During Antiquity Tuscany, known as Etruria, was part of a larger area, including Emilia Romagna, northern Lazio and Umbria where the Etruscan civilization developed between 10th and 1st centuries B.C. The Etruscans were among the first people to introduce the custom of settling in cities, creating city states such as Volterra, Arezzo, Cortona, Chiusi, Populonia, and Fiesole.

The level of civilization achieved by this great people is evidenced by the exceptional archaeological finds, scattered across a vast territory and discovered in the tombs of the necropolises, the cities of the dead. In the third century B.C. the Etruscans were defeated by Rome’s military might, and the entire region declined economically, culturally, and socially. Tuscany, now called Tuscia, was conquered by the Romans, who settled in pre-existing Etruscan settlements and founding new cities like Florentia.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Tuscan cities fell into ruin, and the region was occupied by Lombards, who created a dukedom with Lucca as its capital. In the VIII century Lombards were defeated by Charlemagne and the region was organized into the marquise of Tuscia, until the death of the marquis Matilda of Canossa in 1115. From the 12th century, cities began to reorganize, creating new institutional structures: city communes were born.

Pisa became one of the first Tuscan cities to become an independent commune, a maritime Republic, controlling an extensive area and promoting thriving international trade. The 13th century was a century of great growth for Tuscan cities; merchants from Siena, Florence, Lucca, and Pistoia controlled new commerce and promoted thriving international trade. The 14th century period saw Florence experienced an extraordinary economic development based on money lending and the production of woolen cloth, accompanied by territorial expansion in service to other Tuscan cities, including Arezzo, Pistoia, and Pisa, which came under Florentine control. The city became the cradle of the Renaissance, hosting the era’s leading artists—Brunelleschi, Leonardo, and Michelangelo—who contributed with their works to enhancing Florence’s beauty. In the 16th century, the Medici family, having made their fortune as bankers, established the Duchy of Florence, also conquering the city of Siena and in 1570, Cosimo I de’ Medici was named Grand Duke of Tuscany; the Medici dynasty died out in the 18th century, and the grandee passed to the Habsburg-Lorraine family, who governed Tuscany until the unification of Italy in 1861, when the region became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, hosting its capital from 1865 to 1871. Today Tuscany bases its economy on tourism with its cities of art, the textile and leather industries, and on agriculture, thanks to its excellent products such as oil and wine, including Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino.