Giovanni is an English-speaking driver-guide who leads tours by minibus and car all over Tuscany, including wine tours and specialising in shore excursions from the cruise ship port of Livorno, and in tours of the Cinque Terre and Portofino.

Saffron is grown in small quantities but high quality in Italy where it is used in a number of regional dishes, most famously Risotto alla Milanese. The prized “Aquila” saffron (zafferano dell’Aquila) is characterised by elevated safranal and crocin content, shape, unusually pungent aroma and intense colour.

The Tuscany holiday accommodations listed here are located in both the countryside and the small towns and villages of the Chianti Classico wine territory. They are often near wineries but are not working vineyards themselves.

Armed robbery (“mugging”) and violent theft are relatively rare in Italy, but Naples and Rome are right up there with Barcelona and Madrid as the pickpocket capitals of the world. Florence and other tourist cities are also plagued by pickpockets in Italy.

Fractional ownership of a vacation apartment is similar to a timesharebut with more flexibility and better equity. Borgo di Vagli fractional ownership club near Cortona on the Tuscan-Umbrian border provides access to luxury accommodation in a restored mediaeval village at a fraction of the price of owning and maintaining your own residence in Tuscany.

The main Tuscan cities such as Florence, Pisa, Lucca and Sienna plus many of the smaller towns are connected by the railway network, but a great many towns and villages are served only by buses or by no public transport at all.

Our recommended minibus drivers for airport, railway station, cruise ship port transfers to and from your accommodation in Tuscany and to and from all points in Italy. Plus larger vehicles for wedding parties and groups.

Organic food production and cooking is popular in Italy and, indeed, the home of the movements for Slow Food and Slow Cities is also the European leader in organic farming, with around 45,000 organic farms, 2,300 of them in Tuscany. Germany, where Bio-Produkte are enormously popular, comes in second.

Five facts you need to know about traffic violations, ticketing and fines in Italy:
1) Local authorities around the world generate a significant proportion of their revenue from fines levied for infractions of various non-penal laws, notably driving regulations.

www.greve-in-chianti.com Complete information for the Chianti zone centred on the market town ofGreve in Chianti. Chianti vacation rentals and farm house holiday homes, with maps, pictures, festival dates and things to see.

Italy is one of the leading countries in the world market of leatherwear, shoes and other leather goods and Tuscany is famous for its artisanal crafts and products. The quality of the handmade leatherware is very high and, generally, based on a long, local tradition.

A very enjoyable part of your vacation in Tuscany can be to taste a range of Tuscan wines at the wineries that actually produce them. How to visit more than one winery, “taste” more than one wine, and still be able to get safely from one winery to the next? You could designate one of your group to not have any wine, but a great alternative is to hire a car with a driver-guide for a whole day.

One of the pleasures of a vacation in Tuscany is the wide selection of comfortable accommodations that are available. Holiday lodgings range from Tuscan villas, through farmhouses (case coloniche), vacation apartments to B&B rooms.

“Tuscany“ is the name of one of the larger of the 20 Regions of Italy (similar to states in the USA and counties in the UK), and is located in northern peninsular Italy, bordering the Tyrrhenian sea to the west. In Italian, Tuscany is Toscana, and its capital is Florence (Firenze, in Italian). Tuscany is roughly triangular in shape with an area of about 23,000 sq km (8,878 sq mi) and is divided into ten Tuscan provinces.

There are many experiences to be had in Tuscany that are extremely popular among children, and none is more exciting for them than to go for an excursion through the Tuscan countryside in a horse-drawn wagon!