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Our villas in |
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Tips for renters |
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About Italy |
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| Tuscany combines magnificent landscapes with a gloriously complicated history, a rich and ongoing artistic heritage, excellent wines and a mouth-watering cucina. So many of the world’s most beautiful places are concentrated here that it seems almost unfair. With an area half the size of Switzerland, Tuscany offers plenty of off-the-beaten track options, too, where the hill towns are still sleepy and the country roads seemingly made for morning rambles. |
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Tuscan towns almost all follow the same formula. The focal point is always the cathedral, or duomo, and the square, piazza, in front of it, which is often reserved for pedestrians. The main shopping street typically leads off one corner of this piazza, and it, too, is often a pedestrian zone. If the town was worth protecting during the medieval era - when Florence, Siena and Pisa fought unending territorial battles - it will have a fortress, whether ruined or reconstructed. There will be at least one museum to showcase the local treasures, and a weekly morning market during which the inevitably short supply of parking spaces will be positively overwhelmed. Every evening between six and seven you’ll find most of the residents strolling up and down the main street admiring the shop windows and their neighbours’ new babies - a ritual which occurs throughout Italy and is known as the passeggiata. |
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| On a winter’s evening not long ago, walking along the narrow and very old Via Dante in Florence, I caught a sudden whiff of warm truffle - not the chocolate sort, but the dark, lumpy Tuber melanosporum fungus so prized in Italian kitchens. My nose led me to a tiny restaurant, where, miraculously, there was an empty table and a waiter who had no trouble understanding my garbled Italian order for something - anything - with tartuffi. Florence is like that, the perfect setting for treasure hunts based on an unending choice of themes, all manageable onfoot through a network of alleyways and caffè-ringed piazzas. |
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| A favourite subject for a treasure hunt is the symbol of the Medici family, a cluster of red balls on a golden background. It’s to be found on every building they commissioned in Florence, and there are many. Their name, in Italian, means ‘doctors’ but it was as bankers that they gained their wealth and power. At their height they not only employed half the city of Florence but were owed money by virtually every European kingdom. Consequently, several Medicis sat on the papal throne, and two Medici daughters became queens of France. Their pre-eminence in Florence spanned almost five centuries, minus a few periods of exile, but without any of them taking a formal political role: their modus operandiwas more along the lines of direct cash payments for services rendered; if not cash then a building perhaps, or the right words spoken in the right ear... Regardless of their methods, the Renaissance simply could not have taken place without the Medici. It was their patronage of the arts, humanities and sciences that produced such a volume of work during the period, and their influence that made Renaissance Florence a centre of creative excellence and daring. The origin of the symbol with the balls, or palle, is uncertain - the balls might represent pills or coins - but they certainly came to signify boldness, although perhaps to excess: while the literal translation of the term, che palle!, implies aggressiveness in English, in Italian it's a common slang expression for 'what a bore!'. |
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Pisa (PSA - Galileo Galilei) is Tuscany´s international airport, located about 40 minutes´drive west of Florence. Florence (FRL - Peretola), north-west of the city, is a smaller airport receiving domestic and European flights.
If your villa is in southern or eastern Tuscany, one of Rome´s two airports may be a more practical option: Fiumicino (FCO) is the larger, for international flights; Ciampino (CIA) has a fewer facilities and caters to the discounters and smaller European airlines. Both are just off Rome´s ring road, the GRA, and convenient to all the motorways.
The little airport at Perugia (PEG - Sant´Egidio), in Umbria, is convenient fr eastern Tuscany and receives domestic italian flights and discout airlines from UK. |
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Hotels, flights, car rentals, and tailored tours. For more information |
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| Walking maps in the main cities of Tuscany. |
| Florence can really only be explored on foot: the historic centre is a compact maze of one-way and pedestrian streets, and driving is restricted to pass holders. |
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| View our walking maps of: |
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| Begin at Piazza della Stazione. Cross the square towards the tourist office and enter Via degli Avelli to the left of the large church (Santa Maria Novella)... |
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| From Piazza Santa Trinita turn left into Via Porta Rossa, lined with 14C mansions. Continue to the Loggia del Mercato Nuovo... |
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| Walk back up Via Por Santa Maria and turn right into Via Vacchereccia. Continue into Piazza della Signoria to visit Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi... |
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. We left San Marco out on our tour of Florence so as not to walk you off your feet, but this Dominican convent-turned- museum is worth a special visit. As interesting for the insight it gives into the monks' lives (including Savonarola) as it is for the wonderful paintings and frescoes by Fra Angelico. |
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. Call it an open-air museum or an art installation, the Tarot Garden’ is fun, colourful and utterly unique. French artist Niki de Saint-Phalle took 17 years to build this collection of towering Tarot figures that you can walk through, on and around. |
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A minuscule museum in a village that is almost a museum in itself. Lucignano is comprised of four streets laid in concentric ovals. The museum houses one superb treasure, the Golden Tree (shown at right), a 2.6m/8.5-foot reliquary from 1350 . Its 12 branches are hung with coral, rock crystals and miniatures; a golden crucifix and pelican are perched on top. |
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. The museum showcases the evolution of the Vespa scooter since its launch in 1945, the Gilera motorbike, and the ubiquitous Ciao moped. |
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An 18C silk factory in the heart of Florence, until recently owned by the Pucci family. Hand-dyed fabrics woven on traditional looms, many based on Renaissance designs. Silk/cashmere scarves, taffeta handbags, jewel cases, pillow covers, etc. Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, Florence The world’s most famous pharmacy is also the most beautiful (photo below). Perfumes, soaps, creams and other products based on plant extracts since the 17C. Book ahead for a tour. |
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The birthplace of Giacomo Puccini celebrates its most famous son each summer in a purpose-built outdoor theatre overlooking a lake. June to August, www.puccinifestival.it . Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Florence. Italy’s oldest music festival includes ballet, opera and concert performances of classic, contemporary and forgotten pieces. May to July, www.maggiofiorentino. com . Pistoia Blues Pistoia (Tuscany). More than blues, this festival has included Muddy Waters, Patti Smith and Santana. July. www.pistoiablues.com. |
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Our travel partner,, has terrific ideas for touring in Tuscany and a lineupof great people on the spot who can make them happen. |
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 Join a convoy of zippy Fiat Cinque Centos to explore Florence and wander through the Florentine hills. |
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Spend a day winery shopping in Chianti, Montalcino or Montepulciano (car and designated driverguide supplied!). |
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Skip the queues on VIP tours of Florence, including the Uffizi, the Accademia and the Duomo, and visit Siena with an insider. |
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Do the designer factory outlets with a shopaholic lady driver. |
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Learn to cook like a Tuscan and explore the meaning of 'Extra Virgin' (olive oil). |
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For more information |
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If you´d like to add your “best finds” and comments, send a note to |
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If you want to taste something “special”, we offer the services of two professional chefs. For more information |
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An invaluable assistance from our experienced and friendly staff at no extra cost. For more information |
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