1.   Nothing ever happens to disturb the tranquillity of this little town, hidden in the Tuscan hills.

2.   Already it has been compared to the Athenian Acropolis, a buffed-out Tuscan hill town and a marooned ocean liner.

3.   Although suburban sprawl has begun to push out its borders, Cuernavaca is still an extremely walkable city, similar in design to a Tuscan hill town.

4.   At La Grotta, a restaurant outside this Tuscan hill town, a waiter has begun shaving slivers of fresh white truffle over a humble plate of fried eggs.

5.   But Coloma is only the chronological starting point for visiting a region that, like the Cotswolds or Tuscan hill towns, best yields its treasures to unhurried exploration.

6.   Over in the Tuscan hills, the house of Pratesi has been manufacturing beautiful, embroidered linens since founder Remigio Pratesi first sold his wares to royal patrons.

7.   The Tuscan hill town of Montepulciano is largely wasted here.

8.   View the Swiss Alps, a Tuscan hill town or the Mediterranean Sea while chatting with a retired grandfather about his life in the hills above Naples.

9.   Which may explain why, in northern Italy, the best sangiovese grapes are the result of a protracted struggle between the vines and the hardscrabble Tuscan hills.

10.   Years ago, in the Tuscan hill town of San Gimignano, I went out for a run at dawn.