In Tuscany, as in ancient Greece, neighborhoods and religious associations played a major part in the organization of everyday life. In Tuscany the church Parishes and the neighborhoods that grew around them, whether known as quartieri (quarters), sesti (sixths), or (in Rome and elsewhere) rioni were the locus of many activities, including the repair of roads and walls.
If access to the sea determined the future of Pisa as a race of sailors and adventurers, Siena’s location in the arid mountains was equally significant. Despite the great beauty of the landscape, the fact is that Siena lacked water and was subject to serious droughts.
The Lombard kingdom, aiming at a unified Italy, was defeated by the combined forces of the papacy and the Church, but the summoning of the Franks was a disastrous mistake, and the Lombard Kingdom became the foundation of all subsequent Italian development.
The immediate burdens of empire are born by the conquered subjects, but in the long run it has the people of the imperial nation that find themselves overtaxed to support the endless wars and swamped by subject peoples, allies, or just about anyone who can get to the frontier.
Why go to Tuscany in the Winter, when you can go to Sicily, Crete, or Costa Rica? Everyone has read or seen Under the Tuscan Sun, but who wants to endure “Under the Tuscan Wind, Rain, and Flooding?”
