This is the Northwestern Tuscany chapter from Lonely Planet's Florence & Tuscany guidebook.

There is far more to this green corner of Tuscany than Italy's iconic Leaning Tower. Usually hurtled through at breakneck speed en route to Florence and Siena's grand-slam queue-for-hours sights, this is the place to take your foot off the brake and go slow.

• pedal and picnic atop Lucca's lovely Renaissance city walls
• maps
• fall in love with medieval Pisa - scale its iconic Leaning Tower at sunset
• transport
• restaurants & accommodation
• watch spaghetti being handmade, as it has been done by the same family, for almost a century in medieval Lari

Coverage includes: Pisa, Lucca, Pistoia, San Miniato, the Apuane Alps & Garfagnana, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Barga, Bagni di Lucca, Carrara, the Versilian Coast, Pietrasanta, Viareggio, the Lunigiana and Pontremoli.