Villas in Tuscany
Villas
A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper
class. According to Pliny the Elder, there were two kinds of villas, the villa
urbana, which was a country seat that could easily be reached from Rome (or another
city) for a night or two, and the villa rustica, the farm-house estate, permanently
occupied by the servants who had charge generally of the estate, which would center
on the villa itself, perhaps only seasonally occupied. There were a concentration
of Imperial villas near the Bay of Naples, especially on the Isle of Capri, at
Monte Circeo on the coast and at Antium (Anzio). Wealthy Romans escaped the summer
heat in the hills round Rome, especially around Frascati (cf Hadrian's Villa).
Cicero is said to have possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of which
was near Arpinum, which he inherited. Pliny the Younger had three or four, of which
the example near Laurentium is the best known from his descriptions.
Renaissance villas
In 14th and 15th century Italy, a 'villa' once more connoted a country house,
sometimes the family seat of power like Villa Caprarola, more often designed for
seasonal pleasure, usually located within easy distance of a city. The first
examples of Renaissance Villa dates back to the age of Lorenzo de' Medici, and
they are mostly located in the Italian region of Tuscany (the "Medici villas") such
as the Villa di Poggio a Caiano by Giuliano da Sangallo (begun in 1470) or the
Villa Medici in Fiesole (since 1450), probably the first villa created under the
instructions of Leon Battista Alberti, who theorized in his De re aedificatoria
the features of the new idea of villa. From Tuscany the idea of villa was spread
again through Italy and Europe.
Excerpt of "Villa." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
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Tuscany
Tuscany (Italian Toscana) is a region in central Italy, bordering on Latium to the south, Umbria and Marche to the east, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria to the north, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. It is often regarded as among the most beautiful parts of Italy.
Tuscany was the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and its
artistic heritage includes architecture, painting and sculpture,
collected in dozens of museums, the best-known of which is the
Uffizi and the Bargello in Florence, but also in many other towns
and cities in the region.
Tuscany was the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and
Dante Alighieri ("the father of the Italian language"). Tuscany is
known for its wines (most famous of which are Chianti, Morellino
di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino) and has 120 protected
regions (nature reserves).
Notable tourist destinations in Tuscany include Florence, Siena,
San Gimignano, Arezzo, Pisa, Lucca, Barga, the Maremma, the Crete
Senesi, the Lunigiana and Garfagnana areas, and the island of Elba.
...
Provinces of Tuscany
- Arezzo
- Florence (Firenze)
- Grosseto
- Livorno
- Lucca
- Massa-Carrara
- Pisa
- Pistoia
- Prato
- Siena
Excerpt from "Tuscany." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
28 Oct 2006, 00:51 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 31 Oct 2006
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tuscany&oldid=84153783 Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Italia,
[..] or Repubblica Italiana, [...], is a Southern European country. It
comprises the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest
islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is also commonly
called by Italians "lo Stivale" ("the Boot", due to its boot-like shape),
or "la Penisola"[1] ("the Peninsula" as an antonomasia).
Italy shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria
and Slovenia. The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican City
are enclaves within Italian territory. Campione d'Italia is an Italian enclave
in Switzerland.
...
Climate
The Italian climate is unique and can be far from the stereotype of a
"land of sun.", depending on the region. The north of Italy (Turin, Milan,
and Bologna) has a true continental climate, while below Florence it becomes
more and more Mediterranean. The climate of the coastal areas of the Peninsula
is very different from that of the interior, particularly during the winter
months. The higher areas are cold, wet, and often snowy. The coastal regions,
where most of the large towns are located, have a typical Mediterranean climate
with mild winters and hot and generally dry summers. The length and intensity
of the summer dry season increases southwards (compare the tables for Rome,
Naples, and Brindisi).
Between north and south there is a quite remarkable difference in the temperatures,
above all during the winter: in some days of December or January it can snow in
Milan by -2°C while Palermo or Naples have just clouds and +17°C. Some mornings
Turin can be by -12°C while on the same time Rome has got +6°C and Reggio Calabria
+12°C. In the summer the difference is lighter. (‘‘See how Po valley can be frosty
in winter)
Excerpt from "Italy." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
29 Oct 2006, 09:02 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 29 Oct 2006
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and find it!
