A journey through time, visiting large and small localities to discover the styles and models that have helped to make Tuscany the homeland of fine living. The authors combine geography and material culture to take the traveler through a gallery of architectural portraits. They also describe the generations of dialogue between skilled craftsmen and enlightened clients that have shaped local identities. In this wide and varied landscape, magnificent homes bear witness to a rich and noble past, but they are also born of passions that are still very much alive. The book, therefore, is not an exhaustive catalogue of the heritage of residential architecture, but a narrative in stories and images. The authors emphasize the forces that have shaped urban development and renewal. They describe the individual but stylistically consistent projects that have given Tuscany a distinctive and highly recognizable architectural identity. This is not a bland collection of technical descriptions or a chronological list of examples. Rather, it reads as a travel diary of an imaginary Grand Tour, recreating the atmosphere of the centuries in which palazzi and villas, in town and country, came to grace the region with their luminous presence. Presentations by Niccolo Rosselli Del Turco, Giampiero Maracchi, and Ugo Bargagli Stoffi.