Blog on Italy villa rentals by Dolce Vita Villas » Tuscany

Cycling in Tuscany: on your bikes in Maremma!

dolcevita — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:46:41 +0000

See Italy’s beautiful landscape without worrying about global warming. Go green and get a bike!

Cycling is a new form of tourism, at least for Italy. It’s already popular in other European countries, such as the Netherlands and France, but advances in bicycle technology (and green issues) mean that Italy is beginning to see more of it, and Tuscany is one of the main destinations in Italy.

The Maremma especially, with its wide choice of seaside areas, medieval villages perched on hills and its enchanting countryside. It all makes for interesting trips.

Itineraries

There’s a huge number of itineraries from which to choose, whether you’re interested just in the cycling or in other things besides. There’s something for everyone. If your Italian is up to it, this site is great for discovering all sorts of trips at every level; easy ones, ones suitable for a family with children, or more challenging itineraries for the experienced cyclist. You can choose your itinerary according to distance, type of road and even how high you want to climb. Printing out the maps there is a good idea.

This site is specific to the Maremma Natural Park, also known as Parco dell’Uccellina. It’s a fantastic cycling area with a thoroughly natural landscape leading all the way from the hills down to the Tyrrenhian sea just south of Grosseto.

Rent a bike

You can take your own bike, but it’s easier to rent your bikes directly when you get there.

We suggest: Saletti in Castiglione della Pescaia or MBM in Grosseto – MBM will take the bikes to wherever you need them if you ask.

Tour operators

If you prefer having a tailor-made experience, alone or as part of a group, you can contact these tour operators:

Maremma in Bici

Maremma in bicicletta

They can organise a trip taking into account your level of cycling expertise and the places you’d like to visit.

But actually we think the best idea if you want to cycle around the Maremma is to make a base at one of our villas and take day trips out, as long or short as you want.
We think these are the best villas for the purpose:

Il Mulino

Il Mandrione

Borgo della Pia

Villa della Pia

We’ll give you a hand with finding the beauty spots, and the restaurants too for the lunch break!

Wedding Venues

dolcevita — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:31:30 +0000

We regularly get asked about wedding venues, and I have to say that some of our villas are truly stunning places to celebrate one of life’s most important events. One new villa we’ve taken on, Villa Biserno near Bolgheri, put me in mind of such things as it’s really the most wonderful place to have a wedding reception. It has a huge ground floor living area where a hundred or more could easily be accommodated, all mingling together in a great party atmosphere.

There’s plenty of help available too. Our friends at One Step Closer are experienced at organising weddings in Tuscany, and they can take you through all the paperwork necessary for a civil ceremony followed by the reception. With a little help and preparation, all will go smoothly and you won’t actually need to spend a lot of time in Italy beforehand, at least if both bride and groom are resident outside Italy. Church ceremonies are a little harder to arrange.

Speaking of ceremony, you will have a civil ceremony at the local town hall (Comune) before the Mayor and an official interpreter, but this belittles some of the venues, which are magnificent in their own right – take the “Sala Rossa” within the Michaelangelo-designed Capitol Hill buildings in Rome for example.

As to the reception, the world is your oyster. If you like the Amalfi Coast, there’s the Villa Tre Croci which has an open-air terrace ideal for a party, and La Calla can help out with the organisation. At Torre Cesarea, the manager is well practised at planning and delivering a gourmet meal on the terrace overlooking that blue blue sea.

For weddings in the Lake Como area and in Sicily, contact Cernobbiodeluxe.

Calling all aspiring cooks (and chefs)

Stephen — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:59:03 +0000

Donatella Zampoli is an inspiration for everyone who is seriously interested in gastronomy. She comes from that central part of Europe which is a melting pot, not just of nations and nationality, but in the gastronomic sense too. She originates from the South Tyrol, with Austrian, Hungarian and Polish roots, and began her professional life in a way that is little known in the Anglo-Saxon world, attending a Hotel School in Stresa, a sort of university for those wanting to do well in the hospitality business. Her parents’ restaurant in Cavalese, Trento, was the starting point and during her residence there, the restaurant earned a Michelin star.

Her star was clearly in the ascendancy as she has become a food and gastronomic consultant for the Frescobaldi and Antinori wine estates in Tuscany, for cruise ships, and organises training for restaurant and hotel personnel. She continues, in the down-to-earth way of those who are passionately interested in their profession and not in themselves, to want to impart the benefit of her knowledge and experience. This she does by giving master classes in the culinary arts in and around Tuscany, her current home and workplace. She’s happy to travel, in fact loves to do so, and to do everything from just getting people started on the road, to improving the skills of those already professionally involved in hospitality.

Dolce Vita Villas has a number of medium to large sized villas which have large, even semi-professional, kitchens where an organised group of guests could take advantage of the services she offers. Take Spaccasassi in Umbria for example which has great dining facilities too, both indoor and outdoor. La Vigna in Chianti has a separate annexe for the overflow in larger parties as well as a great kitchen. Borgo della Pia has a lot of outdoor facilies – horse riding and tennis for example, if there are those in the group who would prefer not to slave over a hot stove!

Boar and other hunting in the Maremma and Umbria

Stephen — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:08:11 +0000

Our last blog on wild boar hunting clearly struck a chord amongst a number of groups – hunters, land owners, farmers and environmentalists. Most of the reaction was so positive to the hunting concept that our friends the owners of Villa della Pia and Borgo della Pia decided to do something about it for the hunting season this year, which in Tuscany is 1st November to 31st January. They’ve organised a couple of shooting week-ends for November when the hunting will be at its best and are offering accommodation at the two properties. The hunts will take place on Sunday 13 and Sunday 27 November.

The package comprises a welcome dinner the previous Saturday evening, accommodation with other hunters at the top-end luxury villas on the Saturday night, a bracing Sunday breakfast to provide energy for the day, the hunt itself during the morning, culminating in a celebratory lunch to round things off. Bring your own gun!

For those coming from further afield, you could combine this with a visit to the 2,000 acre hunting estate we know near Spoleto in Umbria. There are deer, hares, pheasant and partridge as well as wild boar to shoot there, and in a number of different ways too. Hunters can shoot from the safety of platforms towards which animals are driven, otherwise food is used to lure animals to a particular spot where hunters lie in wait. Shooting is available any day except Tuesdays and Fridays during the season which in Umbria is from 1st October to 31st December. Best places to stay for this estate are La Colomba, Melograno di Poreta and Frantoio di Poreta.

Whether it’s Tuscany or Umbria, wild boar or birds, let us know and we’ll see what we can do to arrange an action-packed holiday, and there are plenty of other outdoor and indoor pursuits available for the non-hunters in a group. How about cooking?

STOP PRESS – Genoa boat show ending on Sunday

Stephen — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:07:54 +0000

The enormous Genoa Boat Show is currently in full swing and receiving a lot of press attention. Despite the current poor economic outlook, there’s still a lot of life in the top end of the market, in luxury goods generally and boats, whether sailing or motoring, are high on a lot of people’s wish list. But you need to hurry because the show ends on Sunday 9 October, the bonus being that kids get in free over the week-end – give them a taste for the good things in life, why not!

Let’s take take a look at one of the show’s exciting novelties, the Oyster 625. It’s on stand I131 and this is the first time it has been seen in Italy. A great feature is what the manufacturers describe as triple seascape windows – check out the photo below. It’s nearly 20 metres long, so don’t expect it to be cheap. You’ll need to call them to book an appointment to see it.

Riva are of course best known for their smooth, suave and sophisticated motor boats. Achingly good looking is this year’s model Riva 63 Virtus, the flagship of the Riva range of open-top boats. Italian style and design at its best, see it in the Marina section of the show.

Boating is of course a wonderful activity to combine with a villa holiday, and you can hire one, be it motor or sailer, with or without crew, in most seaside locations where we have villas. The Argentario on the Tuscan coast is particularly well known and the ports of Porto Ercole and Porto Santo Stefano offer myriad facilities. Just ask us and we’ll let you have full details. L’Acacia is recommended, along with Giannella (real luxury here) and Villa Mandriola.

Elsewhere, try Sardinia of course, Villa Portisco, Villa Rubia and Villa Contros are all excellent. On the Amalfi Coast, Villa Tre Croci and Torre Cesarea would be great bases for boating.

A message from the Queen

Stephen — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:18:16 +0000

Anyone who reaches the ripe old age of 100 years in the UK is rewarded with a birthday card from Her Royal Highness in person, and for every birthday after that. It’s a shame that President Napolitano can’t do the same for Italian centenarians, but I suppose he has an excuse since there are many more of them in Italy than in the UK, and in the US too.

Italy has one of the highest life-expectancy rates in the world, according to statistics published earlier this month by ISTAT, the Italian National Institute for Statistics. Big question: Why, we ask ourselves? I think I’d put it down to diet, climate and temperament. Yes, Italy has more than its fair share of sunshine, and combine that with the variation of seaside, mountain and countryside, then you have a great place to live.

Italians may be fiery and energetic, but the welcome you get as a visitor must mean that the tendency is to share and enjoy, to exteriorise and be happy.

But it’s mostly the diet. The “Mediterranean diet” has been much spoken of over the last few years, and it’s been spread all over the world by expatriates. Low animal fats, high fruit and vegetable content, the use of local, quality ingredients and just the odd glass of red wine. It presses all the right buttons, and you can access some delicious viagra recipes from the “Our favourite recipes” section of this blog – try our new cheese cake recipe for example.

So what are you waiting for? Grab your slice of the Dolce Vita and book a holiday villa – it’ll make you live longer! The 2012 calendar is on the web site, and bookings are already happening for the best places for next year. As ever, Sardinia, Tuscany and Umbria are expected to be the favourites, so don’t wait around.

Rome, Florence, now it’s Venice’s turn

Stephen — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:11:07 +0000

Venice has joined Rome and Florence in imposing a tourist tax on visitors to Italy’s most popular cities. It was in 2006 that the Italian government first allowed local governments to impose a tax on those using tourist facilities, but the first to break ranks was Rome at the beginning of 2011, with a maximum tax of €3 for those staying at the very best establishments per night for a maximum of 5 nights. The authorities expect the tax to raise €80m, which thankfully will be spent exclusively on the much-needed upkeep of the city’s wonderful monuments. Good to know that those few euros it costs you will be going to help maintain for example the currently free-of-charge Roman Forum.

Florence started on 1 July this year with a bit more painful €5 per night, but at least those staying at the resting place of choice in my youth, the Michaelangelo camp site, only have to pay €1 to enjoy as near as it gets to city centre camping.

Although Venice joined the party late, only 24 August (too late for the main season, methinks), it must be the city of canals and gondolas that is the longest-running candidate for the tax. Venice has a particular problem over and above other Italian and indeed world cities – it’s sinking into the sea. I remember the Venice in Peril appeal of the 1970s when the idea of a tax was much discussed, but I can only think that people then were so generous in their giving – we even had lessons on it at school – that the idea was not then acted upon then. We live in more austere times now.

I’m sure this will not be enough to deter most from visiting Rome and Florence using our Rome Apartments and Florence Apartments. Rumour has it that there are some more villas coming on stream in Northern Italy later this year.

Waterparks and thermal baths in Tuscany and Sardinia

Stephen — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:24:50 +0000

I used to stay at a family holiday home near Civitavecchia with my own children and several other hangers-on, and all they wanted to do was go to Acqua Felix, the water park a few kilometres away. Such parks are a marvellous invention, you can keep any number of kids from age five to well into the (difficult) teen years totally happy, amused and cool for an entire day at minimal effort. Fabulous, and it’s pretty good for the adults too.

There are two on the Tuscan coast, both run by the same company, one at Cecina Mare and the other in Follonica, so within easy reach of a good many of our Tuscany villas. You can find out about prices, opening hours and directions on their English-language web site. As well as the slides and pools, there are of course places to eat and just chill out in the sun. Water games are organised and although there’s a lot of people, they’re very careful to look after the kids.

There’s one in Sardinia too, called Acquadream, and it’s only 3 kilometres West of Porto Cervo on the Costa Smeralda, just South of Baja Sardinia. Difficult to tear yourself away from the blue clear sea, I know, but the young ones will love you for it. Special treat. Here’s a page with a full listing of water parks for other parts of Italy.

For a slightly more relaxing day out, there are a number of spas and thermal baths all around the country. The one I’ve been to is the Terme di Saturnia http://www.termedisaturnia.it/en/ in the province of Saturnia. The mineral-rich waters have been thought to promote health for centuries, and a day there is a real “pampering” experience.

New wineries in Tuscany and elsewhere

Stephen — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:22:26 +0000

If you love tasting fine wine, but you’re also a fan of architecture and design, then Italian vineyards are a great place to visit. Not only are the wines improving through better techniques (some re-imported from the New World), but now more and more Italian wine makers are employing architects of worldwide renown to create eco-friendly, highly technological, big-impact buildings within their vineyards. Frequently set within the most beautiful countryside, a visit will satisfy the soul as well as the taste buds. All of them will welcome visitors to their pride and joy. The first in time, at least in Tuscany, was the so-called “Beaubourg of Chianti” designed by Piero Sartogo for the Antori winery in Badia a Coltibuono, near Gaiole. A modern fortress dug in to a hill surrounded by vineyards covering a surface area of 5,500 square metres, it’s a building that unites high technology industrial design with beautiful surroundings, using architecture to bring out the extraordinary characteristics of the place. Recommended Dolce Vita Villas properties nearby are: La Chiantigiana, Villa di Panzano, Montesassi, Villa Semifonte and La Vigna.

Then it was the turn of the Terra Moretti group from Suvereto, near Livorno, who commissioned the famous “cylinders” of the Petra cellars from Swiss/Italian architect Mario Botta. Eight thousand square metres on three levels designed for wine production. The productive cycle uses the natural slope to avoid the need for hydraulic pumps that place grapes and wine under stress and lower the quality of the final product. Inside is a handsome tunnel, one wall carved from the calcareous rock brightly orange-striped with iron oxide.

At Castagneto Carducci, 70 kms. south of Livorno, Ambrogio and Giovanni Folonari have put their money on contrast between wood, glass and concrete at Campo al Mare, designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the architect who co-produced the Pyramid at the Louvre with Ieoh Ming Pei.

The Monsordo Bernardina establishment in the Langhe area is a huge bubble suspended amongst the vines, an immense grape designed by the Architects Deabate whose intention was to create an environment to embody the motto “tasting wine while tasting the view”.

In 2004 Massilmiliano Fuksas created two bubbles in Bassano del Grappa for the world famous Nardini Distillery for its 225^th birthday. The two bubbles allude to the shape of the vessels in which grappa and other distillates are made. One houses the laboratory for analysis and the other is for events and tastings.

Rocca di Frassinello, in the heart of the Maremma area of Tuscany, between Bolgheri and Scansano is a building of 7,500 square metres designed by Renzo Piano. It has unpainted reinforced concrete walls, decking in birchwood and a huge hall for congresses, concerts and events. Underneath is the cellar with more than 2,500 oak barrels, illuminated by a ray of sunshine reflected by a series of mirrors down a tower. This is what the architect said: “I immediately knew that the right place to build the structure was the top of the hill. Take the hill, excavate the cellars, make a platform to cover it like a high plain from which to survey the extraordinary countryside. You just couldn’t imagine a simpler building.” Simple or not, all these places are well worth a visit. Great villas from which to visit would be Villa della Pia, Borgo della Pia, L’Acacia and Il Tombolino.

Melody and wine in Tuscany

Stephen — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 08:08:46 +0000

Music and wine, two of life’s greater pleasures. The “Melodia del Vino” Festival combines the very best of classical music with classical Tuscan wines into a single glorious experience, and will be celebrated between 28 June and 8 July this year in and around the famous wine-growing areas of Tuscany. It originates from an idea started in Bordeaux, and the French organiser of that festival, Marc Laforet (a pianist featuring in the 2 July concert), has enlisted musicians, vineyard owners, classic Tuscan Villa owners, the Tuscany tourist board and many others to bring about what he believes will be a truly great musical and oenological explosion consisting of six concerts, each to be followed by a wine tasting of the the local production, with canapés. It starts with a programme of Chopin and Liszt at the Teatro Verdi in Florence on Tuesday 28 June which will be performed by Yulianna Avdeeva, a Russian pianist who is only the third woman ever to win the prestigious Warsaw Chopin competition.

The second is to be performed by Argentinian pianist Nelson Goerner at Villa Le Corti dei Principi Corsini near San Casciano Val di Pesa, not far from Florence. This is probably amongst the most spectacular of all the venues, and if the concert appeals you can stay at any of these Dolce Vita Villas which are nearby: Poggio al Noce, Poggio al Sole, Villa San Donato, La Chiantigiana, Montesassi, and Villa Rossetti. The Corsini family makes a particularly good Chianti Classico and Vin Santo -try to sample these after the concert.

On 2 July Marc Foret duets with Segej Kryov, moving the focus to Rocca di Frassinello near Gavorrano. Try the Baffonero wine afterwards if you can – voted the best wine in Italy by some. Also good is the Monteregio di Massa Marittima. Foret’s programme consists of Bach, Franck and Chopin, amongst others. Nearby villas to book are: Villa della Pia, Borgo della Pia, Il Mandrione, Poggio del Barbiere, Casale Sole, and Lotto 82.

On 4 July, Gautier Capuçon plays Brahms, Schumann and Grieg at Villa Fanini near Lucca. Try these villas for a great place to stay: Il Treto, La Segreta, Il Cigno, Villa Magna and Villa Fontana.

On 6 July Emmanuel Rossfelder will be playing a programme of Spanish guitar music, including Tarrega, Albeniz and Villa Lobos at Castello Banfi – Montalcino. While there, take a look at the museum of wine and glass in the castle. You shouldn’t leave without tasting the Rosso di Montalcino and of course the magnificent Brunello di Montalcino. Nearby villas are: La Fuga, Villa dell’Abate, Villa di Campalto, Le Lucere, Borgo Bandini, and Villa di Cerreto. The final concert is at Villa Rocca di Montemassi and will consist of a piano recital by Giovanni Bellucci, playing Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt. The Villa Rocca di Montemassi is close to Rocca di Frassinello (2 July) so you can use the same list of villas as above. Further information and tickets for all the concerts are available from the web site