Tuscany
formerly a grand-duchy, now a department of Italy; area, 9,304 square miles; pop., about 2,800,000. The chain of the northern Apennines forms a considerable portion of its N. boundary, the sea being its boundary on the W.
The principal river is the Arno. Cereals cover a large area, and vineyards, olive The yards, and orchards are numerous. manufacture of silk is considerable. The marble of Tuscany, especially that of Siena, is well known. Tuscany corresponds to the ancient Etruria, which was, , which was , however, of wider extent. After the fall of the Western Empire (476) it passed successively into the hands of the Ostrogoths, Byzantine Greeks, and Lombards. Charlemagne made it a Frankish province, and it was governed by marquises or dukes till the 12th and 13th centuries, when it became broken up into a number of small republics, four of which were Florence, Pisa, Siena, and Lucca. From the first Florence occupied the leading place, and it gradually extended its territory. In 1569 Pope Pius I. granted to Cosmo I. the title of Grand-Duke of Tuscany, and this position was retained , with interruptions, by the Medici family till 1737, when it passed to Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine. In 1859, under his descendant, the Grand-Duke Leopold , it was annexed to Sardinia by a popular vote, and in 1860 became, with Sardinia, part of the kingdom of Italy.