Tuscany, Off The Beaten Path
Posted in: Books and Movies Curiosities Day Trips Tourist Attractions Travel Tips
Tuscany is our great passion as a company and we are dedicated to finding the best villas, food, sights and attractions for you so that you can have the perfect holiday. Through our blog, we uncover everything that the region has to offer, both famous and lesser-known. Our new ebook, “Tuscany, Off the Beaten Path – 37 Unique Day Trips” (download it here), perfectly complements these aims and will allow you to easily plan the trip of your dreams and is especially focused on showing you the smaller towns and hidden gems that aren't given much time or consideration in other travel guides about Tuscany. Of course, there is information on the likes of Florence and Pisa, but our focus is very much off the beaten track.
Gucci Storefront
Posted in: Activities Florence Localities Museums & Galleries Shopping Tourist Attractions
Following on from the last post which discussed Florentine fashion designers that you should know about and visit while in Florence, this will continue with two more historic and important designers. As noted previously, many of the city's important designers are still based in Florence and even when they don't have museums like as Salvatore Ferragamo does, they have large boutiques located nearby. With a history that is intrinsically connected to fashion and design, Florence's fashion heritage cannot be overlooked.

Find a villa with internet in Florence and explore, shop and learn all about the wealth of design culture that she has to offer.
Palazzo Pucci
Posted in: Activities Florence Localities Museums & Galleries Shopping Tourist Attractions
Now that you know where to go for bargains in Florence, it seems only fitting to discuss some of the greatest and most important designers to come from the city. Most are still headquartered there and Florence's history is intimately connected to clothing and design. It is, of course, well-known that Florence was a great art centre in the Renaissance but its wealth, which allowed for the production of all that art, came, in part, from the roaring wool and silk trade of the Middle Ages. The rise of the Medici from merchants to almost-kings led to their becoming taste-makers and influencers, the first fashionistas, if you will.
Image from the Room of the Muses, at Vasari's House
Posted in: Museums & Galleries Tourist Attractions
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, architect, writer and historian probably most well-known today for his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects which remains an important (if warily used) resource in art historical study of roughly contemporaneous artists' lives. Vasari was born in Arezzo, Tuscany and one of his homes still stands there today, organised and decorated by the man himself. For any art historian or enthusiast worth their salt, its a must-see, not only due to who lived there but also because of the artworks set within a Renaissance home, the frescoes and décor (though not all of the furniture). Find a luxury villa in Arezzo and drop by.
Interior of Ivan Bruschi Museum
Posted in: Museums & Galleries Tourist Attractions
Ivan Bruschi was an internationally famous antique collector from Arezzo whose last wish was to establish a foundation to spread the love of art, antiques and culture. His wish was granted and the Bruschi Foundation has since become a hugely important patron of culture in Arezzo. One of the greatest feats of the foundation was the establishment of the House-Museum of Ivan Bruschi which houses Bruschi's personal collection, set within the 13th-century Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo located in the heart of Arezzo.