Tuscany hotels collection

The mountains above Carrara look snow-capped well into August; it is marble, and Michelangelo would climb up to choose it himself. The rest of Tuscany works in other materials: the red brick of Siena's sloping square, the ramparts of Lucca wide enough to walk along, the ochre earth of the Val d'Orcia where cypresses hold the ridge. Chianti carries the picture on north of Siena, cellar by cellar. One drives slowly here, out of taste rather than caution.