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Of all the regions of Italy, Tuscany is
the most lauded, the most photographed and the
most written about. And, certainly, it is
the most visited, because, of course, in Tuscany
one finds the fabled city of
Florence, and
Pisa with its
leaning tower, and the fabled region of
Chianti, over-flowing with wine, and
Siena
with its raucous medieval festivals, and
Vinci, the birth
place of
Leonardo, and a
dozen - no two dozen - other storied places, all
set in a gorgeous, rolling, verdant landscape,
through which flows the Arno River
and a myriad of other streams that send their
waters westward into to the Tyrrhenian Sea.
In Tuscany, the attractions of the physical
landscape are matched by an intensely compelling
human history, and of course, by the profound
architectural and artistic works that one finds
everywhere in the Region. And then, there
is Tuscan cuisine, and Tuscan music, and Tuscan
writing, and Tuscan language - the ancient,
evolving dialect - the language of
Dante Alighieri - that is the font of modern
Italian.
Tuscany was settled by pre-historic tribal
groups, perhaps as long ago as 3000 BC.
However, the first organized civilization that
established itself in the region, between 800
and 700 BC, was that of the
Etruscans. Their lands, known as
Etruria, covered most of modern day Tuscany,
and stretched north toward
Liguria,
Piemonte
and
Emilia Romagna and south over
Umbria |
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on the west side of the Tiber River down
into
Lazio Roma.
The Etruscans established a federation of twelve
self-governing cities known as the
Dodecapolis, and of those several remain
vibrant Tuscan cities today:
Arezzo, Chiusi,
Cortona and
Volterra.
Etruscan ruins dot the landscape and innumerable
Etruscan artifacts have found their way, of
course, into greater and lesser museums all over
Tuscany, where they are on view to modern eyes.
By 200 BC, the Etruscans, after continuous
defeats on the battlefield, were completely
absorbed by an emerging
Roman Empire. The
Romans, during their time, founded
Lucca,
Pisa,
Siena, Pistoia
and Florence,
and, with their roads, forts, ports, spas and
other monuments left an indelible cultural,
social, economic, and architectural mark on
Tuscany. Like the Etruscans before them,
the physical remains of the Romans also lie
scattered around Tuscany, either in the form of
ruins, or as museum artifacts.
Roman power had dramatically declined by AD 300,
leaving their Empire weak and vulnerable.
New forces began overwhelming all that had been
Roman, including Tuscany. Much death and
destruction was wrought, though not as much as
elsewhere in Italy, but new ideas and cultural
influences also flowed in. Peace was
restored, at least for a time, when, during the
6th to 8th centuries AD, the
Longobards,
a Germanic people, established their 200 year
long hegemony over northern and central Italy.
Longobard Tuscany was administered as a Duchy,
whose overlords lived in Lucca.
After the Longobards, Tuscan history is an
intricate dance, involving a wide variety of
local and foreign secular powers and the
Roman Catholic Church, whose influence grew
increasingly from late Roman times. In
time, many Tuscan towns and cities became
powerful city states, sometimes under the
control of the Pope and his Bishops, and
sometimes under the control of kings, princes
and others lower down the aristocratic ladder.
In this political cauldron, Tuscan cities and
towns, usually aided and abetted by mercenary
forces, vied with one another, often in
destructive and bloody conflict, over land,
resources and influence. Alliances among
and between them, and outside powers, were
changeable, giving Tuscan "politics" a
well-deserved reputation for deviousness and
treachery. It is no wonder that
Machiavelli, author of The Prince, a
handbook for the exercise of power, was a native
son.
Ultimately, Florence became the dominant Tuscan
city, and it's history reflects in many ways,
the history of the entire Region and the other
important towns and cities within it. By
the 13th century, Florence had evolved into a
self-governing, oligarchical comune with banking
as its most important industry. Powerful
banking families emerged, and foremost among
them were the
Medici. By the 15th century, the "Age
of the Comune" had passed, and governance rested
with the Medici, or, from time to time, with
other dominant families. This is the
so-called "Age of the Signories".
During this extended period, from the early 14th
to the late 15th centuries, Tuscany, and
particularly Florence under the knowing
patronage of the Medici, gives birth to a
humanistic movement we now call the
Renaissance which manifested itself in art,
writing, architecture, science, and of course,
fashion. The names
associated with the Renaissance are legion:
Galileo,
Giotto,
Leonardo da Vinci,
Michelangelo,
Brunelleschi,
Donatello,
Dante and a host of others. The long
term impact of their work on the rest of Europe
and the world simply can not be underestimated.
Ultimately, through various and sundry
machinations, and through the shedding of
considerable blood and the expenditure of much
treasure, Florentine power overwhelmed that of
the other cities in the Region. All of
Tuscany was melded into a Grand Duchy, at
first under despotic Medici dukes, some benign,
some cruel. But, by the 16th century, the
Medici line had burned out and others assumed
power. The Duchy remained intact, except
for a brief period when it fell under
Napoleonic
rule in the late 1790s, until 1860, when
it was absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy,
which, by 1948, was transformed into the
modern Republic of Italy.
Now, Tuscany is crowded with tourists,
especially during the sweltering months of July
and August. They literally swarm over
Florence, Pisa, Siena, Chianti, Cortona and
other justifiably famous towns and cities within
the Region. But, there are other
industries of note: the
Carrara marble that Michelangelo used for
his David and other sculptures is mined and
exported all over the world. There is wine
from grapes (Chianti), and oil from olives
(Lucca), and the production and distribution of
a wide variety of other agricultural and food
products from other parts of the Region.
One also finds light industry in the northern
parts of Tuscany, machinery manufacturing, metal
working, plastics molding and production and the
manufacture of specialized electronic goods.
Engineering work, industrial design, graphics
design, and clothing fashion are also mainstays
of the Tuscan economy.
Tuscany, when all is said and done, is a rich,
sensual, three dimensional tapestry woven of
time and space, with sights, sounds, aromas,
flavors, and touches that penetrate the human
mind and soul, evoking memory and desire. |
