Cloister

The tiny town of Torre, invisible on most maps of Tuscany, has a little abby with a tiny cloister which provides warm sun and cool shade and the classic patterns of both to travelers and townspeople as it has for a thousand years.

Brunelleschi's Sky

Landing at the little Florence airport and looking toward the city one is welcomed by the amazing profile of the duomo of Ste. Maria Dei Fiore at a magical distance backed by low Tuscan mountains and a high sky of clouds.

You are looking at the greatest achievement of the Renaissance architect and engineer, Filippo Brunelleschi who was turned down as sculptor of the doors of the Baptistry and pulled off this triumph instead: a perfect focal point for his town and its surroundings, the greatest dome since the Pantheon.

San Galgano's Chapel    

This little Romanesque chapel with it's red and honey colored striped dome houses the remains of an Italian saint whose story is the mirror image of King Arthur's. The little knight, San Galgano said to the Archangel Michael as he thrust his sword downward, "I could sooner place my sword in this stone than become a saint." But there his sword is, to this day, buried in the stone. The chapel was built above it. Many Italians choose to marry here and it is a popular place for family gatherings and in summer, opera in the nearby roofless abby of San Galgano.

Tuscan Mud

Here are the baby Belted Sienese pigs raised as part of the antique breeding program at Spannocchia in Tuscany. Standing in their lovely terra cotta mud they are graphic delights.