Archive for 'Spring'

Florence is always a dream destination for culture vultures but if you are a particular lover of the performing arts then a great time to book a vacation rental in Florence is between late April and June, when the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival is held. In addition to the incredible and vast array of museums, galleries, churches, architectural gems, gorgeous gardens, public statuary, and more that is already available for your consideration, over the course of this period each year, the city holds a range of different performances. While it is a notable opera festival run by the Opera di Firenze, there is also a diverse season of ballet, classical concerts, and theatrical performances. Fitting one of these shows into your time staying in one of our holiday rentals in Florence is a wonderful way to immerse yourself in this incredible culture capital and to experience some amazing performances.

Founded in 1933 by Vittorio Gui and inspired by an idea of Luigi Ridolfi Vay da Verrazzano, the festival was designed with the concept of using theatrical and wonderfully striking visual productions to showcase both contemporary pieces and operas that had been forgotten. Italy’s oldest music festival and the second-oldest in Europe, after the Salzburg Festival, it was an immediate success and was made into a biennial event in 1937. Thereafter, it became an annual festival and was held across the Teatro Comunale and Piccolo Teatro and the Teatro della Pergola until 2014, when the new Teatro dell'Opera di Firenze (which had been opened in 2011), replaced the Teatro Comunale.

If you are looking forward to the blooming of spring and a great vacation in Tuscany then you should probably consider booking one of our villas with pools in Lucca for this March and heading to Capannori, a town and commune in the province of Lucca that is known as the Village of Camellias. Already an exceptionally charming town of winding lanes, pretty little squares, and gorgeous local houses, it is made lovelier still each year in March and October, when it goes into full bloom...

All through the villages of Pieve and Sant'Andrea di Compito and right across the valley in which Capannori is located, there are camellia trees that explode into thousands of blooms each spring, adding colour and wonder to this corner of the lush Tuscan landscape. The entire area is transformed into one large garden and hosts a rich and diverse calendar of special events for locals and visitors to the area to enjoy each year for the duration of the Antiche Camelie della Lucchesia exhibition. Find your vacation rental in Lucca and come join in on all of the fun and experience the incredible beauty of this special event for yourself!

Fellow cherry lovers who are planning on booking a villa in Tuscany this May (or any other May) will definitely want to make note of the town of Lari in the province of Pisa. Home to the delicious PGI cherry of Lari, this pretty walled medieval town, perched overlooking rolling Tuscan hills and surrounded by cypresses and lush greenery, is very typically Tuscan and utterly charming in its own right. However, come on the last two weekends of this month (May 25th to the 26th and May 31st to the 2nd of June) and you’ll not only be able to enjoy the beauty of the town but also sample her protected, famous cherries, and experience the celebrations!

There is so much to see and do in the city of Florence that no one holiday could possibly allow you to do it all. Of course, if you book a luxury villa in Florence and you are exploring the city, trying to see as much as possible is a fair goal but we also recommend taking moments to stop, breathe, and really appreciate the beauty of this magical city.

One great way to do this is to momentarily step away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the endless things to see and do by visiting one of Florence’s stunning parks or gardens. There are, in fact, lots of gorgeous outdoor spaces to enjoy, spaces once made by the city’s nobility as pleasure gardens or set aside by the city for the peace and rest of the locals or created by great gardeners who wanted to share their passion.

The Giardino Dell’Iris, or Iris Garden, in Florence falls in to the latter two categories, in fact. Owned and run by the Società italiana dell'Iris to promote the iris, it was made possible by the help of the city of Florence in finding two acres over which this stunning space could bloom. Now, when the flowers have emerged, the garden is open to the public for free each year between the 2nd and the 20th of May.