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HISTORICAL
OVERVIEW
 Tuscany
is situated within the heart of Italy. The
region borders in the North with Liguria and the
Emilia Romagna, in the East with Umbria and the
Marches  and in the South with the Latium.
The name of the region has its origins in the
Etruscan times. The Etruscans called this region
Etruria, meaning in Roman Tuscia. The Romans
finally renamed the area with Tuscania of which
in the end came up the name Toscana.
Even
today, the origins of the Etruscans is still a
mystery, but the most probable hypothese is that
they came in the 11th century B.C. from Asia
Minor.
These
people constructed connecting roads to the most
important towns such as Tarquinia, Chiusi,
Vulci, Vetulonia and Volterra, places where one
still today can admire exceptional excavations.
 During the 6th century B.C., the Etruscans
reached the peak of their power, extending from
the Po Valley to Campania.
Already at the end of the 5th century B.C., the
Etruscans lost their supremacy in the
Mediterranean region to the Greeks. They
sustained the final defeat with the growing of
the Roman people and their power. This was the
beginning of the economical, cultural and social
decline of the Etruscan empire in the whole
Tuscan region.
After the decline of the Roman empire Tuscany
was dominated by Goths, Byzantines, Lombards and
the Franks. The so called Via Francigena was
used by the pilgrims that came to the first
millennium from France over the Alps to Rome. It
wasn't a real street, but ways which were gone
by walking or riding. The pilgrims tried to find
the shortest way to reach Rome. That's how the
connecting road between North Italy and Rome was
developped.
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Tuscany
The
Chianti wine with the typical bottle, the so
called "Fiasco" and the black cock
("gallo nero") have been for years the
symbols that represent Tuscany in the whole
world.
The
origins of the Chianti Wine are already in the
Etruscan times. In the Etruscan language
"clante" meant water, which became
later on "chianti". 
question, how the black cock became the symbol
of the wine? A legend says that the origins of
the "gallo nero" are in the 13th
century, when the Republics of Florence and
Siena disputing over the territorial frontiers.
In order to decide definitely the frontiers,
both republics decided to send a knight in the
morning at cockcrow. The place where the two
knights would meet should become the new
frontier. From that moment on, the Sieneses,
which had a white cock, started to fed their
animal so much, thus he became fat and lazy. The
Florentines instead, had a black cock, who got
just as much to eat, that he didn't starve. The
day of the challenge the black cock was so
hungry, so that he woke up even before the
rising of the sun and started to crow. This
advantage made the Florentine knight arrive at
Fonterutoli, not far away from Siena. Later on,
the black cock became the symbol of the so
called "Lega del Chianti" (engl.
Chianti League).
