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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Tuscany is among the best-known and appreciated Italian regions, for business people and for tourists alike, and for many reasons. Since ancient times, it has been among the preferred areas for aristocratic living. During the late medieval times, it has offered some of the best examples of Renaissance culture. Within the classic Italian divide of North versus South, Tuscany clearly falls within the more urban, more economically advanced, and less criminal North. With the money traditionally going toward new urban technologies, however, the agricultural land in Tuscany has traditionally been underestimated, both symbolically and financially. That's why the most recent appreciation of this commodity looks logical and surprising at the same time.

Since the first oil shock in mid-1970s, many countries within the West are struggling to redefine itself as primarily industrial society. Italy makes no exception; perhaps a bit later than some others, it has also begun experiencing the downturn pressures of outsourcing, cheap imports, and brain exodus toward the services' sector. The land and the climate, however, are much less susceptible to such economic changes; what was considered once as a symbol of the economic backwardness, today may be seen as a new source of profitable investment; especially when the 'traditional' real estate investments, residences and offices, tend to disappoint many long-term fans.

Where people in Tuscany are investing mostly today, because not all the land is alike? First and foremost, the interest goes to the world first-class vineyards; something Tuscany is famous with. To illustrate the point, in some municipalities of this region, not to be specified by name for obvious reasons of analytical impartiality, the price of land has gone up by almost 400 times since the late 1960s. In absolute terms, the acre of agricultural land is now reaching $300,000, and is still growing annually by double-digits.

New investment in land has also led to significant diversification along ethnic lines within a population that hasn't seen major inward migration to the land since the early medieval times. In some municipalities, the share of foreign-born population has exceeded 20 percent; this number includes those investing in land, mainly from other European countries or North America, as well as those working on it, mainly from new EU members.

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