For its monumental and historic wealth, Lucca's center has been proposed as an addition to the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is bountiful with impressive touristic attraction, beginning with the nearly-intact walls that surround the city.

You can access the city, passing through one of its six gates; moving clockwise from the north, they are: Porta Santa Maria (1592), St. James Gate or Porta San Jacopo alla Tomba (1930), Porta Elisa (1811 dedicated to Elisa Baciocchi), Porta San Pietro (1565), Porta Sant'Anna, Porta  Vittorio Emanuele or Buco di Sant'Anna (1910), and Porta San Donato (1629). Other gates, the traces of even more ancient walls, are: the Old Porta San Donato (1590), in Piazza San Donato, seat of the Opera delle Mure; Porta San Gervasio (1198), along Via del Fosso (dating back to the Middle Ages); and Porta dei Borghi. 

The old town has preserved its Medieval appearance (due to its finely-worked architecture), ancient and numerous churches (Lucca is also called the "city of 100 churches") and, thanks to its many towers, bell towers and monumental Renaissance palaces. Among the towers, the Clock Tower is the highest, at 164 ft; here you can admire the hand-wound clock mechanism and the internal wooden staircase, with its well-preserved 207 steps. The Torre Guinigi is one of the most representative monuments of Lucca, curiously displaying a fan of holm oaks at its top.

See some of the city's other charming piazzas: Piazza Anfiteatro, built on the ruins of the ancient Roman amphitheatre by architect Lorenzo Nottolini; Piazza San Michele, historic heart of the city; Piazza San Martino with the famous Duomo; Piazza Napoleone, requested by Elisa Baciocchi during her Principality; and Piazza del Giglio, overlooking the homonymous theatre.

The monuments here highlight the various ways in which the people of Lucca have interpreted the message of Italian unity. The Tuscan city, in fact, adhered to the process of Unification in an original way: first with the annexation to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and then to the Kingdom of Italy, it made known its strong desire to preserve its cultural roots. Lucca chose to celebrate both independence and national unity by embellishing and decorating its city center with brand new monuments. These monuments, dedicated to the fathers of independence, can be admired on a tour of this beautiful town. We can begin with the statue of Francesco Burlamacchi, erected Piazza San Michele in 1863, and proceed with a look at the monument of Tito Strocchi in the city cemetery; follower of Garibaldi and Mazzini, his likeness was realized by Artemisium Mani in 1883.  The work in bronze that stands on the Bastion of Santa Maria, rather, is by sculptor Augusto Passaglia, who dedicated it to Vittorio Emanuele II (1885). Finally, Piazza del Giglio bears the marble statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi; created by Urbano Lucchesi, it was inaugurated September 20, 1889. This "Hero of Two Worlds" is represented by a full-length marble statue and two bronze reliefs on its pedestal; they symbolize the landing of the Thousand at Marsala and the Battle of Calatafimi. 

Eighteenth-century houses like this one, were built by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany and the Order of Saint Stephen, and following their steps, even by private owners in the hills overlooking the Chiana; you can find those ancient buildings in the Valley along the public or inter-estate roads - often in spectacular straights - and flanked by mulberry trees, whose leaves were used for the breeding of silkworms.

This was practiced until about 1940 (the premises of the fortress of Montepulciano was active from 1869 to 1926 one of the larger establishments in this sector of Italy who came to employ up to 600 people). They are also called "Case Leopoldine" by the name of Peter Leopold of Lorraine. Having to accommodate many people (each farm was extended for an average of 23 ha) these farm houses consist of two floors, the porch or "portico" with graceful loggias  dominated by a dovecote tower. Often you can notice an iron cross as a signal that overlaps the structure (and in some case we have the benedectine monogram of Christ "JHS" greek name of Jesus).

Pienza is a very small village, but thanks to the fate of having a Pope Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who became famous as Pope Pius II, this place has seen expand his fame.
Known as Corsignano, in the Renaissance was renamed "Pienza", in honor of its most famous citizen, Pius II, who lived in an era of the history, not only for the canonization of St. Catherine of Siena, but also to the struggles between East and West, who saw the threat of Sultan Mehmed II.

It is considered the ideal city, a rare example of Renaissance town planning completed. The Pope called the workers most important period for its construction, including Bernardo Rossellino and thanks to these, were made the Renaissance palace Piccolomini and the roof garden.
Pienza is still preserved in excellent condition with important monuments, perched on a hill overlooking the Val d'Orcia.

Did you know that from the balcony of Villa Senaia, you can see the stretch of road where the Oscar-awarded movie "Life is Beautiful" by Roberto Benigni, begins?

More than 200 movies were filmed in the region by early '900 to the present and the territory is increasingly preferred setting the stage for commercials, film and contemporary costume drama.

Tuscany has been a great scenario for famous films, such as:

Sotto il Sole della Toscana - Under The Tuscan Sun,
2003 film, directed by Audrey Wells.

The film was shot mostly in the town of Cortona, using the location of the historic center, which takes place in the Villa Bramasole, an abandoned mansion that has been restored in time for the film.

The English Patient,
by Anthony Minghella, who in 1996 chose Pienza to shoot the scenes in the monastery of Sant'Anna in Camprena overlooking the Val d'Orcia.

The Gladiator,
Ridley Scott's award-winning film, where, again in the Val d'Orcia, the final scenes are set. The director has found the perfect setting, with the play of light he sought, with natural and warm sunsets that light up the fields of wheat. So he moved the entire crew from Malta to the countryside of Siena, between Pienza and San Quirico.

 
Also In various scenes of Stealing Beauty,
by Bertolucci, earthy colors of Chianti are the protagonists of the shots, where natural beauty blends with architectural ones as in the case of the villa owned by the sculptor M. Spender, in which the works of Picasso are added to the aesthetic side of the movie.