 3>
Main article: Tuscan Language
Apart from standard Italian, the most spoken language in Tuscany is the 'Tuscan dialect' (lingua toscana), or the Tuscan dialect (dialetto toscano). In many respects it deviated less than other Romance dialects from the Latin language and evolved linearly and homogeneously, without major influences from other foreign languages. There are currently 3.5 million speakers of the language.
Italian is in practice a "literary version" of Tuscan. It became the language of culture for all the people of Italy,[20] thanks to the prestige of the masterpieces of Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini. It would later become the official language of all the Italian states and of the Kingdom of Italy, when it was formed.[21]
[edit] Tags:Dante, | |
| Music | |
| 3>
Main article: Music of Tuscany
See also: Music of Florence
Tuscany has a rich ancient and modern musical tradition, and has boasted numerous composers and musicians, such as Giacomo Puccini, and Pietro Mascagni. Beyond Florence, the nine other provinces in the region of Tuscany, named for the largest city in, and capital of the province. Taken together, they offer a rich musical culture. Florence is the main musical centre of Tuscany. The city was at the heart of much of our entire Western musical tradition. It was there that the Florentine Camerata convened in the mid-16th century and experimented with setting tales of Greek mythology to music and staging the result: the first operas, fostering the further development of the operatic form, and the later developments of separate "classical" forms such as the symphony.
Giacomo Puccini
There are numerous musical centres in Tuscany. Arezzo is indelibly connected with the name of Guido d'Arezzo, the 11th-century monk who invented modern musical notation and the do-re-mi system of naming notes of the scale; Lucca hosted possibly the greatest Italian composer of Romanticism, Giacomo Puccini and Siena is well-known for the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, an organization that currently sponsors major musical activities such as the Siena Music Week and the Alfredo Casella International Composition Competition. Other important musical centres in Tuscany include Lucca, Pisa and Grosseto.
[edit] Tags:Puccini, | |
| Literature | |
| 3>
Tuscan poet and literary figure Petrarch
Tuscany has a renowned literature, and has boasted several famous writers and poets, most notably Florentine author Dante. Tuscany's literary scene particularly thrived in the 13th century and the Renaissance.
In Tuscany, especially in the Middle Ages, popular love poetry existed. A school of imitators of the Sicilians was led by Dante da Majano, but its literary originality took another line — that of humorous and satirical poetry. The democratic form of government created a style of poetry which stood strongly against the medieval mystic and chivalrous style. Devout invocation of God or of a lady came from the cloister and the castle; in the streets of the cities everything that had gone before was treated with ridicule or biting sarcasm. Folgore da San Gimignano laughs when in his sonnets he tells a party of Sienese youths the occupations of every month in the year, or when he teaches a party of Florentine lads the pleasures of every day in the week. Cenne della Chitarra laughs when he parodies Folgore's sonnets. The sonnets of Rustico di Filippo are half-fun and half-satire, as is the work of Cecco Angiolieri of Siena, the oldest humorist we know, a far-off precursor of Rabelais and Montaigne.
Another type of poetry also began in Tuscany. Guittone d'Arezzo made art abandon chivalry and Provençal forms for national motives and Latin forms. He attempted political poetry, and although his work is often obscure, he prepared the way for the Bolognese school. Bologna was the city of science, and philosophical poetry appeared there. Guido Guinizelli was the poet after the new fashion of the art. In his work the ideas of chivalry are changed and enlarged. Only those whose heart is pure can be blessed with true love, regardless of class. He refuted the traditional credo of courtly love, for which love is a subtle philosophy only a few chosen knights and princesses could grasp. Love is blind to blasons but not to a good heart when it finds one: when it succeeds it is the result of the spiritual, not physical affinity between two souls. Guinizzelli's democratic view can be better understood in the light of the greater equality and freedom enjoyed by the city-states of the center-north and the rise of a middle class eager to legitimise itself in the eyes of the old nobility, still regarded with respect and admiration but in fact dispossessed of its political power. Guinizelli's Canzoni make up the bible of Dolce Stil Novo, and one in particular, Tags:Petrarch, | |
z³ote monety view link view link view link view link view link |