Archive for 'Must See Attractions'

Not far from Arezzo are two towns made famous by their most well-known sons, Anghiari and Caprese Michelangelo, where Da Vinci and Michelangelo, respectively, were born. In both of these places you will find museums dedicated to these two great pillars of the Italian Renaissance and they are must-sees for art-lovers who are travelling in Tuscany and want to delve further into the lives and works of two of the most important figures in the history of European art. The Michelangiolesco Museum is an easy outing for those who have found a vacation rental in Arezzo, located within the province of Arezzo and a short distance from the city of Arezzo in Caprese Michelangelo.

While the museum was opened in 1964, to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Michelangelo, it can actually trace its origins all the way back to 1875. The Michelangiolesco Museum is housed inside the Caprese Michelangelo fortress complex, which is made up of three main buildings, the Palazzo del Podestà, Palazzo Clusini and the Corte Alta, as well as a garden that is open to the outdoors. Caprese came under the rule of Florence after the town submitted to the Florentine Republic in 1384 and from that point onwards Florentine podestàs, local magistrates, took turns residing in the town on an annual basis. It is in the residence of these local rulers, the Palazzo del Podestà, that Michelangelo was born on the 6th of March 1475 to Ludovico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni, who was the reigning podestà, in the area at the time.

Tuscany is a place full of sleepy and pretty little towns that one could easily pass by without a second glance but which contain rich histories and unexpected surprises. Look more closely and you will be astounded by what you might see if you have found a vacation rental in Tuscany and are exploring the region. One such town, that you could easily miss and think nothing more of, is Pieve Santo Stefano, which is located between Florence and Arezzo and has a population of just over 3,000 people. Pretty and very typically Tuscan in appearance, you would think nothing unusual of it at first glance. However, there is much more to this fascinating town than first meets the eye. Back on August 5th, 1944, a year after Mussolini fell from power and the Nazis took control of Italy, the townspeople of Pieve Santo Stefano were abruptly awoken and marched north on pains of death with whatever they could bring with them while the town was completely destroyed. Bar a church in the centre of town, the rest was rubble. It was rebuilt but, if you look closely, you will see concrete in place of cobblestones and Renaissance gems replaced by modern facades.

Then came Saverio Tutino, a former member of the Italian Resistance and journalist who had explored the globe and found himself in town for an art exhibition in 1984. He had had the idea of instituting a place to house and elevate the stories of normal Italians, something he felt was lacking in the country’s rich story-telling heritage, and thought Pieve Santo Stefano, this town haunted so heavily by the past, a perfect place for a, “House of Memory.” And, so, the town became famous for a different reason as home to the Archivio Diaristico Nazionale, the National Diary Archive, and came to be known as the Città del Diario, the City of Diaries.

People often focus on Tuscany as a holiday destination for her culture and cuisine but outside of the manmade boons of the region, there is additionally a wealth of natural beauty to not only admire but to also explore. From rolling hills to wander, perfect peaks to climb, to rugged coasts to walk, and impressive forests to chart, there is a wide selection of diverse and utterly beautiful landscapes in Tuscany that are waiting to be fully discovered and not merely gazed at from afar. Be sure to take in the picture-perfect landscapes of the region from the window of your villa rental in Tuscany, from cars as you drive to fun attractions, from the tops of architectural gems and medieval towns but if you’re an outdoorsy type, you should also make some time to actually get out there into it. If you have found a vacation rental in Arezzo, in particular, then we recommend a visit to the Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e Campigna, or Casentinesi Forests National Park, which is one of the largest forests in Europe and a fascinating park with lots of hiking routes that boasts incredible views, an extraordinarily diverse selection of flora and fauna, foliage that turns intensely beautiful russet and golden shades in Autumn, magnificent roaring waterfalls, stunning lakes, and much more besides.

Wine-lovers who are looking for a perfect holiday destination will find few locations as perfect as Tuscany. There is absolutely no shortage of incredible wineries to choose from and endless places to sample, taste, learn about, and buy wine in Tuscany. However, if you have found a vacation rental in Montalcino, in particular, you will find that there is an especially intriguing and unique winery in the area: Podere Le Ripi.

With a distinct and very unique layout employing innovative planting methods, beautiful architectural elements, and attractive landscaping, it is visually striking and a particularly picturesque winery, which is no small claim amongst the abundant stunning wineries of Tuscany. It is also an incredible experiment in biodynamic viticulture that has yielded some absolutely delicious results.

Established in 1998 by Francesco Illy, of the famous Illy coffee empire family, this winery is made up of 75 acres of biodynamic vineyards that are set across two opposite mountainsides and nestled between a forest, olive groves, a vegetable garden, and fruit trees. Located in the stunning Tuscan landscape of Montalcino, the views from the winery are breath-taking, taking in great swathes of the surrounding landscape. Beginning back in 1998 with the site in Castelnuovo dell’Abate on the eastern side of Montalcino, the winery was since expanded in 2017 to an additional site at Il Galamppio for vineyards on the western side. Both sides boast uncontaminated oceanic soil, but with each belonging to different geological areas, as well as pure air, all of which gives the vineyards optimal conditions to grow the ideal raw ingredients necessary to produce delicious wines.

The beautiful Maremma region of Tuscany is a great, somewhat lesser-known holiday destination in the region. It is a coastal area of Italy that boasts a diverse and incredibly picturesque landscape full of natural beauties. For those interested in a variety of beaches, hiking, flora, fauna, and escaping into a new, impossibly lovely destination, a vacation rental in the Maremma or a holiday rental on the Tuscan Coast is a perfect option.

While exploring this region, one should definitely set aside some time for adventures in the Maremma Regional Park, or Regional Park of the Uccellina. Spread across the chain of hills of the Uccellina and parallel to the coast, stretching 25km from Principina a Mare to Talamone, across almost 10,000 hectares, the park boasts romantic ruins of old watchtowers and a Cistercian abbey, sandy beaches, rocky beaches, dramatic cliffs, marshes, pine forests, cultivated fields and pastures, wildflowers, aromatic herbs, berries, deer, foxes, wild boars, over 270 species of birds, and much more besides. There is a wide variety of things to see as you explore the park and a variety of modes in which to so.