Just try to imagine a vacation in a holiday farm in Tuscany: an old peasant house that has been renovated and equipped with all modern comforts, surrounded by cornfields, twisted olive trees and hills covered with rows of vine loaded of grapes in the summer.

If you are spending your vacations in Pistoia countryside, however, the landscape that stretches in front of you is quite different.

The so-called "city of enchanted stone" is renowned in Italy and worldwide mainly for its nursery gardens. The landscape that stretches from Prato Ovest to Altopascio along the A11 motorway testifies to the importance of nursery gardens for Pistoia economy: whether you turn your head right or left, you will see only a succession of plants of every colour, shape and size.

According to figures, the about 2,000 nursery-gardening firms situated in Pistoia and in the 21 municipalities that form the province produce a quarter of the ornamental plants produced in Italy.

Some companies have specialized in niche sectors, including the cultivation of bonsai or succulent plants, meeting with great success.

In conclusion, spending some hours or days in Pistoia nursery gardens makes your vacation in the "city of enchanted stone" complete.

Last but not least, do not forget that in Pescia there is the Comicent - "Centro di Commercializzazione dei Fiori dell`Italia Centrale" (centre for the marketing of flowers in Central Italy) - where every day you can find thousands of flowers on display and on sale.