by John Villani, The 100 Best Arts Towns in America

» Excerpted from The 100 Best Art Towns in America, © 2005 by John Villani. Reprinted with permission of the publisher, The Countryman Press/W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. To order, click here.

Nestled along a beautiful stretch of Florida’s Gulf Coast, this dynamic and diverse community sits on the east shore of Sarasota Bay, a pristine environment whose west shores are formed by a series of barrier islands known as Longboat Key, Lido Key and Siesta Key. While much of the region’s vaunted quality of life revolves around Sarasota’s doorstep access to the Gulf of Mexico’s turquoise waters, miles of beaches and year-round harvests of seafood, this Art Town also revels in its rich cultural scene. Founded in the late 1800’s, by the time the Roaring Twenties hit, Sarasota had already carved out a reputation for itself as a winter playground for wealthy industrialists. People still come here for golf and the Gulf, building even more mansions along what are now the tree-lined residential areas of this well-preserved community. (more »)