Exploring the Beautiful villages of Tuscany

Everywhere you go in Tuscany there are enchanting towns, villages, hills, castles and vineyards. In fact, one of the best things about Tuscany is getting lost on the small roads and discovering new hidden gems, and beautiful and historic places where we you feel a timeless atmosphere, different from everywhere else in the world. Here are three of the dozens of communities in Tuscany that are well worth visiting.

Anghiari pops into view as you go round a hairpin bend, situated in the stunning landscape of Valtiberina, which hasn’t been affected by mass tourism. With its impressive walls, winding streets and stone steps, tunnels, towers and commanding views over the Tiber Valley, this town is the quintessence of the perfect Tuscan hill settlement. Its tidy narrow streets and clean squares are highly decorated all summer with geraniums, jasmine and roses.

In 1440, on the flat land below the fortifications, a Florentine army routed the Milanese. Leonardo da Vinci painted the event, but the picture was lost until authorities supposedly found it behind another fresco in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The town is well known for ceramics and furniture restoration, and has its own antiques fair each month. The famous Busatti textiles are made here; you can hear the mills running if you listen carefully.

Barga is a place you must-see if exploring northern Tuscany. This medieval settlement is a real hidden gem because of its situation in the Tuscan-Apennine hills, overlooked by the Pania Della Croce, in the Apuan Alps. This place is really delightful because of its historical, artistic and tourist importance. You don’t get an award entitled “One of the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy”, by the Orange Flag Touring Club, (a noted standard) without it being something special!

Barga dates back to the early middle Ages, and has remained mostly unchanged ever since, with small streets spreading between the asymmetrical buildings, not unlike a spider’s web. Its castle is more or less intact due to sympathetic restoration.

Montefollonico lies on top of a high hill facing Montepulciano, and is an extremely characteristic medieval village of Tuscany, away from the normal tourist routes. Montefollonico is famous for Vin Santo, a Tuscan wine, noted for being very sweet tasting. Located between the Val d’Orcia and the Val di Chiana valleys, its isolation is definitely part of its appeal. Its charming twisting alleys, colourful flower decorated buildings and impressive terracotta walls, guarded by seven towers, are well worth a trip out to explore.