Ten Books to Take to Tuscany by Donald Strachan
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1. The Lives of the Artists (Oxford World's Classics); Giorgio Vasari
Though he claimed to be writing the history of all Italian art, Giorgio knew what side his pasta was oiled on: he was a Florentine first, a Tuscan second, and everything else a distant last.
Despite the fact that many of the works he describes are now lost, there’s still no one better to guide you around the art and artists of the Tuscan Renaissance. His description of Ghiberti’s “Gates of Paradise”, the bronze east doors of Florence’s Baptistery, still haven’t been bettered 550 years later.
2. War in Val d’Orcia: An Italian War Diary 1943–1944 (Godine); Iris Origo
This compelling wartime memoir (left in its original day-by-day format) transports you to an epoch in southern Tuscany that’s quite alien to the agriturismo-with-pool time we live in. Expect German counter-attacks, escaped POWs and bombed hill-towns. La Foce, where it all happened, still stands, close to Pienza.
3. The Savage Garden (Harper); Mark Mills
By “in the style of Dan Brown” I would usually mean “ludicrous melodramatic tosh”. In this case, I’m saying the second novel from Mark Mills weaves together historical narrative, fiction, the evocative Tuscan countryside and a dash of crime and mystery to produce a perfect poolside page-turner.
4. The Divine Comedy (Oxford Classics); Dante Alighieri
I’m not going to pretend I’ve read all of this… yet. But I figure if you can’t read Dante’s epic poem while you’re here in Tuscany, you won’t be reading it at anywhere. Tuscan art’s lurid vision of the Biblical Last Judgement, from San Gimignano’s Collegiata to Florence’s cathedral, is very much Dante’s.
5. The Prince (Penguin Classics); Niccolò Machiavelli
You’ll find the often subtle, practical philosophy of the Norman Tebbit of the Middle Ages nowhere near as Machiavellian as you’re expecting. His wicked reputation is undeserved: rather than a guide to how politics should work, Machiavelli’s was a survival guide for leaders of the Republic just as real power in the peninsula moved south to Rome. If you’re truly inspired by his little book of statecraft, pay a visit to his tomb, in Florence’s Santa Croce.
6. Hawkwood: Diabolical Englishman (Faber); Frances Stonor Saunders
The English made it to ‘Chiantishire’ well before you, I, or even Tony Blair paid a visit. This microscopically researched, but never dry, history of mercenary Essex Man John Hawkwood is also the ultimate popular history of Gothic Tuscany. Florentines grew to love him so much that a trompe l’oeil fresco of “Giovanni Acuto” (by Paolo Uccello) graces the wall of the city’s cathedral. Or maybe they commissioned it just in case he came back from the dead to batter them one last time.
7. Sienese Painting: The Art of a City Republic (World of Art); Timothy Hyman
While the chubby babies and chiaroscuro of Da Vinci, Lippi and their Renaissance peers always feels accessible, the ethereal art of Siena seems to be talking a language we’ve forgotten.
There is, simply, no better interpretation of the towering achievements of Duccio, Simone Martini, the Lorenzetti’s, and others than Hyman’s definitive yet always readable book. Uniquely, most of the best of Siena’s art has never left the city, so ditch your guidebook and pack this instead.
8. The Stones of Florence (Penguin Modern Classics); Mary McCarthy
The best book ever written about Florence tells the story of the city through the lives, obsessions and fates of its extraordinary architects and artists. McCarthy writes with panache, and doesn’t pull her punches, either: Piazza della Repubblica is “the ugliest [square] in Italy”. Maybe she hadn’t been to Turin station.
9. The City of Florence (Tauris Parke); R. W. B. Lewis
This more personal, affectionate look at the city of the Renaissance has just been reissued in paperback. Lewis’s story is almost as engaging as that of the city he loves: he first entered the city as it lay in ruins after the German retreat in 1944. He compares its pitiful rubble to Coventry and Dresden - neither of which rose quite so magnificently.
10. Florence & Tuscany Day by Day (Frommer’s); Donald Strachan
I’m not suggesting my new Tuscany guidebook is up there with Hyman and McCarthy, but it does come with 34 maps and 28 self-guided tours round the food, wine, art, architecture and child-friendly highlights of the Tuscan cities, towns and countryside. Plus, it fits in your pocket... which is more than you can say for Dante.
Got the reading list and now you're looking for tips on where to go in Tuscany? Check out Donald's pick of the best day-trips from Florence.