Where to Buy in Tuscany

Picture a map of Tuscany spread on a table, a pencil circling one valley and then another. Each circle encloses an area with its own landscape, its own protections and its own access, and the pages that follow take four of them in turn: Chianti Classico, Val d’Orcia, Maremma and Lucca.

How should these descriptions be read?

The areas below are described from public sources, with the source of each fact named in the text. They are not ranked, and the article does not say which is best for any purpose. The descriptions are not valuations or recommendations. Prices, travel times and lifestyle are not compared. Official quotation ranges for property by municipality are published by the Agenzia delle Entrate’s property market observatory (OMI).^[1]

Where is Chianti Classico, exactly?

The Chianti Classico DOCG production area, identified by the Gallo Nero (black rooster) mark, covers about 70,000 hectares between Florence and Siena, according to the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico.^[2] DOCG is the highest Italian category of geographical designation of wine, and the Consorzio is the producers’ consortium that protects and manages the designation. The area includes the whole territory of the municipalities of Greve in Chianti, Castellina in Chianti, Radda in Chianti and Gaiole in Chianti, and parts of Barberino Tavarnelle, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Poggibonsi and San Casciano in Val di Pesa.^[3]

The Consorzio has divided the area into eleven additional geographical units (UGA), named after places such as Greve, Radda, Gaiole, Castellina, Lamole, Panzano and Vagliagli.^[4] Because the designation applies to the land, a vineyard’s entitlements depend on where its parcels lie (see “Buying a Vineyard Estate”).

What does the Val d’Orcia listing cover?

Val d’Orcia, in the province of Siena, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004.^[5] According to UNESCO, the property covers 61,188 hectares, with a buffer zone of 5,660 hectares, and its boundary coincides with that of the Val d’Orcia park, created in 1999 and managed by five municipalities: Montalcino, Pienza, San Quirico d’Orcia, Castiglione d’Orcia and Radicofani.^[6] The town centre of Pienza is a separate World Heritage property.^[7]

UNESCO records that the national Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape protects some individual buildings and complexes and some town centres and settings within the property.^[8] It also records the threats it identifies: tourism pressure, modernisation of farming and the gentrification of dwellings.^[9] Brunello di Montalcino DOCG is produced in the whole administrative territory of the municipality of Montalcino, from Sangiovese grapes, according to its production regulation (disciplinare).^[10]

What does the Maremma park protect?

The Maremma Regional Park, in the Uccellina hills in the province of Grosseto, covers about 8,900 hectares of protected area in the municipalities of Grosseto, Magliano in Toscana and Orbetello, with a contiguous area of about 9,100 hectares, according to the park authority and the Regione Toscana.^[11] Protected-area rules limit what can be built or changed inside the park, and the position outside it depends on the municipal plan and on landscape constraints. The article does not describe the rest of southern coastal Tuscany.

What about Lucca?

Lucca, in north-west Tuscany, is surrounded by Renaissance walls about 4.2 kilometres long, built between the mid-sixteenth and the mid-seventeenth centuries, according to the Comune di Lucca tourism office.^[12] The same office describes the walls as a public promenade above the city.^[13] Pisa airport, one of the two Tuscan airports managed by Toscana Aeroporti, is described in the section on air travel below.^[14] Property inside a walled historic centre raises the issues described in “Buying in a Historic Centre”.

How do you get there by air?

Florence (Amerigo Vespucci) and Pisa (Galileo Galilei) airports are both managed by Toscana Aeroporti, which describes the two as complementary: Florence with full-service carriers connecting to European hubs, Pisa with low-cost carriers, cargo and some intercontinental connections.^[14] Travel times from a given property depend on the property and are not stated here.

What decides what can be done to a house?

Tuscany’s territorial plan with landscape value (the PIT-PPR), approved by the Regional Council on 27 March 2015, divides the region into 20 landscape areas, each with its own description, guidelines and rules.^[15] What may be done to a property depends on the landscape area, on any constraint, on the municipal plan and on the regional rules for rural buildings; see “Renovating a Tuscan Farmhouse”.

How should a buyer choose between areas?

A comparison of areas normally starts from how the house is to be used (for example, how many weeks a year, and whether it will be a main home), the access needed, and the planning and protection rules that apply to properties in each area. The article does not make a recommendation.