47. Tuscany (Cont.)

The isle of Elba, where Napoleon was exiled, floats majestically off the coastline and its environment is a haven for nature lovers. The Garfagnana offers excellent trails for hiking and horseback riding around the Serchio River. And Maremma, with its cowboys riding maremmano horses, herding bulls in fields of wheat, is Italy's wild west.

Together, these elements produce a fabled area whose people and places have changed the world. The Tuscan countryside is a place to wander, to dawdle, to savor the slowness of the day and the beauty of nature's abundance. We heartily agree with Frances Mayes, author of the Under the Tuscan Sun: "My idea of heaven," she writes, "is to drive the gravel roads of ...Tuscany, very pleasantly lost."