Culture

Tuscany is an ideal place for lovers of Italian culture since it is rich in Architecture, Art (paintings and sculpture) and Music. In fact Tuscany is considered to be the birthplace of the Italian language.

As far back as the Middle Ages Latin was the only written language. Then the appearance of poetry written in the Tuscan dialect was the first example of an attempt to preserve one of the local Italian dialects in a written form. Being first allowed the Tuscan dialect to evolve into the main language of Italy.

There are many great writers that came from Tuscany such as Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321, and best remembered for the Divine Comedy) and his teacher Brunetto Latini. Two other great writers who helped lay the foundation of the Italian language with Dante were Giovanni Boccaccio (the storyteller of the Decameron) and his friend Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch); both lived in the first three quarters of the 14th century. Petrarch is widely recognized to be the greatest Italian lyric poet.

Tuscany has a wealth of Art with the gem of Florence being at its centre. Perhaps the most influential period was in Tuscany where the Renaissance artists were born. These were artists that were able to work with the same degree of talent in all forms of art from paintings to sculpture. Without doubt, the two most important artists of the time were Michelangelo, the multi-talented painter, sculptor, man of letters and architect, and Leonardo da Vinci, the equally multi-talented, painter, engineer, architect, sculptor, musician and poet.

However, there is a very long list of other outstanding artists including Piero della Francesca who was an exceptional painter; Brunelleschi who designed the dome for Florence Cathedral; Antonio and Piero Pollaiolo the painter and sculptor brothers; and many more painters like Masaccio, Verrocchio and Giotto.

Tuscany also has a few important historical musicians even though it is considered relatively poor in relation to other Italian regions for musical prowess. Some of the more well-known musicians include Jean-Baptiste Lully who was born in Florence in 1632 although he left Florence at the age of 13 and died in Paris at the age of 55. Francesco Maria Veracini (1690 – 1798) was a great violinist, Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) a composer and cellist was born in Lucca, Luigi Cerubini (1760 – 1842) a composer, and of course, the legendary Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) who was born in Lucca, lived in Torre del Lago from 1891, and created masterpieces such as La Boheme, Tosca, Madame Butterfly and Turandot.

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