The Bruner Family Journey: Tuscany - Italy's Tourist Playground

Scenic Lucca

We had a week to explore Tuscany and Umbria after leaving Pisa. These two regions are widely regarded as the pleasure center of Italy: beautiful natural landscapes; gorgeous towns steeped in history, art and culture; fantastic food and wine; and a pace of life that encourages leisure and relaxation. Eden and I spent a week here during our month-long trip in Italy in 1999 and we were determined to do it all over again. Let's start with Tuscany.

Our first stop was Lucca, where we stayed in a really cool hostel that used to be a convent. The talkative man at reception reeked of wine, but he was friendly enough and gave us a discount. Lucca was founded by the Etruscans, an ancient Italian civilization from which Tuscany got its name. It became a Roman colony in 2nd century BCE and the current rectangular grid of Lucca's historic center preserves the Roman street plan. But what really makes Lucca's history special is that it thrived for centuries as an independent, peaceful and prosperous city-state before being conquered by Napoleon in 1805. The city has a long and proud tradition of preserving its history and culture, and it certainly shows.

The most memorable part of our visit - apart from the amazing pasta e fagioli we had for dinner - was climbing a couple of the city's numerous old towers for astounding views over the red-roofed buildings and the surrounding countryside. It also was fun to track down the hotel Eden and I stayed at in 1999, where we had to scramble for cash on a Sunday to pay the bill, as the repeated assurances by hotel staff that we could pay by credit card comically failed to come to fruition ("But, you see, this stupid machine, she is a-broken!").

One of Lucca's towers, from the ground

The hotel where Eden and I stayed in 1999

View from our B&B outside of Volterra

Next was Volterra, where we stayed outside of town in a charming little bed and breakfast on top of a hill, with a swimming pool and more captivating 360-degree views. Like Lucca, Volterra is a medieval city with a rich Etruscan and Roman history. It was a key trading center some 2,500 hundred years ago and the town's beautiful Palazzo del Priori, built in the 13th century, is said to be the oldest city hall in Tuscany. At 1770 feet above sea level, it's a very pretty place to wander around, especially since it gets far fewer visitors than its touristy and more famous neighbor, San Gimignano. We arrived in the early evening and it seemed we had the place pretty much to ourselves.

Palazzo del Priori, Volterra's City Hall

View over Siena

Our Tuscan adventure continued in Siena, where we stayed in a quiet, friendly hotel that was a 40-second walk (Jeremy timed it) to the expansive Piazza del Campo, which is perhaps my favorite public square in the entire world. The town has a long and illustrious history, a host of artistic and architectural treasures, and a centuries-old rivalry with its big sister Florence. In the words of UNESCO: "Siena is the embodiment of a medieval city. Its inhabitants pursued their rivalry with Florence right into the area of urban planning. Throughout the centuries, they preserved their city's Gothic appearance, acquired between the 12th and 15th centuries. During this period, the work of Duccio, the Lorenzetti brothers and Simone Martini was to influence the course of Italian and, more broadly, European art. The whole city of Siena, built around the Piazza del Campo, was devised as a work of art that blends into the surrounding landscape." So there's something for everyone: a world-class cultural heritage for the adults, and a giant open square for the kids for playing tag and chasing pigeons.

Siena's rivalry with Florence wasn't always limited to cultural and artistic achievements, as evidenced by the walled village of Monteriggioni, which the Sienese built in the early 13th century as a castle on the front lines of battle. The town's architectural and cultural significance far exceed its diminutive size. It's one of the best preserved fortified villages in Italy, attracting historians, architects and archeologists - as well as tourists like us who are beckoned from the roadway by the town's stunning medieval silhouette. Dante references the town in his Divine Comedy, which uses Monteriggioni's many turrets to evoke the sight of the ring of giants encircling the infernal abyss. Here's the reference, as translated by Henry Francis Clay during the 19th century:

As with circling round
Of turrets, Monteriggioni crowns his walls;
E'en thus the shore, encompassing the abyss,
Was turreted with giants, half their length
Uprearing, horrible, whom Jupiter from heaven,
Yet threatens, when his muttering thunder rolls.

Panorama of Monteriggioni (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Downtown Cortona

The Tuscan part of our journey concluded in Cortona, which is apparently one of the oldest cities in Italy. There's some debate over its founding - I'm going with the version that says the town was established by the Umbrians about 3,000 years ago. It became an important Etruscan city and then a Roman colony. After being sacked and destroyed by the Goths in the 6th century CE (bad Goths, bad!), the city lay in obscurity for centuries until its revival in the Middle Ages. As part of its more recent history, in June 2011, Cortona was the site of the infamous "spit wine" incident when a nine-year old boy who shall remain nameless ruined a perfectly good vino bianco by spitting up into his mother's glass. Historians are still debating how this happened - one theory is that the young boy wanted to taste the wine but was startled by its slight effervescence. In any event, neither the mother nor the waiter was amused, and from that point on during the Bruner Family Journey, whenever the young boy wanted to try a taste of his mother's wine, he was sternly cautioned: "If you spit into my wine, I'm going to kill you."

If you are looking for more gripping family drama and intrigue, mixed with ancient history and delicious pasta, stay tuned to the blog. Umbria is next!