Archive for 'Localities'

Come to Colonnata on a culinary trail of Tuscany to try a famous slow food delicacy here, delicious white pork lard. The village of Colonnata is situated high up in the Apuan Alps and has a busy marble quarrying industry. It dates back to around 40 BC when it was built to house slaves who excavated the marble to be sent to Rome. The quarries here are known as ‘Gioia Calagro’ and visitors to Colonnata can even see the veined marble being quarried during their visit to this industrious part of Tuscany.

Stay in a cosy villa rental in Florence, only twelve kilometres away from Colonnata where you can experience a wonderful Tuscan holiday experience.

Lucca, the old city that has beautifully preserved its past is just waiting to be explored by you! Stay in a luxury five stars villa in Lucca where you can experience a wonderful holiday with lots of nearby attractions to explore.

Treat your eyes to the many attractions of Lucca including these seven gems.

Walk around the 17th century broad high walls of Lucca, lined with grass and a pathway for strolling or cycling along. This is a magnificent way to see the beautifully preserved city of Lucca in all its glory; especially at sunrise or sunset.

Piazza Anfiteatro, shaped like an oval, is the main piazza in Lucca. It has stayed true in shape to the amphitheatre arena that once stood here. The performances which took place here would have been witnessed by over ten thousand spectators!

Grassina, a lovely little village close to Florence is probably most famous for its Christmas and Easter parades but it has a whole host of other wonderful attractions to offer you too! Known as the ‘village of washer women’, Grassina was once where the wealthy of Florence and neighbouring towns sent their linen to be washed.

Two rivers flow past Grassina which dozens of washer women went to with donkey drawn carts of dirty laundry and spend hours scrubbing clean.

Stay at a picturesque villa in Grassina where you can explore this charming little place with ease for a few days. See some of the tools they used on display in Grassina village which can help tourists illustrate the hard work these women undertook to make a living for themselves. In the main square of the village there is a monument erected in honour of the laundress. This life size bronze statues depicts a women stopped over in an act of washing laundry.

The lovely little town of Firenzuola lies close to the neighbouring towns of Barberino di Mugello, Scarperia and Borgo San Lorenzo and is less than an hour’s drive from Florence city. Firenzuola sits on a well-trodden old road connecting Florence to Bologna which made it quite an influential trading town back in the day.

Its name literally means ‘Little Florence’ due to the busy hive of activity that took place within its boundaries.

Stay at a gorgeous holiday rental in Rifredo, only a few kilometres away from Firenzuola where you can enjoy a peaceful and cultural vacation.

Come for a relaxing spa break in the Tuscan village of Equi Terme. Situated on the slopes of Pizzo d’Uccello, a jagged group of high mountains in the Apuan Alps, this is a lovely scenic place to visit on your travels of the region.

There are many interesting things to do and see in Equi Terme such as the vast underground caves here and the furrow of Equi; a canyon which tells the geological history of glacial activity here millions of years ago.

Stay in a beautiful vacation rental in Fivizzano, only a few kilometre's drive from Equi Terme where you can enjoy a lovely relaxing spa break!