Piazza Machiavelli

Wine country south-west of Florence, in the hills of the Val di Pesa, Montespertoli is a town of cellars and olive presses whose main square carries the name of the Florentine secretary and writer. Its summer calendar mixes food fairs with performance, and touring opera has played here in the open air — Puccini's Madama Butterfly and La bohème among the productions. Squares such as this one keep opera in circulation a long way from the great houses.