Pistoia

Pistoia is one of the most unknown city of Tuscany, but it’s rich in culture, places to visit and historical monuments as all the other Tuscan cities.

Its origins date back to Roman period and it has one of the most interesting and lively historical centre of the Tuscany.
It’s especially famous for one of the most important blues music festival of Italy, Pistoia Blues Festival taking place on July and hosting famous international artists from all over the world.
It’s an important appointment for all blues lovers that come here on Summertime.

But Pistoia is not only blues music: it’s also the main nursery area for plants, flowers and trees of Tuscany.

For art and history you can visit the historical centre, with the cathedral, dedicated to San Zeno, the beautiful squares with small shops and cafès and wonderful historical palaces to see.
You can also discover the underground city: in a path underneath the city, following the Brana creek, you can see traces of the old city in a breath-taking atmosphere.

For nature lovers, we suggest to go a little outside the city, where you can visit the Padule di Fucecchio, an area of swamps, hosting swamp fauna species and representing one of the most important Tuscan place of reproduction and nesting.
This area is open to public in certain periods of the year, depending the period of nesting and reproduction of the species and you can do birdwatching, natural photography and excursions by boat in the middle of the swamp!

The mountain near Pistoia is another natural beauty you can discover: Abetone Mountain represents in Winter the nearest place where you can ski, for people living in Florence and Pistoia provinces, in Summertime it becomes the best place to get out from the crowded and hot cities, searching for some relax and with a cooler temperature few km from home.

Despite it isn’t one of the most famous city of Tuscany, Pistoia deserves a visit, especially in this 2017: the year of its election to Italian Capital of Culture!