Tuscany's history could fill volumes of books and we cannot do justice to it in a short section below so we have tried to summarise a few key points and provide a link to a more in depth website.

It is believed that around 1000 BC peoples from the North, speaking an Indo-European language, migrated and settled in an area roughly equivalent to Tuscany today. These people had skills in the use of iron and were known to cremate their dead. Their civilization was known as the Villanovan culture and was named after the corresponding town near Bologna where they were first identified.

The Etruscans appeared in central Italy in the 8th Century BC in an area roughly equivalent to Tuscany today but a little further south; overlapping into the north of modern Lazio and the west of modern Umbria. This area was known as Etruria and these people went on to found the first cities, introduce agricultural plants, improve the farming and lands, build aquaducts, and excavate materials such as iron and mercury. Fiesole is a good example of an Etruscan colony that was formed in 500 BC. However, the peak of the Etruscan power and civilization was during the 6th Century BC when it formed a federation of city states.

From the Etruscan time the history is crammed with centuries of changes and struggles with the Etruscans being swallowed by the Roman Empire. Then the destruction of Rome by the conquering German Barbarians, Odoacre and the Goths. This was followed by being governed by the Lombards and the Franks, through the Middle Ages to the Medici and the Renaissance. Then finally into Modern times.


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