TUSCANY

Italian Toscana, regione, west-central Italy. It lies along the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian seas and comprises the provincie of Massa-Carrara, Lucca, Pistoia, Prato, Firenze, Livorno, Pisa, Arezzo, Siena, and Grosseto, with an area of 8,877 square miles (22,992 square km). Tuscany is a transitional region occupying much of the former grand duchy of that name near the base of the Italian peninsula. It is bordered in the north and northeast by the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and the Apuan Alps, these being separated by a series of long valleys from the sub-Apennine hills of Mount Albano, Mount Pratomagno, and others. South of Siena the surface rises to less fertile mountains and plateaus, such as the Metallifere Mountains, Mount Amiata, and Mount Argentario on the coast. The lowlands of Tuscany are either interior valleys, such as that of the Arno River, or coastal plains, such as the Maremma.