What's Up Tuscany English

We've been saying from day one how Tuscany is so rich of beauties that has a legend under every rock but even us Tuscans know only a fraction of those amazing stories. This week we've decided to tell you five of them, coming from all corners of our region. Some are really extraordinary, from the tale of the Pisan Joan of Arc that saved the city from a Saracen raid around the year 1000 to the quirk...

Now that summer is in full swing, many are trying to figure out how to spend some time in a cooler place to recharge the batteries. According to many reports, Tuscan families are looking to escape the hustle and bustle and spend their holidays in the many small towns that dot our region. No one seems to consider reviving the traditional summer holiday of the last century, when Italians spent the e...

A very special episode this week, influenced by the peace and quiet of my small house in the hills of Deep Tuscany. The boredom of small town life has made me think about my father, who sadly passed away three years ago, taken away by an intestinal aneurysm in literally five minutes. He didn't like this small town at all, despite being born in a slightly bigger town in an even more harsh and remot...

A simple Google search reveals how much the perception of Tuscans around Italy has changed. We've been described as "bad mannered", "mean" and "unfunny", a veritable U-turn from just 30 years ago, when our accent was considered charming and our penchant for making fun of everything was quite cool. Have we really changed or is this only a result of the success of Tuscan comedians like Roberto Benig...

Many lovers of our region envy us "natives" as we are lucky enough to live a few miles from a wealth of historic, architectural and natural landmarks unparalleled anywhere else. Sometimes, though, living in a postcard-picture region has a long list of drawbacks that can turn your life into a nightmare. Ask the residents of the many towns and villages that are touched from mass tourism for referenc...

In a few hours, Italy will be swept by football fever again, when the Euro 2020 tournament will kick off in Rome. We have decided to tell you a story from the past, when a few months before the USA 1994 World Cup, the Italian national team was defeated in a friendly match against a fourth division team. The historic 2-1 in the Coverciano Federal Training Centre allowed Pontedera to beat Arrigo Sac...

This week we will tell you a different, more personal story, that brings us back to the roaring 1980s, when the right brand was enough to make you feel at peace with the world. The recent bankruptcy of the historic Tuscan brand Rifle and the sad sale of the remaining inventory for a couple euros brings us back a lot of memories to those of us who were going through adolescence in their heyday. Bac...

After our trip across the legends of our distant past, this week we will revisit the much more recent past of Tuscan sports with one of its most controversial episodes, game 5 of the Italian national basketball championship of the 1988/89 season. From that May 27th of 32 years ago, everyone still remember the buzzer beater of Andrea Forti and those two points that would have earned Libertas Livorn...

In this week's episode we will tell you some of the most fascinating stories linked to the ghosts that, apparently, would haunt many of the stately homes and castles that dot our countryside. The tales of these young women are inevitably tragic and harrowing, suspended as they are between myth, legend and real history. Some of them are in fact historical figures, even if the legends surrounding th...

In this week's episode we will tackle the complicated issue of the extreme localism that involves towns big and small in our region in a perennial battle of mockery and slights. If the roots of these rivalries are well identified when it comes to the feud between Pisa and Leghorn or between Siena and Florence, when we get to much smaller towns, it becomes almost impossible to explain why people do...

After a long spring break, we come back with a new episode and a peculiar story, that of a small village that came to fame after centuries of peace and quiet when it drowned under the water of a hydroelectric dam reservoir back in 1947. The tale of Fabbriche di Careggine, hamlet of less than 200 souls that went under the lake created by the new Vagli dam, has been made popular by the fact that it...

As the pandemic continues to have most of Europe under strict lockdown, for the second year in a row all the celebrations and festivals that make Easter in Tuscany a truly unique experience have been cancelled. In order to lift our spirits and maybe offer some hints for a future travel, today we have decided to illustrate some of the most famous festivals across our region, from the famous ones su...

The economic crisis, a constantly shifting marketplace and the change of consumers' habits are forcing many Tuscan winemakers to innovate their production techniques in order to expand their market share. Responses vary wildly: there are those that seek a return to a more natural approach to grow grapes next to those that come up with cutting edge techniques such as aging their wine 40 meters unde...

In today's episode we take the chance of the huge wave of celebrations across Italy to mark the 700 years from the death of Dante Alighieri to look into the unique relationship between Tuscany and its most famous poet. Aside from the many events that will be organized all over the region in the next weeks and months, the bond between everyday Tuscans and Dante is much more intimate, almost viscera...

In today's episode we will be talking about a phenomenon that is gaining traction in the last few months, the escape from the city to resettle in a small village. If there are many that are taking advantage of remote working to move to communities much more tightly knit, those charming towns have their own set of very real problems. Pandemic aside, the lack of infrastructure could turn the dream i...

In today's episode we talk about how Tuscany is getting ready to get the most from the return of international travel that could be happening this summer thanks to the progress of the vaccination campaign and the introduction of the COVID pass by the European Union. While many operators are still struggling, there have been a series of innovative initiatives across the region that are becoming mor...

In today's episode we talk about how the incomprehensible war between the airports of Pisa and Florence could precipitate the situation in a sector devastated by lockdowns and the collapse of international air travel. The possible sale of the company that handles ground services in the Galilei and Vespucci airports could be the first step towards the acquisition of the two hubs from an internation...

In today's episode we will talk about the very low-key celebrations of the 75 year anniversary of Vespa, the scooter that made famous Piaggio and the city of Pontedera. The celebrations planned for April 23 and 24 by Piaggio and the municipality have been cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. Maybe it's for the best, as both the company and the Lower Valdarno city are light years away from their re...

In today's episode we deal with the thorny issue of generalized corruption in ample areas of public administration in our region. Even if the flashier cases like the arrest of San Vincenzo's mayor for irregularities in public tenders are the ones that make more noise, the real damage to public/private relationships are the many minor ones. According to us, rather than crucifying the few black shee...

In today's episode we'll talk again of the so-called "Lupin-Judas", the house robber that is terrorizing the residents of the small Capraia island. Another home invasion against a Milanese manager, even if many think this is just a copycat. The collective psychosis continues to spread anyway. As far as we're concerned, it won't be limiting our freedom that will make us safer, but working more with...

In today's episode we will talk about the terminal crisis that is hitting small shops and how many, including the mafia, are trying to profit from the suffering of those who are not able anymore to fight against the uncertainty, the turnaround collapse and the eternal lockdowns. As far as we're concerned, the only alternative to the desertification of city centres is to open up everything, right n...

First episode of the new format of our podcast, where we will go in depth on a single story from our region each day. Today we talk about the war launched by Tuscan mayors against benches and, in general, against "unlawful gatherings" in the street or in public parks. The escalation brought many mayors to close public parks or threaten with serious fines those who stop to talk with friends on the...

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