Florence and Tuscany

The majestic landscapes and rich culture of Tuscany have fostered the inspiration and settings for literature since the works of the Florentine poets Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio in the 14th century and have been a magnet for expatriate writers since the arrival in Florence of the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer in 1372. With its historic cities and villages, its countryside and coastline, its treasury of art covering five millennia and, above all, its long heritage of authorship, Tuscany is one of the most celebrated and well-travelled regions in the world. As the source of the Italian language and birthplace of the Renaissance, this region lies at the cultural heart of Italy and has been irresistible to writers for six centuries. Florence and Tuscany: A Literary Guide for Travellers takes the literary-minded traveller (either in person or in an armchair) on a vivid and illuminating journey, retracing the footsteps of writers who have lived and worked in, or been inspired by, the history and landscape of Tuscany, from John Milton and Thomas Gray, to the Brownings, the Shelleys, Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Ezra Pound, Charles Dickens, D.H. Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, E.M. Forster, Muriel Spark, and many others. For anyone who has fallen under a Tuscan spell, as so many have before, this book - the first of its kind - will prove enthralling reading.