Why Tuscany is a photographer’s haven

Coming home with great fun photos of your holiday is all part and parcel of a good trip. However you may be more seriously interested in recording the wonderful areas you visit, and taking the best shots possible with your equipment. This is when choosing a good location is important. There are many wonderful places in Europe that you can visit, and Tuscany is up there with the best.

Photographers have long been enchanted by Tuscany’s traditional, rustic villages steeped in history and culture. The surrounding hills are covered with vineyards producing some of the most fabulous wines in the world. Not content with vineyards alone, Tuscany also has some seriously dramatic coastline. It is no wonder that it is one of the most visited Italian regions. The fortified villages, castles and photographically perfect small towns display their history, in every stone, winding alley and open plaza.

Many of these places are built on the high points of their locality, and thus offer stunning views in all directions across the lower lands; Chianti is a prime example of this. Casale Marittimo is another area that you should visit with your camera, if you want to see medieval villages where time seems to stand still. Anghiari is a quintessential Tuscan hill town of narrow streets with wonderful window boxes full to overflowing with flowers, and the scent of roses and jasmine.

Tuscany is a land of rich variation. Head to the north west and the Garfagnana region, for an even more unspoilt and beautifully wild landscape. The Garfagnana region is the home to two natural park areas, and has plenty of scenic winding roads leading to medieval villages high on vantage points. Barga has been named as one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. What more incentive behind the lens do you need?

It is not by accident that many filmmakers have used Tuscany for the backdrop of their movies, including Gladiator with Russell Crowe, Stealing Beauty with Liv Tyler, La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful) and The English Patient. Even parts of the Twilight saga used the streets and alleys of the fourteenth century historical centre of Volterra.

If Tuscany is good enough for the best filmmakers, then it has to be good enough for photographers – amateur and professional alike.