Italy - Mugello| Italy - Mugello | | Print | |
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15 JULY 2012 USEFUL INFOA pearl set in a region rich of history, art and culture - this is how we can define the area of the Mugello happily immersed in the sweet design of the Tuscan hills. The area is situated among the Apennine watershed and presents such different surroundings and aspects that go from the sharp beauty of the higher areas to the hundred villages of the Sieve Valley. It is a varied territory still uncontaminated in a great part, rich in history, culture, art. Here we can find traces of a history worth of a big European city. It is just enough remembering some noble Mediaeval families - the Guidi and the Ubaldini - who soon entered in competition with Florence which was expanding and wanted to build "new lands" (one of these was in fact Scarperia). Many world famous artists like Giotto, Beato Angelico, Andea del Castagno were born here and here they developed their talent. The Medici family had its origin here and in fact it left numerous signs on the territory which demonstrate the bond that existed between the political and territorial expansion and the forms of artistic expressions. In this sense, Scarperia sums up all this in its centre: there are direct structural witnesses of great charm and impact like the "Palazzo dei Vicari" and the great art-craft tradition of blades and knives which has made the new Medicaen land founded on "die octo" 1306 famous all over the world since the 15th century, also thanks to the Giogo road which then passed through the inhabited village.It is a tradition which continues thanks to the ability of the local cutlers and which shows itself up at the Exhibition Market for cutting tools (the first fortnight in June) and the competition for the Banner among the districts (August - September) also characterized by an extraordinary commemoration in costume on "Reanaissance Day" to which over five hundred personages in costume participate.
HOW TO GET THERE From Florence, you can take the State Road 302 "Faentina" via Fiesole, Polcanto, Borgo San Lorenzo, and Scarperia. Take this road even if coming from the exit Firenze Sud on the A1 motorway. Follow road signs for "Stadio" and then for Faentina road. If you travel across the Appennines (Passo del Muraglione or Passo della Colla), when you reach Borgo San Lorenzo follow the signs to Luco and Scarperia. Florence airport is 30 kms. (18 miles) from the circuit; Forlì and Bologna airports are 100 Kms. (60 miles) away; Pisa 120 Kms. (72 miles). There is a train service from Florence - Santa Maria Novella (main) Station to Borgo San Lorenzo (5 kms./ 3 miles) from the circuit. The distance is approximately 30 Kms./18 miles. HISTORY & GEOTuscany is a region in Central Italy. It has an area of 22,990 square kilometres (8,880 sq mi) and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence. Tuscany is known for its beautiful landscapes, its rich artistic legacy and vast influence on high culture. Tuscany is widely regarded as the true birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and has been home to some of the most influential people in history, such as Petrarch, Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Amerigo Vespucci and Puccini. Due to this, the region has several museums, most of which (such as the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace) are found in Florence, but others in towns and smaller villages. Tuscany has a unique culinary tradition, and is famous for its wines (most famous of which are Chianti, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino). Six Tuscan localities have been designated World Heritage Sites: the historical center of Florence (1982), the historical center of Siena (1995), the square of the Cathedral of Pisa (1987), the historical center of San Gimignano (1990), the historical center of Pienza (1996) and the Val d'Orcia (2004). Furthermore, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves. This makes Tuscany and its capital city Florence very popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of tourists every year. Florence itself receives an average of 10 million tourists a year by placing the city as one of the most visited in the world (in 2007, the city became the world's 46th most visited city, with over 1.715 million arrivals).
GEOGRAPHY Roughly triangular in shape and situated between the northern part of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the central Apennines, Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometers (8,877.6 sq mi). Surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few (but very fertile) plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country. Whereas mountains cover 25% of the total area — 5,770 square kilometers (2,227.8 sq mi), and plains a mere 8.4% of the total area, almost all coinciding with the valley of the Arno River, summing for 1,930 square kilometers (745.2 sq mi), — overall hills make up two-thirds (66.5%) of the region's total area, covering 15,292 square kilometers (5,904.3 sq mi). The climate, which is fairly mild in the coastal areas, is harsher and rainy in the interior, with considerable fluctuations in temperature between winter and summer[3] giving the region a soil building active freeze-thaw cycle in part accounting for the region once having served as a key breadbasket of ancient Rome
HISTORY Soon after absorbing Etruria, Rome established the cities of Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace. These developments included extensions of existing roads, introduction of aqueducts and sewers, and the construction of many buildings, both public and private. The Roman civilization in the West collapsed in the fifth century and the region was left to the Goths, and others. In the sixth century, the Longobards arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their Duchy of Tuscia. In the leading city of Florence, the republic was from 1434 onward dominated by the increasingly monarchical Medici family. Initially, under Cosimo, Piero the Gouty, Lorenzo and Piero the Unfortunate, the forms of the republic were retained and the Medici ruled without a title, usually without even a formal office. These rulers presided over the Florentine Renaissance. There was a return to the republic from 1494 to 1512, when first Girolamo Savonarola then Piero Soderini oversaw the state. Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici retook the city with Spanish forces in 1512, before going to Rome to become Pope Leo X. Florence was dominated by a series of papal proxies until 1527 when the citizens declared the republic again, only to have it taken from them again in 1530 after a siege by an Imperial and Spanish army. At this point Pope Clement VII and Charles V appointed Alessandro de' Medici as the first formally hereditary ruler. The Sienese commune was not incorporated into Tuscany until 1555, and during the 15th century Siena enjoyed a cultural 'Sienese Renaissance' with its own more conservative character. Lucca remained an independent Republic until 1847 when it became part of Grand Duchy of Tuscany by the will of its people. Piombino was another minor independent state, under both Spanish and Tuscan influence. In the 1400s, the Medicis, who ruled Florence, annexed surrounding land to create modern Tuscany. The War of Polish Succession in the 1730s meant the transfer of Tuscany from the Medicis to Francis, Duke of Lorraine and Holy Roman Emperor. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon, Tuscany was inherited by the Austrian Empire as successor to the Holy Roman Empire. In the Italian Wars of Independence in the 1850s, Tuscany was transferred from Austria to the newly unified nation of Italy. Under Benito Mussolini the area came under the dominance of local National Fascist Party leader Dino Perrone Compagni. Following the fall of Mussolini and the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Italy, the Italian Social Republic was established in the northern regions of Italy, with its de facto border at the Gothic Line, a defensive position just north of Florence. Following the end of the Social Republic, and the transition from a Kingdom to the modern Italian Republic, Tuscany once more flourished as a cultural center of Italy.
ART The region contains numerous museums and art galleries, most of which store some of the world's most precious and valuable works of art. Such musuems include the Uffizi, which keeps Botticelli's Birth of Venus, the Pitti Palace, and the Bargello, to name but a few. But most of the frescos, sculptures and paintings in Tuscany are also held in the region's abundant churches and cathedrals, such as Florence Cathedral, Siena Cathedral, Pisa Cathedral and the Collegiata di San Gimignano. HOTEL
LOCATION: ROOMS ARE EQUIPPED WITH: DISTANCE FROM THE CIRCUIT: 18 Km / 25 minutes
INN HOTEL *** LOCATION: ROOMS ARE EQUIPPED WITH: DISTANCE FROM THE CIRCUIT: 15 Km / 15-20 minutes
HOTEL LA SELVA *** LOCATION: ROOMS ARE EQUIPPED WITH: DISTANCE FROM THE CIRCUIT: 18 Km / 25 minutes
HOTEL MARRANI *** LOCATION: ROOMS ARE EQUIPPED WITH: DISTANCE FROM THE CIRCUIT: 8 Kms / 10 minutes |
