The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany (The Most Beautiful Villages)

US: Thames & Hudson, 1995. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. Stand at the outskirts of a Tuscan village and gaze across one of the most extraordinarily rich and varied landscapes in Europe. There are vineyards p roducing the finest wine, and miles of wild mountain scenery; almost any vi ew will take in other villages, clustering around the upper reaches of some hill or the russet roofs of a fortified town deep in a valley. Tuscany has its grand citiesâ??Florence and Sienaâ??but their distinctive elegance is found on a more intimate scale in numerous small towns and villages. There is a richness in these small places, of architecture and artistic lif e, which lends them an interest and complexity shared by no other rural com munities in Europe. Their sense of civilization is deep and ancient, but it is the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance which have left their mark, te mpting travelers and settlers from abroad from the time of the Grand Tour t o the present day. Here is the village of Settignano, where Michelangelo li ved and which also boasts the glorious Renassiance garden of the Villa Gamb eraia. Piero della Francesca's lovely Madonna del Parto decorates the tiny cemetery chapel of Monterchi. The medieval towers of San Gimignano loom ove r the town's squares and streets like the backdrop to some surreal stage se t. James Bentley has chosen thirty-seven villages and small towns, both for their intrinsic beauty and for the part they have played in Tuscan history and culture. Page after page of Hugh Palmer's magnificent color photographs evoke the beauty and the wonder of this land. For the visitor, there are specially compiled listings of hotels, restaurants, and festivals to complete t.