What's Up Tuscany English

Despite Tuscans being completely in love with the past of their homeland, we haven't had the chance to talk about "big history" events, the ones that get into the books and are taught in schools. There is a reason for this: history hasn't been kind to this land. After being the centre of Western civilisation for half a millennia, the tide of history left Tuscany behind. When world trade shifted fr...

Not sure if you believe it or not, but this week is supposed to be the most depressing of the entire calendar year. Blue Monday might be just a clever marketing ploy but the whole January Blues is something that is quite real throughout the Northern Hemisphere. What was the solution that our ancestors came up with? Why not choose this time of the year and make it so that it is not only allowed to...

We're back in our little studio in the Arno valley after almost three weeks in London, where I finally had the chance to spoil my 18-month-old nephew, which I had only seen once due to the pandemic. This gave me the chance to think about my homeland and to appreciate how many beautiful things and charming traditions can be found literally everywhere. To show that this is no empty bragging, think a...

Christmas is now around the corner and everyone is getting ready for the most important holiday of the year. In Tuscany, every family has its own recipe for the perfect holiday meal, but can have some problems when it comes to Christmas Eve, when a still popular religious precept imposes to serve no meat. While there are endless variations on the theme, we chose to present you with our very own pe...

People around the world go absolutely bananas for Christmas, coming up with all sorts of traditional celebrations for the holiday. The relationship between us Tuscans and Christmas is a bit contentious, so to speak. It's not that we hate the holiday, it's just that it's too cold to properly celebrate. Now, Easter, that's our thing. Despite this, there are several places around the region that have...

As long-time listeners know for sure, we're not fans of the picture-perfect image of Tuscany that is so popular with foreigners. According to us, in order to figure out the real character of this land you have to look away from the manicured countryside and delve deep into the more savage parts of the land we call home. The wild region that lies across the Southern border with Latium has become in...

If you happen to travel on Tuscan back roads on a sunny day, chances are you'll bump into a group of cycling enthusiasts. The love story between this land and the bicycle dates back to the glory days of the sport, when it was the most popular in the land. While the names of the champions are known by almost everyone, not many know that probably the greatest of the lot, Gino Bartali, was responsibl...

We Tuscans like to brag about the fact that every rock in our land can tell a fascinating story. While many other parts of the world have amazing vistas, beautiful buildings or artistic masterpieces, what makes this land unique is the incredible density of such beauties. Even the most uninspiring tracts of land, such as the flats south of the Pisa airport, have had a major role in history. In the...

Not many foreigners are aware of it, but Tuscans have quite the reputation of being massive fans of practical jokes. While usually we don't care much about what other people think about us, this time the reputation is rather well deserved. Every Tuscan secretly dreams of being able to pull out massive pranks and make fun of everyone. Not many are actually able to turn this dream into reality but w...

Very few places in the world are as enamoured with their history as is Tuscany. While this has slowed down progress in many ways, it has also allowed us to keep alive many traditions that date back to the antiquity. One of the most interesting is the alabaster carving industry that has survived in Volterra since the VIII century BC. It may not be as vibrant or creative as it was in the past, but t...

Despite being seen as sort of a foreign object, there are a few things that everyone loves about Leghorn. Even the harshest critic must admit that their favourite drink, the "ponce alla livornese" is actually quite extraordinary. This special blend of espresso coffee, a local version of rum, sugar and lemon has become almost synonymous with the city itself. It is quite fitting, considered that its...

Autumn in Tuscany is a bit of a mixed bag for locals. Some hate the rain and the sudden cold spells, others adore this time of year. They're not looking forward to pumpkin spice anything. The smell of the Tuscan autumn is that of mushrooms, a real passion for many of us. While many adore porcini or other varieties, the king of mushrooms is definitely the white truffles, especially those that grow...

Despite what many people think, not all Italians own a Ferrari or are obsessed with fast cars. Passion for cars and engineering isn't uncommon, though, but not many people are able to turn their dreams into reality. There are exceptions to the rule. One of them happens to come from my hometown. His story is quite remarkable. 47 year old Luca Mazzanti went from working in his father's classic cars...

While many Tuscan towns claim to have had a bigger role in history than they actually had, Pietrasanta is right in boasting to have had the inventor of the internal combustion engine born there, 200 years ago. While not many have heard about his story, the engine that powers most of our world today was invented not in Germany but in Tuscany, almost 20 years before Otto and Benz patented their vers...

While the weather holds up, we've officially entered autumn, which means we'll have to wait almost a year before being able to get back to the beach and enjoy some sea and sun. If today a beach holiday is almost integral to the Tuscan idea of summer, this wasn't always the case. In the past centuries people would have found the idea utterly bizarre. This modern concept has a much longer history th...

For our 50th episode, we take a stroll down memory lane, going back to a special time in the history of Florence when the city, as a result of an international city, became the capital of the newborn Kingdom of Italy. What was thought as a permanent solution in order to avoid the fact that Rome is the seat of the Catholic Church, lasted only six years and caused massive upheavals to the cradle of...

There is a part of Tuscany so wild and different from the rest of the region that many of us don't consider it to be a part of it. For centuries, Maremma was synonymous with disease, danger, hard living - many old Tuscans still use its name as a curse. This reputation was well deserved, as the area was plagued with brigands and highwaymen. The most famous of them, Domenico Tiburzi, became such a n...

Not many know that my family's favourite seaside resort, Tirrenia, didn't exist until the 1930s, when between Pisa and Livorno existed only a large swamp riddled with criminals and prostitutes. The town was created from scratch by the Fascist regime, that wanted to build there an upscale resort. In order to convince people to shell out the big money to buy the expensive villas, they came up with a...

This week we will talk about one of the most prestigious research institutions on the planet, at the forefront of a very promising research field, gravitational waves. Not many know that it's in the middle of the countryside outside Cascina, in the lower Valdarno. We attended a public meeting with two lead scientists of the European Gravitational Observatory, better known as VIRGO, and learned man...

Tuscany is almost synonymous with its unique bread without salt, with its thick and well-cooked crust. People always ask why we're the only ones in Italy not to use salt in bread but this stereotype is quite incorrect. Sure, most of us have the traditional "pane sciapo" on their desk but there are many other types of bread that are quite popular in our region. That's why we have decided to bring y...

The woods and mountains of Garfagnana are very different from the typical image of Tuscany that many have. According to locals, their wild beauty also hides many secrets and a whole lot of supernatural creatures. Traditions and legends have been rediscovered lately and there are many that believe that this ancient land would host many creatures. Some are funny, a bit mischievous, others are defini...

Tuscans are generally considered a very down-to-earth, sceptic people but we're not immune from being fascinated with certain popular superstitions, especially when they should bring us some luck. In this week's episode we will present you with some of the most interesting rituals that, according to believers, are guaranteed to bring you good luck. Many were born around Tuscan universities so that...

One of the most terrifying questions for a Tuscan is what are the local dishes that every tourist should taste before going back home. Aside from the greatest hits like ribollita or cacciucco there is an enormity of thousands of local recipes that not even a born and raised Tuscan know and appreciate as they deserve. As our mission is to illustrate what it means to be a Tuscan in 2021, we decided...

Many of the words Tuscans use every day are quite unique and incomprehensible to anyone not born and raised here. Aside from causing problems to foreigners, the funny thing is that not many Tuscans are aware of their origins and how they became so popular. Many of their stories are quite fascinating. That's why this week we have decided to present you with five words you need to know to get the mo...

Despite Tuscany is one of the regions in the world where human presence is more visible, there are places out of time, shrouded in a mystical, sometimes unsettling, atmosphere. Garfagnana has always been a land rich in legends, myths and stories passed down for generations. Lately, though, one of its mountains have become famous as a sort of interstellar crossroads, where sightings of unidentified...