This week on the Travel with Rick Steves radio show: It's a bane to most visitors, but once a week the Louvre takes a day to maintain its magical grandeur. A Paris-based journalist lets us in on what happens behind closed doors at the city's grandest museum when it shuts to the public each Tuesday. And the last apprentice to be trained in the medieval techniques of masonry in Tuscany reveals guild secrets and how to enjoy stonework that’s often all around and underneath you. Find your local stat

Immerse yourself in the food, wine, and culture of Italy's countryside. Join us for the Village Italy in 14 Days Tour: www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/village-italy | Rick Steves' Europe

Wedged between Florence and Rome, rural Tuscany offers the quintessential Italian experience: sun-soaked hill towns, green and rolling screen-saver hills, romantically fortified farms, and cypress trees marching single file up lonely ridges. Savvy travelers can slow down and get a taste of Italian rural life in the traditional-yet-cozy lodgings of a countryside guesthouse or an agriturismo — a working farm that takes in guests. You feel an enthusiasm for tradition with many rural family farms st