Pistoia

Pistoia is Tuscany's best-kept secret: a perfectly preserved medieval city with a magnificent Romanesque cathedral, Gothic baptistery, and extraordinary medieval square — largely free of tourists. Piazza del Duomo is one of Italy's finest medieval squares: the Cathedral of San Zeno, the Gothic Baptistery, and the Ospedale del Ceppo with its extraordinarily decorated terracotta frieze (Andrea della Robbia, 1514) all face the same piazza. The plains around Pistoia are also the nursery capital of Europe, producing trees and ornamental plants for the entire continent — the landscape of endless rows of every European garden tree stretching to the Apennine foothills is extraordinary. In 2017, Pistoia was designated Italy's Capital of Culture. The Fattoria di Celle sculpture park just outside the city contains one of the world's finest collections of contemporary outdoor sculpture.