Rediscover some of the world’s greatest writers, like Boccaccio, Petrarch and Dante, by visiting the places that inspired them and walking in the footsteps of their characters.
Because Tuscany is a treasure trove of fine art, breathtaking architecture, savoury food and world renowned wine, travellers to the central Italian region often overlook its rich literary history. Yet for any lover of great poetry and prose — particularly writers like Boccaccio, Petrarch and Dante — Tuscany is also the muse that inspired some of the writers’ greatest works.
Arezzo
Begin in Arezzo, birthplace to Francesco Petrarca (born 1304), the father of the sonnet. In his letter, To Posterity, the Renaissance master (commonly known as Petrarch) calls Arezzo the place where he “first saw the light”. Casa del Petrarca is a small museum built over medieval remnants that are thought to be Petrarch’s birthplace. It is also home to the Accadémia Petrarca di Léttere, Arti e Scienze, a research library of more than 15,000 works dating back to the 14th Century, including Petrarch’s scrolls and manuscripts. Close by is the Passeggio il Prato (Prato Gardens), Arezzo’s oldest and largest park, an idyllic setting for the city’s only monument to Petrarch, a white marble statue created by sculptor Alessandro Lazzerini. The writer stands tall, with Roma’s she-wolf feeding Romolo and Remo at his feet, a visual representation of the myth of Rome’s founding and a reminder that Petrarch received his prestigious poet laureate award there in 1341.
Two of Petrarch‘s sonnets, Canzoniere CXLV and CLIX (the former about one’s desire to rest in nature and the latter, a reflection on the beauty of a woman) may have inspired Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Bring both sonnets to read as you visit the Ponte Buriano and Penna nature reserve. The Ponte Buriano bridge along the River Arno is thought to be in the painting’s background.
Certaldo
The charming small town of Certaldo designates itself (despite some scholarly dispute) as the birthplace of Renaissance writer Giovanni Boccaccio (born 1313), author of The Decameron. It is also where Boccaccio spent the last 13 years of his life. The walled area of Certaldo Alto, only reachable by foot or funicular rail, still maintains its medieval character, with terracotta brick buildings, narrow streets and churches dating back to the 11th Century. Start your tour with a walk along Via Boccaccio and visit the Casa del Boccaccio, a museum with a library of nearly 3,500 volumes, including numerous foreign translations of his major and minor works, among them Famous Women and The Decameron. It is the latter — 100 tales told by 10 Florentines who escaped the city’s bubonic plague and settled in the countryside of Fiesole — that most consider Boccaccio’s masterpiece.
Pack a copy of Boccaccio’s The Eaten Heart: Unlikely Tales of Love, a slimmed down collection of The Decameron (10 stories as opposed to 100, all with a focus on love’s many incarnations, from the innocent to the raunchy) and read the selection Sowing the Seeds of Love over a delicious Tuscan dinner at Osteria del Vicario. Like the setting of this tale, the restaurant is located in a medieval monastery. It is also adjacent to Boccaccio’s house.
If you travel in the summer, visit Certaldo during Mercantia, a mind blowing Renaissance festival with street performers, visual artists, heart-pumping music, Italian street food and colourful crafts. The town comes alive in a way that truly reflects the vigorous spirit, daring mischief and seductive creativity of the Tuscan people, which Boccaccio captured so well in his work.
San Gimignano
The walled town of San Gimignano is best known for its 14 amazingly preserved medieval towers and many churches. Less known, is that it is also the world’s only producer of the white wine Vernaccia di San Gimignano, a drink so enticing and captivating it led Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger (nephew to the more famous, painter Michelangelo) to write in 1643 that “it kisses, licks, bites and stings”. Even Dante refers to Vernaccia in his Divine Comedy (Purgatorio XXIV) as attributing to Pope Martin IV’s gluttony. While the Pope enjoyed endless portions of eels marinated in the wine, you can drink yours straight. Have a glass at the Hotel Bel Soggiorno restaurant, which overlooks the region’s rolling vineyards and valleys. British author EM Forester wrote that San Gimignano’s hilltops and towers allow you to see “half of Tuscany steeped in sunlight”. He then set his novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread, in a fictionalized version of the town.
Walk off the wine along Via Folgore da San Gimignano, with a volume by the San Gimignano-born poet (born 1270) of the same name. Appropriately, in his sonnet February, he writes: “draw wine and let the kitchen smoke; And so be till the first watch glorious; Then sound sleep to you till the day be wide.”
Siena
Your next stop is the gorgeous and deeply inspiring city of Siena, whose patron saint, Catherine (born 1347), wrote The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena, a groundbreaking church text that describes her revelations and conversations with God while in ecstasy. Her partial remains and relics can be found at the city’s Basilica of San Domenico, while just down the hill, at the Shrine of Saint Catherine, you can walk through a few small museums that were once her house.
Siena also has Shakespearean ties; the Bard himself being very fond of Italian literature as source material for his plays and sonnets. It was the setting for Masuccio Salernitano’s story of Mariotto and Giannozza in il Novellino (story XXXIII), one of the first sources for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Years later, Siena’s magic (and the compelling story of doomed, star-crossed lovers) continue to inspire writers. Anne Fortier’s novel Juliet (a New York Times best seller from 2010), is a highly imaginative work of historical fiction set in Siena that vividly brings this Tuscan city to life. Step onto Via della Sapienza and follow the journey of the protagonist as she moves through the ancient city and connects with the legacy of Juliet.
Florence
If one can compare a city to a playwright, Florence is the world’s Shakespeare. A place so prolific it features the largest concentration of Renaissance art in the world, Florence also has a genius that extends beyond the visual.
Born in 1265 and exiled in 1302, Dante Alighieri changed the face of Western literature with his great work, The Divine Comedy. Begin following in the poet’s footsteps in Badia Fiorentina, the city’s oldest monastery, where Dante saw his love and infatuation, Beatrice Portinari, for the first time. (Dante references the church’s bells in Paradiso XV.) At Number 4 Via del Corso, on a palazzo once belonging to Beatrice’s father, a passage from an Purgatorio XXX is engraved on a plaque, describing the illuminating and inviting Beatrice as she waits to guide Dante into heaven. There are 33 other excerpts of The Divine Comedy on plaques throughout Florence.
Your next stop is the breathtaking Basilica of Santa Maria Novella and the Cappella Strozzi section, in particular, which is decorated with Divine Comedy themed frescoes by Nardo di Cione. Next, wander along Via Santa Margherita to Dante’s House. His birthplace was converted into a museum featuring a small collection of works by and about the author and Florence itself. Finally, visit Dante’s tomb inside the Santa Croce Basilica. Also inside this church are the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli.
It is with Niccolo Machiavelli that your literary tour of Tuscany concludes. This Florentine, best known for his political and philosophical writings, was also a comedic playwright. Leave your copy of The Prince (Machiavelli’s political treatise and most famous work) at home and explore another side of Machiavelli expressed in The Mandrake (Mandragola), his most popular play (and Tom Hanks’ only New York stage role as the lead, Callimaco). Cosy up with your copy and a cappuccino at Cafe Gilli, a famous meet-up for writers and artists since the 1700s. As you reach the play’s climax pull out your pen and note the locations in Florence hit by the play’s protagonist Ligurio while in hot pursuit of Callimaco. Among them are the Piazza della Signorina, Palazzo Spini Feroni in Piazza Santa Trinite and Loggia dei Tornaquinci. “I’ve never wanted to find Callimaco as much as I do now!” Ligurio proclaimed. Does Ligurio find him? Can you?