I just came back from a 9 day holiday to tuscany, the same trip I already did in September 2010, and while looking through my photographical results of that trip I recognized that a post about the different places I visited could be interesting for some people out there. Especially in terms of photogenity.

The tuscany is a rather big part of middle italy, including some of the “biggest names” e.g Florence and Pisa.

In this article I will give you my honest opinion on the places I visited, and will either recommend or not recommend going there for shooting. Please always remember: Its just my very personal view, if you are of a different opinion, I would love to discuss that in the comment section. Lets start with the first half of places:

Pisa

Pisa certainly is the name that the most people know when reading through the list of cities in tuscany.

I, and I think most people are that way, tend to believe that a city with a “name” is more interesting than one that I have never heard of before. I really need to part with that old-fashioned attitude.

Pisa for me was a huge disappointment.

The first huge turn off was how incredibly touristic this city is. In the area around the leaning tower, and that is a big part of the city, its hardly possible to find anyone of italian origin or anything tipically italian.



That might be true for any other touristic city in the world, but I felt that it was more here, because of the cities size.

Too much tourism would definitely rank high for the 10 reasons why a city is uninteresting to me, simply because it makes it impossible to calm down, and because it makes interesting photos almost impossible (that is true for me, but must not be for you).

I tried to get lost in the backyards and small alleys, something I always do when the fascade of city looks boring to me, but I did not find anything worth mentioning.

The photos I took were mainly average, I did not find anything really extremely interesting.

The city did not inspire me, or let me wish to stay there for longer.

Thumbs down.

Lucca

In many terms Lucca is different from Pisa.

Its not as touristic, its mostly unknown AND its incredibly photogenic and interesting.

Lucca does not really have any top sights, but the city and the historical buildings are the best sight they could have.

What definitely lets Lucca stand out is its authenticity. It feels real and not polished for tourists (even though it may be at some spots).



This makes it a paradise for street photography, but also for people shoots where a nice backdrop is needed.

The colorful houses and small alleys paired with real italien faces wandering around really let my camera smoke and would not let me stop shooting.

In terms of street photography and authenticity Lucca is definitely my favourite of all the cities I am highlighting here.

Definitely a must for any photo tour through Tuscany.

Thumbs up!

Carrara

Carrara is a name that most of you may have heard yet, but its no big touristic city though.

Contradiction?

No, Carrara is home of one of the most famous marble deposits in the world, and as you can imagine this fact definitely leaves a mark on the city design.

Carrara is a city build from marble, and this is no exaggeration.

The citys church, the curbs, doorframes, name signs, benches, sculptures and and and are build from this material.



I dont know whether its an image thing or marble was simply the cheapest material available, but it was the best decision they could have made.

The marble lets the city shine in bright white, it looks polished but not in a bad way.

On sunny days the amount of available light is massive, and since Carrara is no victim of mass tourism (yet?), you can wander through the city without any hectic and look out for street scenes.

If you are lucky you might have a chance to find an open door to have a peek inside one of the many workshops for marble artists that are existing in the city.

Besides marble, Carrara is quiet famous for another thing:

Carrara has deep and long anarchistic history, and this also shows up while walking through the city.

The sculpture on one of the central places of the city holds a red and black bandana and you can find a lot of interesting political graffiti art.

The city of Carrara really offers many incredible photo opportunities if you are a street, landscape, architecture or abstract photographer. I can also imagine that it also qualifies for model shootings.

Beautiful backgrounds can be found anywhere in the city.

But thats not everything.

After wandering through the city, you should definitely take a hiking trip up to the marble quarries.

There are many beautiful hiking routes that lead you up to the mountain top, not of the mountains where the marble is quarried but to the ones next to them, from where you get an impressive view over the incredibly big extent of the quarrying process.

Shooting is a big fun up there, you can shoot everything from landscapes to machines, from a dusty marble desert to the green hilltops. This hiking trip definitely was a highlight of my Tuscany experience and I can only recommend it to anyone planning to go to Tuscany.

Thumbs Up!

That’s it for the first part of “TPD: Tuscany”.

Read the second part here:

Travel Photography Destinations: Tuscany – Part 2

Yours

Crazy Ivory