Villa Maura

View of the front of the villa

There's a great episode of Seinfeld where Elaine's boyfriend has rented a villa in Tuscany for vacation and tells Jerry he got the last one.  Jerry's response was along the lines of "You mean there are no more villas in all of Tuscany" so of course, he stews about this the rest of the episode with George and Kramer.  In the end, he finds his villa in Tuscany and it's across the street from Elaine's.

View from the terrace below

We've had great luck with renting apartments where we stay for a week (Paris, Amsterdam) and we rented a house in Colorado for a week for a family reunion.  It's much like renting a house at the beach.  You can use a realty service, or now with the internet, find one on your own through a site such as Homeaway or VRBO.  The great thing about an apartment or house rental is that we have a kitchen to cook meals, laundry facilities, and more room to spread out than just having a hotel room.  Plus you can split the cost with others and end up with a much better deal than individually renting hotel rooms.

View of our pool from the front balcony

We knew we wanted to stay in Tuscany for the week so we researched multiple sites on line.  There are lots of places to rent throughout Tuscany and we stumbled across Villa Maura outside the town of Fucecchio.  Fucecchio is between Florence and Lucca, and so far is proving to be a great location.  We're less than an hour from both Pisa and Florence so we can visit both while we're here.  Our house is owned by a lovely lady named Tiziana who we communicated with via email to set everything up.  She welcomed us with bottles of wine, brought a huge binder with maps and other information on the area, and made sure we knew how to get to the grocery store.

A portion of our view of the Fucecchio countryside

Tuscany is very much a rural region with lots of vineyards and olive groves.  The scenery is very pastoral and relaxing, but a car is a must because there isn't much in the way of public transportation except in the larger cities and towns.  It's great hearing the birds and the crowing roosters in the mornings.  After the hustle and bustle of Rome, this will be a great place to unwind, relax, and enjoy a slower pace of Italian life.  I think it's time for a nap.