The Grand Tour and the Tuscan villas
Italy is one of the nations that every year attracts the largest number of visitors from abroad and, today like yesterday, anyone gets fascinated by the beauty and peculiarity of the peninsula. Tuscany in particular is well known and very requested. The tradition of hospitality and tourism has certainly consolidated over the years and it is important to remember that already in the nineteenth century foreign visitors travelled to Italy .
Tuscany was obviously part of the journey called Grand Tour, which brought in the nineteenth century foreign artists, intellectuals, philosophers and writers from abroad to Italy to discover the beauties, learn the history and appreciate the art and the landscape. In particular, Florence was a milestone in the center of Italy with its unique panorama dotted with villas and gardens. In this article we report some of the descriptions made by the intellectuals of the time who came to visit Florence and described the villas and gardens according to their taste.
Goethe described Florence using these words: "in a wide valley cultivated with great care and spread of an infinite number of villas and farmhouses." De Rogissart described it as "the most pleasant place in the world ... it is sprinkled with villas, the number of which would amount to more than a thousand." John Ruskin climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa and described the scene by writing "candid villas gleaming between fragments of clouds." Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in the Villa of Bellosguardo writing "the villa is on a hill overlooking Florence and is great ish from a regiment." Henry James keeps his melancholic style describing "the compact fabric of the city and the pale bluish hills faintly dotted with white-washed villas."
Particular attention is given to the gardens of the villas where these intellectuals were standing. John Keysler in 1760 wrote that the fountains of the park of the villa of Pratolino, while not equaling Versailles, possess their uniqueness and beauty. The patriotic Montaigne, always describing the villa in Pratolino, wrote that "from a distance, the building seems miserable, but up close it is very nice ... but not as the most beautiful in France." Prince Klemens von Metternich called Villa Marlia a "divine" place and its park an "English garden with a little common look." In 1835 Alphonse de Lamartine called the villas in Lucca as "the most beautiful things" that the beautiful countryside of Lucca could offer.
Follow in the footsteps of the intellectuals who have gone before us and visit some of the world's most beautiful historic villas during your holiday in a villa in Tuscany.
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A selection of our most requested villas in the area:
Villa with pool near Montepulciano (Siena), in Valdichiana. Sleeps 5, garden, air conditioning, hydromassage, Internet connection, outdoor toys for children. Spas, golf club, tennis club and riding stable within a few kilometres.
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Holiday villa a few kilometres from the beaches of Versilia and from Lucca. Sleeps 12/13, swimming pool, garden, hydromassage. Riding stables and tennis courts nearby.
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Villa farmhouse for rental vacation in Garfagnana, Tuscany. Farmhouse with accommodation for 8 people, garden, swimming pool, Internet connection.
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Luxury villa sleeping 8 a few kilometres from Gambassi Terme, in the heart of Florence countryside. Garden, swimming pool, hydromassage, Internet connection. Tennis court, riding stable and golf club nearby. Possibility of organising horseback and mountain-bike rides in the neighbourhood.
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