There are many events all year round throughout Tuscany, but many are concentrated during the summer. Many sagre, food festivals, start in early summer and continue on through the fall as local specialties (truffles, wine, olive oil) come into season. If you are coming to Tuscany during other periods of the year, don’t worry as there is always something to see or do then as well. For specific events, it is best to contact the local tourism office of the locality you will be visiting.

Summer
Luminara, Regatta and Battle of the Bridge - Pisa. On the night of June 16, the Luminara begins the festivities to honor Saint Ranieri, the patron saint of Pisa, the following day. Over 70,000 candles light up the palaces along the Arno river, with a fireworks display afterwards.

To celebrate the patron saint of Pisa, four boats representing the most ancient districts of the city compete in the Regatta of Saint Ranieri along the Arno river, heritage of the past glory of Pisa as an ancient maritime republic.

Generally a week later, Pisa reenacts the Battle of the Bridge, a medieval “push of war” contest which takes place on the central bridge in Pisa. The contest is preceded by a huge procession in costume through the city.

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa no longer leans quite so much after a £20 million project to save it was hailed a complete success yesterday.

The tower, which was on the verge of collapse, has been straightened by 18 inches (45 centimetres) returning it to its 1838 position.

“It has straightened a little bit more than we expected, but every little helps,” said Prof John Burland, an expert in soil mechanics at Imperial College London, who was the only British member of the 14-strong rescue committee.

He said the tower was still “very slightly moving” towards being upright, but that it had stabilised.

The tower, which has been leaning almost since building work first began in 1173, was closed to the public in 1990 because of safety fears. The 183-foot tower was nearly 15 feet off vertical and its structure was found to have been weakened by centuries of strain.

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The mountains of Piedmont featured at the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics provide a unique backdrop for winter sports. But they also provide peace and quiet for amateurs to have fun, space for beginners, and great cultural and gastronomic traditions.

Piedmont features 53 ski resorts, 1,300 kilometres of runs, and over 300 installations comprising aerial tramways, cableways, chair-lifts and ski-lifts, with a capacity of 400,000 people per hour.

Winter sports that can be practised in Piedmont include: Alpine and cross-country skiing, telemark, snowboarding, ice climbing, free riding, ski mountaineering, horse trekking, driving sleighs pulled by Siberian huskies, paraskiing, heliskiing and much, much more.
Valle di Susa

The Valle di Susa (or Val di Susa) area extends over 1500 km of ski runs and trails, set in a natural landscape that is unmatched anywhere in the world.

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Unusual for Italy, Lombardy is a landlocked region. Its northernmost point embraces the magnificent sub-Alpine vistas of Lake Maggiore and Lake Como, on the Swiss border, but most of Lombardy’s 9,000 square miles are taken up by the vast Po River Valley, a broad, flat expanse of farmlands punctuated by windbreaks of poplar trees - Lombardy’s equivalent to Tuscany’s cypress. Shelley called this valley “the waveless plain of Lombardy,” and most people do find it drab and unappealing. Still, anywhere you drive - and this is certainly one of the easiest and most suitable places in Italy for driving - just around the bend may lurk the most astonishing surprise, such as tiny Sabbioneta, whose massive city ramparts conceal a miniature Renaissance jewel of a town, created in the 16th century by Duke Vespasiano Gonzaga.

Mantova the Magnificent is surrounded by dreary marshlands, yet it is one of northern Italy’s most renowned Renaissance centers. Try to get there during the week, to avoid the hordes of tourists who flock to see Andrea Mantegna’s masterpiece, the frescoed walls of the Camera degli Sposi in the Palazzo Ducale.

A few miles away on the left bank of the Po, Cremona’s Piazza del Comune, presided over by a Romanesque cathedral and belltower, presents a harmonious blend of many different architectural epochs.

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Where to Go to See the Most Important Attractions

These are not the secret little places - these are the must-see sights, the best of the best, the icons of Italian travel, from Venice to Turin and the lakes.

Getting off the beaten path is every traveler’s quest, but certain sights are almost holy shrines, places visitors simply must see, however big the crowds or long the lines. Here are the ten must-see sights in Northern Italy – the regions north of the Po River.

Milan: The Duomo – The third largest Christian church in the world and the height of the flamboyant gothic style, the great cathedral is impressive inside and out. Tour it from the crypt to the roof for history, art and views to the snow-covered Alps.

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