The speeches Tuscan are Romance dialects of the family Italian spoken in Corsica Toscane but also in (the Corsican Langue divided itself into cismontanu and oltramontanu ) and in north about the Sardinia (dialects of Sassari - the Sassarese and north-Western area of the Gallura - the Gallurais).

It is the literary glare of the speech of the town of Florence which imposes it like standard standard of the Italian modern: Dante, Pétrarque and Boccace in particular. Its central position and the political and economic development of this city reinforce this choice. The florentine variety of Tuscan is codified by Pietro Bembo ( Prose beyond volgar lingua - Proses of the vulgar language, 1526) but also by the Accademia della Crusca which imposes its Vocabolario in 1612. She triumphs with Alessandro Manzoni and her Promessi sposi in 1827.

When the Royaume of Italy was proclaimed in 1861, one needed a single national language for the communication among the Italian areas, which spoke different dialects or languages. Thanks to its cultural importance and with the support of Alessandro Manzoni, the new Italian government chooses the dialect Tuscan.

This victory of Tuscan should not make forget (1) that the dialects remained extremely long-lived in Italy and that, during the history, others standard varieties were born in the area.

Under-dialects

Tuscan is a whole of local under-dialects, which present between them only one low coefficient of variation.

Into Toscane the speeches are divided into dialects septentrional Tuscan and dialects southernmost Tuscan .

The septentrional dialects are (of is in west):

• the Florentin ( fiorentino ), principal dialect of the town of Florence, Casentino and Mugello, also spoken with Prato and along the river Arno to the town of Fucecchio;
• the pistoïais , spoken in the town of Pistoia and in the adjacent area (for certain linguists, this dialect is not distinguished from the Florentin);
• the pesciatin or Valdinievolese , spoken in the valley about Valdinievole, in the towns of Pescia and Montecatini Term (for certain linguists, this dialect is not distinguished from the lucquois);
• the lucquois , spoken with Lucques (Lucca) and in the adjacent area (the Lucchesia );
• the viareggien spoken with Viareggio and on all the septentrional coast (the Versilia ), until the Isoglosse of the Ligne Massed-Senigallia;
• the pisan-livournais spoken with Pisa and Leghorn and in the adjacent area, along the southernmost coast, to the town of Piombino.

The southernmost dialects are (of is in west):

• the Arétin , spoken with Arezzo and in the Valley about Chiana;
• the Sienan ( Senese ), spoken with His and in its province;
• the grossetan spoken with Grosseto and in its province.