In Hidden Tuscany, acclaimed author John Keahey takes the reader into a part of Tuscany beyond the usual tourist destinations of Chianti, Florence, and Siena. The often overlooked western portion of Tuscany is rich with history, cuisine, and scenery begging to be explored, and Keahey encourages travelers to abandon itineraries and let the grooves in the road and the curves of the coast guide your journey instead.
Follow Keahey as he turns off the autostrada and takes roads barely two lanes wide to discover fishing villages along the Tuscan sea. Then move inland into rolling foothills adorned with cherry orchards, ancient olive groves, and sweeping vineyards that produce wines that challenge Chianti’s best. Here it is still possible to follow the paths of Romans, Crusaders, and pilgrims from throughout the western world who were eager to reach Rome.
Hidden Tuscany provides intriguing images of places such as Livorno, a port city with canals; Pietrasanta, Tuscany’s Citta d’Arte; and Capraia, an island formed by volcanoes. Keahey engages with the inhabitants of these enchanting landscapes, whether sculptors who toil in marble studios or residents whose own memories and traditions illuminate major moments in world history.
From coastal towns to vineyards farther inland to the Tuscan archipelago, Keahey reminds us that each village, city, and island has its own unique story to tell. For armchair travelers and vacation seekers alike, Hidden Tuscany brings a new side of this classic Italian region to life, and the result is mesmerizing.
From Booklist
Renting a Tuscan villa has become practically a cliché for modern travelers. But most such tourists rarely venture beyond well-worn destinations such as Florence, Siena, and Pisa. Keahey chides that Tuscany holds much more of interest, its history and its art confined not just to the big cities. Keahey finds much to celebrate in Tuscany’s northwest quadrant in the lands bordering the Tyrrhenian Sea and the frontier with Liguria. There in isolated villages he discovers unique pastas and seafood unknown in the rest of Italy. Here rise the Apuan Alps, whose flanks yield the precious Carrara marble so coveted by Michelangelo. Keahey introduces Roberta Omniboni, who began as an assistant to Botero before launching her own sculpting career. The nearby seacoast holds the beach where Lord Byron arranged the cremation of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s drowned body. Keahey also reaches the island of Giglio, site of the recent Concordia sinking. A very useful guidebook for earnest Tuscan travelers. --Mark Knoblauch
Review
Praise for *Hidden Tuscany
“Veteran travel writer John Keahey explores this overlooked region one village, one sandy beach and one pasta dish at a time and deftly captures the vibrant life that thrives there in the shadow of Tuscany’s brighter light.” —American Way* magazine
“Keahey fully understands the art of taking the road less traveled—a solid addition to his body of work.” —*Kirkus Reviews
“Travel writer Keahey delivers another insightful look at the wonders of Italy...Keahey succeeds completely at producing a book that lovingly describes the beauty of the region at the same time that it embodies what Keahey feels is the best 'guide to being a traveler: pick a direction, carry a map so you know how to get back to your resting place each evening, and set out each morning with no agenda.'” —Publishers Weekly
“Even an area as over-examined (and over-touristed) as Tuscany can yield unexpected treasures and insights. These are excavated in a loving tribute that concentrates, primarily, on the less known western area of this iconic region....One has to wonder if Alitalia had a hand in funding this book, as it will surely encourage travelers who’d written off Tuscan as 'too touristy' to give it another try.” —Frommer's*
“Every landscape hides a story, and it is the travel writer’s task to find it. John Keahey reveals a Tuscany starkly different from Merchant Ivory period films, a Tuscany of marble quarries and sulfur springs, medieval towns and Etruscan necropolises, poisonous marshes and prehistoric archipelagos, and cattle country as wild and wooly as any in the American West. Shaped by time and tide, scarred by war and haunted by exile, this is a Tuscany of stark contrasts. Dazzling sunflowers clash with somber cypresses, while local seafood evokes the ghost of the drowned poet Percy Shelley. Keahey wrote this book ‘to engender a spirit of discovery’ in readers. He succeeds spectacularly. His prose is as chiseled and polished as the finest Carrara.” —Anthony Di Renzo, author of Bitter Greens and *Trinàcria: A Tale of Bourbon Sicily
“If you’ve never explored the western part of Tuscany—and few people have—John Keahey’s Hidden Tuscany will make you want to run for the next flight. From the marble shops of Pietrasanta to the ruins of the Sant’Anna di Stazzema massacre to the remote villages in the Maremma, Keahey takes us on a cultural, historical and mouth-watering gastronomical journey through one of the most fascinating regions in all of Italy. Part personal journal and part guide, this is a book to treasure—and to take along when you make that trip.” —Paul Salsini, award-winning author of the The Cielo
“Better than a guide book, Hidden Tuscany offers us close-ups of the cities and villages of western Tuscany and puts us in touch with the people who live there.” —Robert Hellenga, author of The Sixteen Pleasures and TheFall of aSparrow
“A detailed and enthusiastic introduction to Tuscany's coastal areas, this book will come as an intriguing surprise to many who thought they knew the region well.” —Mary Taylor Simeti , author of On Persephone’s Island
“A very useful guidebook for earnest Tuscan travelers.” —Booklist*
Description:
In Hidden Tuscany, acclaimed author John Keahey takes the reader into a part of Tuscany beyond the usual tourist destinations of Chianti, Florence, and Siena. The often overlooked western portion of Tuscany is rich with history, cuisine, and scenery begging to be explored, and Keahey encourages travelers to abandon itineraries and let the grooves in the road and the curves of the coast guide your journey instead.
Follow Keahey as he turns off the autostrada and takes roads barely two lanes wide to discover fishing villages along the Tuscan sea. Then move inland into rolling foothills adorned with cherry orchards, ancient olive groves, and sweeping vineyards that produce wines that challenge Chianti’s best. Here it is still possible to follow the paths of Romans, Crusaders, and pilgrims from throughout the western world who were eager to reach Rome.
Hidden Tuscany provides intriguing images of places such as Livorno, a port city with canals; Pietrasanta, Tuscany’s Citta d’Arte; and Capraia, an island formed by volcanoes. Keahey engages with the inhabitants of these enchanting landscapes, whether sculptors who toil in marble studios or residents whose own memories and traditions illuminate major moments in world history.
From coastal towns to vineyards farther inland to the Tuscan archipelago, Keahey reminds us that each village, city, and island has its own unique story to tell. For armchair travelers and vacation seekers alike, Hidden Tuscany brings a new side of this classic Italian region to life, and the result is mesmerizing.
From Booklist
Renting a Tuscan villa has become practically a cliché for modern travelers. But most such tourists rarely venture beyond well-worn destinations such as Florence, Siena, and Pisa. Keahey chides that Tuscany holds much more of interest, its history and its art confined not just to the big cities. Keahey finds much to celebrate in Tuscany’s northwest quadrant in the lands bordering the Tyrrhenian Sea and the frontier with Liguria. There in isolated villages he discovers unique pastas and seafood unknown in the rest of Italy. Here rise the Apuan Alps, whose flanks yield the precious Carrara marble so coveted by Michelangelo. Keahey introduces Roberta Omniboni, who began as an assistant to Botero before launching her own sculpting career. The nearby seacoast holds the beach where Lord Byron arranged the cremation of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s drowned body. Keahey also reaches the island of Giglio, site of the recent Concordia sinking. A very useful guidebook for earnest Tuscan travelers. --Mark Knoblauch
Review
Praise for *Hidden Tuscany
“Veteran travel writer John Keahey explores this overlooked region one village, one sandy beach and one pasta dish at a time and deftly captures the vibrant life that thrives there in the shadow of Tuscany’s brighter light.” —American Way* magazine
“Keahey fully understands the art of taking the road less traveled—a solid addition to his body of work.” —*Kirkus Reviews
“Travel writer Keahey delivers another insightful look at the wonders of Italy...Keahey succeeds completely at producing a book that lovingly describes the beauty of the region at the same time that it embodies what Keahey feels is the best 'guide to being a traveler: pick a direction, carry a map so you know how to get back to your resting place each evening, and set out each morning with no agenda.'” —Publishers Weekly
“Even an area as over-examined (and over-touristed) as Tuscany can yield unexpected treasures and insights. These are excavated in a loving tribute that concentrates, primarily, on the less known western area of this iconic region....One has to wonder if Alitalia had a hand in funding this book, as it will surely encourage travelers who’d written off Tuscan as 'too touristy' to give it another try.” —Frommer's*
“Every landscape hides a story, and it is the travel writer’s task to find it. John Keahey reveals a Tuscany starkly different from Merchant Ivory period films, a Tuscany of marble quarries and sulfur springs, medieval towns and Etruscan necropolises, poisonous marshes and prehistoric archipelagos, and cattle country as wild and wooly as any in the American West. Shaped by time and tide, scarred by war and haunted by exile, this is a Tuscany of stark contrasts. Dazzling sunflowers clash with somber cypresses, while local seafood evokes the ghost of the drowned poet Percy Shelley. Keahey wrote this book ‘to engender a spirit of discovery’ in readers. He succeeds spectacularly. His prose is as chiseled and polished as the finest Carrara.” —Anthony Di Renzo, author of Bitter Greens and *Trinàcria: A Tale of Bourbon Sicily
“If you’ve never explored the western part of Tuscany—and few people have—John Keahey’s Hidden Tuscany will make you want to run for the next flight. From the marble shops of Pietrasanta to the ruins of the Sant’Anna di Stazzema massacre to the remote villages in the Maremma, Keahey takes us on a cultural, historical and mouth-watering gastronomical journey through one of the most fascinating regions in all of Italy. Part personal journal and part guide, this is a book to treasure—and to take along when you make that trip.” —Paul Salsini, award-winning author of the The Cielo
“Better than a guide book, Hidden Tuscany offers us close-ups of the cities and villages of western Tuscany and puts us in touch with the people who live there.” —Robert Hellenga, author of The Sixteen Pleasures and The Fall of aSparrow
“A detailed and enthusiastic introduction to Tuscany's coastal areas, this book will come as an intriguing surprise to many who thought they knew the region well.” —Mary Taylor Simeti , author of On Persephone’s Island
“A very useful guidebook for earnest Tuscan travelers.” —Booklist*