Tuscany

To enter with a dog, cat or ferret you need a microchip, an EU pet passport or health certificate and a valid rabies vaccination. Mandatory registration in the regional pet register, lead at all times and a muzzle to hand. Pets allowed on trains under Trenitalia rules and in apartment buildings by law.

Rules depend on who is arriving: EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (no visa, registration with the Comune after three months), non-EU citizens for stays up to 90 days (Schengen rule, type C visa where required) and for long stays (national type D visa and a residence permit within eight working days of arrival).

Before: documents, housing, school. First week: codice fiscale, SIM, bank account. First month: residence permit if non-EU, residence, SSN registration, then the driving licence within a year. Household goods duty-free for arrivals from outside the EU, car to be re-registered.

Trenitalia regional trains under a regional contract with a regular-interval timetable (Memorario); since 2021 a single bus operator, Autolinee Toscane. Pisa and Florence airports run by Toscana Aeroporti; ferries from Piombino to Elba and from Porto Santo Stefano to Giglio. Tram in Florence; Arno and Tyrrhenian cycle routes.

Euro, cards accepted almost everywhere, a legal cash limit. Anyone living in Italy for most of the year is tax resident and taxed on worldwide income under three IRPEF brackets; specific regimes exist for the self-employed (forfettario), inbound workers, foreign pensioners and new residents. Contributions go to INPS; annual return with the 730 or Redditi form.

Three large Aziende USL (Toscana Centro, Nord Ovest, Sud Est) and four university hospital trusts (Careggi and Meyer in Florence, Pisa, Siena). Regional booking centre, Toscana Salute app and Electronic Health Record; additional regional exemptions. Mountain rescue in the Apennines and Apuan Alps.

Non-EU pensioners enter with the elective residence visa, EU pensioners through free movement; public healthcare is accessible by compulsory or voluntary registration. Optional 7% regime on foreign income for those moving to small southern municipalities. Cheap houses in villages, services concentrated in cities.

Fashion and leather goods (Florence, Scandicci), textiles (Prato), paper (Lucca), marble (Carrara), goldsmithing (Arezzo), pharmaceuticals (Siena), yachts (Viareggio), port of Livorno; tourism with strong seasonality on the coast, islands and art cities; agriculture with grape and olive harvests. Job centres run by ARTI.

Three large public universities (Florence, Pisa, Siena) plus the University for Foreigners of Siena, the elite schools of Pisa (Normale and Sant'Anna) and IMT Lucca; dozens of US university programmes in Florence. Grants, halls and canteens managed by DSU Toscana, the single regional agency.

Nine provinces and the Metropolitan City of Florence, ordinary statute, capital Florence. No minority language. Regional day on 30 November (Festa della Toscana, abolition of the death penalty in 1786); patron saints St John in Florence (24 June), St Ranieri in Pisa (17 June).

Mild Mediterranean coast, hilly interior with very hot summers (Florence among Italy's hottest cities) and cool winters, Apennines and Apuan Alps with snow and heavy rain. Arno floods (1966) and Florence plain floods (2023); seismic zone 2 in Mugello, Garfagnana, Lunigiana, Casentino and Amiata. Good air except the Florence-Prato-Lucca plain.

Eight UNESCO sites (Florence, Pisa, San Gimignano, Siena, Pienza, Val d'Orcia, Medici villas, Montecatini Terme). Tuscan Archipelago, Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and Casentino Forests parks; Chianti, Versilia, Maremma, Elba. Florence and Venice are the Italian cities under most tourist pressure. Municipal tourist tax.