Do you know tuscany

The second stop on our journey takes us to a real gem of Romanesque architecture located in the heart of the Montalcino territory. Evidently, the undisputed home of good wine, which is expressed here in Sant 'Antimo DOC white wine and red, and the most famous and ancient Vin Santo Occhio Di Pernice, and which also contains many other secrets to reveal. Beatesca.com will tell you the story of the Sant'Antimo Abbey. (more…)

It was the year 1555 when Montalcino, because of its unique structure, became the last bastion of republican freedom in Italy. In fact, starting precisely in that year, Montalcino became the capital of the Republic of Siena until 1559 when the keys of the city were passed from the French state to the Spanish state. For the city, that moment represented the end of a great ordeal which saw it as "prisoner" of thousands and thousands of soldiers from Spain, France and Germany for over four centuries. (more…)

The town of Pienza was founded by Enea Silvio Piccolomini, born on 18 October 1405 to a noble Sienese Family, which had over the years fallen on hard times, and for political reasons fled Siena to seek refuge in the city of Corsignano, in Val D'Orcia. Enea was born in this small village where there was a small Romanesque Church and a Praetorian Place. Once Enea reached adulthood he moved to the city of Siena where he began his law studies, thanks to which he found his first job as a lawyer for Cardinal Capranica, who brought him to Basel. It was in this new role that his Repulican personality came to light, and from there he began a diplomatic career that took him around Europe, coming into contact with very different cultures and civilizations. (more…)

The Platonic Academy in Florence was a driving force of Neoplatonism during the Renaissance period. The Platonic Academy was founded in Florence, Villa Medici at Careggi, in 1462 by Marsilio Ficino, following the orders of Cosimo de Medici. A group of philosophers, writers, and artists worked together to reopen the ancient Athenian Academy of Plato. Among the leading proponents of the Neoplatonic academy in addition to Ficino, were Pico della Mirandola, Poliziano, Nicholas Cusano, Leon Battista Alberti, Cristoforo Landino, and the most important members of the Medici family, Giuliano de Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent. (more…)

A short walk from Piazza del Campo is Piccolomi Palace also known as the Papesse Palace in honor of Caterina Piccolomini, the sister of Pope Pius Il, born Enea Silvio Piccolomini, founder of Pienza. Following the project of Bernardo Rossellino, the favorite architect of the Pope, the work began in 1469. The project was to build a three floor harmonious and elegant palace of Renaissance architecture. The ground floor is characterized by the embossing technique, while the upper floors are characterized by large mullioned windows divided with stringcourse. (more…)

If you close your eyes and imagine a Tuscan landscape, what immediately comes to mind are the lush rolling hills, perhaps dotted with proud cypress trees all in a row, an explosion of yellow sunflowers in the fields and majestic farmhouses that rule the countryside. The southeast area of Tuscany is decidedly out of the ordinary. Winding roads, clay deserts, badlands and "biancane" land formations make for a landscape that is often described as lunar or desert-like. (more…)

Before getting to the real description of the truffle and its legends, I would like to debunk some myths, which continue to be diffused despite the popularity of this exceptional delicacy. Truffle is NOT a tuber, NOR a relative of the potato, NOR a disease of the soil. It is NOT EVEN a parasite fungus, but IT IS a symbiont fungus (definition below). (more…)