Archive for 'Central Italy'

Tuscany is famously a region that is rich in history, cultural heritage, and natural beauty. It is a place from which great art has sprung. It is home to some extraordinary buildings and picture-perfect towns. It has long been a centre of learning and knowledge. It is a wonderful place to eat and to taste wine. Plus, all of this is set within a stunning landscape of rolling green hills, endless vineyards, medieval hilltop towns like something plucked from a fairytale, cypress-lined roads, and grand cities. As a result, those who browse our Tuscany villas and come to the region for a vacation will find that they have a truly endless list of extraordinary attractions with which to keep themselves busy.

However, if you are a person who is looking for something a little more offbeat or someone interested in the unusual and macabre, the weird and wonderful, then Tuscany is also an excellent destination. Tuscany, in addition to all of those things for which it is so well known and beloved, also has its fair share of rather strange and unusual tourist attractions that are sure to pique your interest. Here are just a few of the most unusual things to see and do on vacation in Tuscany...

While, of course, there are a range of different Tuscany villas to browse across our websites to suit all sorts of budgets, groups, tastes, preferred locations, desired features and amenities, etc, we cannot help but admire a particular kind of villa: the stunning historic properties plucked directly from our dreams! These incredible gems boast stunning interiors, incredible surroundings and grounds, remarkable characters and histories, and just endless visual appeal. For those who have always wanted to stay in a palace or old manor and get a taste of the lives of ancient nobility, these really are a dream come true! 

An example that we have been admiring lately is the extraordinary seven-bedroom and seven-bathroom Villa Staggia, located 13km (8 miles) from Poggibonsi and 24km (15 miles) from Siena in green and leafy private grounds that overlook lush fields and rolling hills so typical of this magical region. 

Tuscany is famous for many things: stunning scenery, famous landmarks, architectural gems, world-class iconic artworks, charming historic cities and towns, delicious food, and incredible wine. When it comes to the last item on that list – the remarkable wines of the region – there are endless places to go to sample, savour, study, and purchase outstanding examples. Pretty much wherever you go in Tuscany, you will find great wine – in bars and restaurants, at wineries, in shops, and more. In fact, you won’t really have to go looking at all. However, if you are a bit more of a wine-lover with a particular interest in wine then you might want to be somewhat more discerning or you might want to go on a proper wine-tasting voyage all across the region while you enjoy your time in one of our Tuscany Villas. So, in order to help you maximise your wine experience of Tuscany and to aid you in planning your itinerary for your time the region, we have put together a guide to the main wine areas of Tuscany. If you are keen to try the main and most important and famous wines of Tuscany, then these are the places that you need to make a point to visit during a holiday in Tuscany...

April is a wonderful time to find a luxury villa in Florence or to book one of our Tuscany Villas and plan a day-trip (or two or three) to Florence for plenty of reasons! Not only do tourist crowds remain relatively smaller compared to the height of the summer but it finally starts to get a bit warmer and, importantly, the city finally goes into bloom. And, all of these flowers and this lush greenery that can be found in the gardens and parks and dotted throughout Florence only serve to make the impossible beauty of this incredible city all the more picturesque and to add splashes of colour amongst the grand architectural gems that are found all over. In particular, Florence is home to some of the world’s most famous and extraordinary historic gardens and most of them are best experienced in the spring.

Among this selection of stunning gardens that can be found by visitors who are planning on booking a vacation rental in Florence, one that is considered a must-see each April and which is regularly photographed at this time of the year is the Giardino Bardini. This is because of one particular feature: the extraordinary, “Wisteria Lane.”