Archive for 'Museums & Galleries'

Who hasn’t heard of the great Galileo Galilei? He was a mathematician, physicist and philosopher but was probably most famous for his astronomical discoveries. In 1615 he fiercely advocated the Copernican system which correctly stated that that the Earth and other planets orbited the sun, opposing the Catholic belief that the sun and other planets orbited Earth. The leaders of the Church accused him of heresy and ordered him to remain under house arrest for the rest of his days. He died nine years later.

His legacy has lived on and today he is popularly known as ‘The father of modern physics’ and ‘the father of modern astronomy’ His contributions to the fields of science and mathematics have been outstanding and he will be forever cherished as one of the world’s greatest minds.

Galilei Galileo was born in Pisa in 1564 and there are many fascinating landmarks here erected in his honour. If you're holidaying in Pisa during your next vacation to Tuscany then you should certainly take a few hours to walk in the footsteps of this great man!

If you have an interest in learning about history and some of the masters of the Renaissance arts then you may have heard about the famous poet called Francesco Petrarch who invented the sonnet. A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that can use any number of formal rhyme schemes to be constructed.

He was born in Arezzo in 1304 and was commonly known simply as ‘Petrarch’. His birthplace was a source of great inspiration to him and is even quoted as saying that Arezzo is the place where he ‘saw the light’ and wrote much of his poetry.

The city of Arezzo offers a great range of holiday villas for tourists who wish to stay here for a day or two. Visit the Casa del Petrarca museum here that is believed to be built over the ruins of Petrarch’s birth house in Arezzo.

There is a huge selection of intriguing mine sites to visit in Tuscany where tourists can learn all about what was once a thriving industry here. Anyone with a keen interest in history and geography would love a visit to mining museums and accompanying tours to sites in the Mount Amiata district, Valdicastello and Cavriglia to name but a few.

There is a wide range of holiday villas in Pietrasanta in the valdicastello area to choose from if visitors would like to spend some or all of their holiday here. A tour around these underground worlds gives tourists an absorbing insight into what life was like for miners during the boom period when metals like iron, silver, lead and copper were in massive demand.

If you have an interest in the history of Tuscany’s mining industry that extracted tonnes of copper, iron, lead and silver, especially during the highly demanding Renaissance era, then you'd love a tour of some museums that display more detailed information on nearby mine sites here!

Visitors wishing to stay around one of these exciting tourist attractions have plenty of holiday villas and other comfortable rental accommodation available to them in and around the towns of Castelnuovo, Montecatini, Seravezza, Levigliani and Massa Marittima to name but a few.



There are some spectacular mining museums in Montecatini in Val di Cecina and an archaeological mining museum in San Silvestro which provides a detailed account of mining activities that took place here throughout the Middle Ages until only a few decades ago. They give the tourists an insight into the life of a lowly paid miner and the dangers they faced in their day to day work.

If you want to try something different on your next holiday to Tuscany then why not book a few tours to explore the depths of the elaborate cave systems that exist here? Visit some in Sovana in Grosetto province or a collection of huge caves in the Apuan Alps in Lucca province. Why not choose from a great selection of holiday rentals with great reviews in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana where there are plenty of excellent eateries and tourist attractions nearby.

Begin the day with a trip to the exciting ‘Citta del Tufo’ park in Sovana where tourists will see pathways cut deep into the soft volcanic rock called tufo that dates back to Etruscan times.

It is believed that they were used as both a drainage system and a site where religious rites took place. There are many Etruscan tombs here, religious symbols carved into the rock and there’s even a temple housing a tomb of what would have been a rich and powerful Etruscan person. Visit the nearby Tomba del Sileno which is the only circular tomb here. It was discovered in 1963 fully intact along with funerary items and urns that were left there too.