Perhaps Mary Shelley said it best with the words “the name of Italy has magic in its very syllables,” and there is something especially enigmatic about Italy’s Tuscan region.
Tuscany is an artistic land where the sensory pleasures are at the forefront of life – past and present – through fragrance, food, fashion, fertile land, and art in all its many forms. And much of this is created, curated, and enjoyed, by women.
To profit from this cultural heritage, affluent European women would partake in Grand Tours during the 18th and 19th centuries, hopping between Tuscany – town to vine – to discover the music, poetry, paintings and cuisine across the region, and to soak up the creative spirit of post-Renaissance Italy. I was lucky enough to embark on a modern reimagining of one of these trips, where we travelled across Tuscany to enjoy this heritage, as well as meet the women working across the region today. Still, there is an unruly feminine energy and rich matrilineal heritage carved into the rolling hillsides here, from Florence to Siena to Lucca and back again. You can’t separate the region from the women who make it.
Safe, friendly, with lots to see and indulge the senses: from art galleries to wine tastings and world-renowned cuisine, it’s clear to see why Tuscany remains popular amongst female solo travellers. Perhaps helped by the fact that, according to the Tuscany Tourist Board, 54 per cent of the workforce employed in Tuscany’s tourism industry are women. Undoubtably more women have played (and continue to play) a part in Tuscany’s fruitful history and dynamic art scene than we can name, but here are a few of the enduring female legacies and female forces working in the region today, as well as how to enjoy the beautiful Italian region as a female traveller.
FLORENCE
Four Seasons Florence
“Florence holds us with a glittering eye; there’s a charm cast round us, and we can’t get away,” English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning eloquently wrote in a letter to her friend. Often writing window-side at Casa Guidi (now a museum) in Florence, which her and her husband Robert Browning leased for a year after their wedding, it’s clear that Florence’s charm had its effects on Elizabeth, whose infatuation with the city – and its female heritage – seeps through into lots of her work.
Casa Guidi is a stone’s throw away from Florence’s famous Palazzo Pitti, where the powerful – and incredibly wealthy – Medici family once lived. As patrons of the arts, the family owned a substantial amount of the paintings and artefacts (alongside commissioning Florence’s Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio) now on display in Florence’s famous Uffizi, Palazzo Putti, and Villa Medici, that together attract millions of visitors a year. However it wasn’t until Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, who was left at the end of the Medici line, demanded in her will for these 300 years worth of art and history contained in the palaces to remain in Florence under law (rather than auctioned off to distant relatives) that this art became available to the public. Thanks to Anna Maria Luisa Medici, paintings by Michelangelo, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, the statue of David by Donatello – and actually, the entire Uffizi Gallery and the majority of its core collection – are still on display in the city for us to enjoy today. Florence’s art scene has a strong female heritage.
Beyond the galleries, the presence of the Medici women can still be felt – smelt even – across Florence. Our wonderful tour guide, Antonella Fantoni of Guide Florence (who runs historic women walking tours), leads us through the heart of the city, down the cobbled streets of the old Jewish quarter, towards Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella which – once a convent in Florence in 1221 – is now a perfumery home to one of the world’s oldest perfumes. Titled Acqua della Regina (the Queen’s water), this was commissioned as a wedding gift from Italian Catherine de’ Medici to her French husband in 1533. Catherine de’ Medici introduced scent to the French court, and is alleged to have used this perfume as a political weapon, gifting it to those who pleased her. Part of her still lingers in the Italian city, as the citrus and bergamot scent is still available to buy and wear today.
Photo by Clara Vannucci
However, it’s not just historic women ruling the Florentine streets. Stray away from the classic tourist shops and head to the quieter vias, where female-founded businesses still uphold tradition Tuscan crafts, and provide much chicer Tuscan souvenirs.
Antico Setificio Fiorentino, founded in 1786, preserves the ancient Tuscan art of silk weaving, and is one of the few remaining workshops for silk production in the world, still run by ancient looms designed in the 18th century by Leonardo da Vinci. Antico Setificio Fiorentino is now helmed by Elisabetta Bardelli Ricci, and has collaborated with Dolce&Gabbana and Luisaviaroma. Silk cushions, lamps, and throws are available to purchase in the store.
Photo by Clara Vannucci
Down another narrow street, Veronica Balzani restores ancient paintings with Medieval Tuscan techniques, as well as creating her own using these styles; while slightly out of the historic centre, milliner Liana fashions bespoke hats by hand, each shaped using a wooden mannequin and hammer.
These women are a few examples of the many who homage the long legacies of art in Tuscany.
EAT
Boccanegra
Digressing from the female-founded theme slightly, but for a worthy cause; Boccanegra is an elegant restaurant in the heart of Florence’s historic centre, and one you’ll want to flock to in search of an excellent Tuscan steak. Although just a short walk from the Uffizi Gallery, stepping inside throws you into the intimate and warming embrace of a favourite Tuscan countryside haunt: exposed brick walls, wooden beams, and curved ceilings included. Like its namesake – the opera Simon Boccanegra by Guiseppe Verdi – it still upholds a refined Italian elegance with beautifully-presented dishes and artwork on the walls. You’ll be greeted with a traditional menu of simple Tuscan fare: cheeses, freshly-rolled pasta, and of course the hero dish, a T-bone steak – with each course paired with a wine from the restaurant’s extensive cellar.
STAY
Four Seasons Firenze
Describing how ornate Four Seasons Firenze is would require all the decadent adjectives and clever syntax of Renaissance Italian poetry. Centuries later, Four Seasons Firenze is still a spearhead for the opulence of Renaissance Italian art and history, which you’ll be immersed in from the moment you arrive: at your breakfast table find a card with a historic event from that date, while a replica of Michelangelo’s Bacchus stands proud in the foyer (the original is now housed at the Bargello Museum) with a peaceful chapel – complete with original Renaissance frescoes dating back to the 15th century – unsuspectingly awaiting on the ground floor.
Four Seasons Firenze homages its past, and the women who shaped it, everywhere you look. The frescoes painted in one of the hotel’s sweeping hallways and the Royal Suites pay homage to the women who once lived at the hotel – including humanist Alessandra Scala and Countess Costanza de’Medici della Gherardesca – depicted with the rich colours and complex narratives of Italian Renaissance splendour. The former, Alessandra Scala, was a gifted Renaissance, photo-feminist poet who wrote in Latin and Greek, yet her work has only recently been discovered. Elegantly preserved in the hotel, find this now-significant fresco copied on the menus and branding around the Four Seasons Firenze.
CHIANTI
Journey an hour outside of Florence to Chianti, home to verdant olive groves, rows of cypress trees, rolling vineyards, and fields of fresh flowers. This wine region in the heart of Tuscany is famous for its Chianti Classico – a smooth, dry red wine – made from Sangiovese grape. It’s here you’ll find some of Italy’s most important, and historic vineyards, as well as some of the most delicious wines and farm-to-fork dining you’ll ever try.
EAT & WINE TASTING
Vignamaggio
Photo by Clara Vannucci
Vignamaggio’s historic wine cellar dates back to 1404, with more bottles than we can count in its portfolio, including a wine dedicated to Mona Lisa from neighbouring Florence – who via tales that mix folklore with historic fact – has become somewhat synonymous with the estate. It’s also where Much Ado About Nothing – Kenneth Branagh’s edition – was filmed. Now boasting an extensive renovation and modern remodelling by architect Patrice Taravella (including a beautiful gift shop with all the Tuscan goodies you’ll want to bring home with you), this sustainable farm and boutique hotel has more going for it than great wine. However the wine is especially good; head here for a tasting. La Fattoria’s al fresco terrace boasts a sprawling view across the estate’s 400 acres of vines and olive groves; clink glasses and watch the sun set.
STAY
Il Palagio Di Panzano
As soon as you turn through the gates of Il Palagio di Panzano the tranquility of the family-run estate will set in: there is no outside noise here, just calming birdsong, the scent of cypress trees, and fields of lavender, thyme, and rosemary. The intimate estate accommodates up to 20 guests in 13th-century farmhouse-style rooms. Meals are served family-style, down a long table in the kitchen and dining room – or al fresco in warmer weather. It’s also here, in the kitchen, that the chef hosts cooking classes – visit in the early autumn during the grape harvesting season to learn how to make the typical Tuscan dish of Schiacciata, a sweet grape focaccia. It feels a special touch that this winery and boutique hotel has a matrilineal history: now run by the lovely Monia, she explains how her grandmother planted the grape vines that surround the estate by hand – which now produce 25,000 bottles of wine a year – and taught Monia everything she knows about wine. Now, her grandmother is honoured on the label of the estate’s wine bottles.
LUCCA
Once home to Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sister and later the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, this stone-walled city, the town of one hundred churches, chimes under the Tuscan sun. Consider a walking tour of the city and Botanical Gardens led by Elena Benvenuti to understand the history behind the UNESCO-protected town, before ending the day in the roof terrace bar at Grand Universe Hotel, the palazzo that once housed the Paoli family and centuries of artists and creative thinkers. One piece of advice: don’t skip Lucca.
EAT
All’Olivo
Antonella turned her passion for cooking into one of Lucca’s most loved restaurants, All’Olivo, serving the likes of shellfish pacchero and sea ragù. Still at the helm of this busy kitchen, Antonella’s art-filled space shows a woman dedicated to the craft, with a kitchen full of smiling chefs and a menu that is rich and delicate all at once. Four smaller dining spaces including a beautiful garden and courtyard (“Sala Giardino”) and a wine room decorated with the restaurant’s finest regional wines accommodate up to 100 diners, and are usually full with locals enjoying the traditional fare every lunchtime and evening.
STAY
Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort
If you’re looking for a peaceful respite away from the bustle of the towns, find Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort and Spa tucked away on a far flung hilltop, peacefully overlooking Tuscany in the distance, with excellent wineries a short excursion away. Watching the mist roll over the hills at sunrise is calming in of itself, followed by a morning at the hotel spa or large outdoor infinity pool. The hotel is a few hours’ drive from Lucca, so if travelling alone, ensure to plan your arrival during daylight for a more stress-free journey.
PISA
While Pisa was regarded as a “dirty” working city, with Pisans once looked down upon by neighbouring Tuscan towns, there is lots to enjoy here beyond the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa and Square of Miracles.
EAT
La Pergoletta
Photo by Clara Vannucci
Down a narrow street in Pisa’s old town, just off from the Arno river you’ll find this unsuspecting “typical Tuscan restaurant”. Inside, you’ll be looked after like you’re visiting the house of long lost friends. La Pergoletta has been run by mother and daughter duo Emma Forte and Daniela Petraglia since 1986, whose close relationship to the local community of wine producers and farmers can be tasted in every course.
STAY
Hotel Bagni di Pisa
Mary Shelley penned the final chapters of Frankenstein here, at Hotel Bagni Di Pisa, which as the former summer residence for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, greeted its fair share of canonical writers and historical figures during its heyday. The namesake Shelley Bar still remains in its Renaissance splendour, while the hotel’s crown jewel, the Roman thermal baths in their neo-classical grandeur, still remain open to guests. Swathed within the Pisa mountains with sweeping stone corridors that bear reminiscence to calming ancient monasteries and frescoed rooms, it’s clear to see how Mary Shelley felt her literary influence here.
Lead image credit: Four Seasons Firenze
With thanks to the Tuscany Tourist Board.
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