Under the frowning Mugello hills, on the outer arc of the heights which protect Florence, the Borgo has known violent history; but now it is a civilized market centre. Vicchio, 7 km east, is believed to have been the birthplace of Giotto, the supreme Gothic painter.

In this district the grey- and rose-bricked farms and villages evoke memories of Renaissance masters which excite art historians. Usually only the name of a bar or trattoria gives the clue; none could have been more anonymous than those orphan lads and farm boys when they set out for Florence or Urbino and none can now point with certainty to the houses they were born in. But look at the wealth of genius which arose in this one small district: Giotto (at Vicchio); Piero della Francesca (Sansepolcro); Michelangelo (Caprese); Vasari (Arezzo); Masaccio (Loro Ciuffénna); Fra Angelico and Luca Signorelli (Cortona); Paolo Uccello (Pratovecchio); and half-a-dozen more. There probably never was such a seedplot of genius in world art as the area through which this exploration takes you.