Olives, vines, mushroom-scented woods - the Val d'Orcia in southern Tuscany has entranced generations of visitors. Juliet Clough joined a party of walkers to discover its secrets

By their Volvos shall you know them . . . As a new film spotlights Brits behaving badly in Tuscany

The Italian government declared a state of emergency yesterday in the north-western corner of Tuscany, where flash floods have transformed mountain valleys into terrifying rivers of mud, killing at least 12 people and forcing a mass search for two dozen others.

The British have always loved Florence. George Bull enjoys a celebratio n of the jewel of Chiantishire

ANDREW GUMBEL

From Mr Robert Sandow

Kinta Beevor inherited her strong character from the distaff side but it was not until she was in her eighties that she followed her many ancestresses into print. Her A Tuscan Childhood was published in 1993 and is now a Penguin paperback.

Next Wednesday evening, the Palio hits the piazza. Report by Michael Sheridan. Photographs by Francesco Cito

THIS energetic, well-written first novel divides its narrative between a Tuscan hill town in the 15th century and 1980s Florence. As with Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, it juxtaposes an animated portion of history with the obsessive, often misguided efforts of interested parties in the present day to tell a ripping good yarn. It also raises deeper questions: Has humanity really changed in 500 years? What on earth is history?

ROME - A farm labourer went on trial yesterday accused of being the 'monster of Florence', the serial killer who preyed on courting couples in the countryside around the city, murdering 16 people in 17 years, writes Fiona Leney.

AREZZO - An Italian judge yesterday ordered the seizure of assets alleged to be worth 16.5bn lire (pounds 6.5m) from Licio Gelli, former head of the banned Propaganda Due (P2) masonic lodge, who is free pending appeal against an 18-year prison sentence.

The medieval Palio of Siena horse race, the focus of controversy in July when three thoroughbreds had to be put down after heavy falls, was run yesterday without further losses, Reuter reports from Siena.

THE LEANING Tower of Pisa is setting a timely example to Italian politicians - after 800 years, it is beginning to straighten itself up, writes John Shirley.

Sir: A visit to Tuscany, where the fireflies were firing away on all cylinders, prompts me to suggest that the pleasures of the English summer would be enhanced by the sight of fireflies here.