Abstract The paper presents an overview of the principal stone materials used in the historical architecture of Tuscany, a region of central Italy characterized by a great variety of landscapes. The large number of these materials reflects the complex geology of the region, where each village and town has a unique identity conferred by the architecture and typical colours of the construction materials. The urban areas that have developed in the foothills of the Apennines are, characterized by the use of sandstone, while the towns and villages of central-southern Tuscany are generally more heterogeneous, with an abundant use of bricks and travertine. The information presented is focused on the use of the stone materials during the different epochs, their geopetrographical characteristics and their most common durability problems.

Abstract The northernmost coastal sector of the Italian peninsula from the La Spezia Gulf to Monte Pisano, including the Alpi Apuane mountain range, represents a special morpho-structural domain of the inner northwestern Apennines. Described by naturalists since the Roman age, its location on the land and sea track of the Italian Grand Tour makes it a special zone in the Italian peninsula that was visited by some of the most eminent European geologists of the nineteenth century, including Brongniart, Buckland, De la Beche, Hoffman, Escher von der Linth, Murchison and Lyell. The area has been also the homeland of naturalists and scientists who played a significant role during the nineteenth century in the advancement of geological studies in Italy. Thanks to Capellini's ‘Geological map of the La Spezia Gulf and surroundings’ (1863) and Zaccagna's ‘Geological maps of the Alpi Apuane’ (1879–97), the area became central in the history of the foundations of modern Italian geological maps. However, the opportunities provided by early mapping and palaeontological discoveries for developing tectonic concepts were squandered by Italian Apennines geologists, who remained stuck on explanations of autochthonism, thus missing an early recognition of nappe tectonics that was only accepted in the middle of the twentieth century.