Tuscany Cottage (Casa Selva) in Incisa Val d'Arno, Florence for Tuscany holidays in Italy

Sitting on its own peak, Casa Selva offers fabulous views of the rolling countryside.

A traditional Tuscan country house, Casa Selva is comfortable and spacious with its living room situated, in traditional style, on the first floor with the dining room and kitchen at ground level. The charming dining room benefits from an open fireplace. There is also a small kitchen with a cooker, oven and fridge. The accommodation comprises of two twin bedrooms, one double bedroom with wash basin, and a convertible single sofa divan in the living room.

Immaculately tended gardens and terraces (some of which are open to the sun, others of which are shaded by the trees) surround this splendid house. Each side it presents a different picture as the surrounding countryside is full of hilltops which sport a tower, castle or magnificent villa, every one with its own history of power and influence.

A range of excellent facilities is offered by the extremely helpful owners who live nearby. There is the possibility of wine tasting in the nearby fattoria whilst homemade dinners can be prepared and delivered to the house by the owner (payable locally). Guests have the use of a laundry room, which is located by reception. The owners’ estate has an inviting 16 x 8 metre swimming pool which guests to Casa Selva are welcome to use.

Incisa Val d'Arno, Florence, Tuscany

In a private and quiet location, Casa Selva sits on its own remote peak surrounded by scenery. It faces rolling hills, each one with its own magnificent tower, castle or villa. Despite the fact that it is in a remote spot, Casa Selva is just 1 kilometre from the shopper's paradise of the fashion factory outlets only 15 kilometres away from Florence city centre. Florence is a beautiful city with more art per square metre than anywhere else in the world, such as the Duomo's cupola by Brunelleschi, Ghiberti's bronze panels on the east doors of the Baptistery, Michelangelo's David in the Accademia.

Smaller local towns include the pretty village of Incisa, which is a 10-minute drive for all immediate needs. Fiesole, just north of and overlooking Florence, is well worth a visit.

Why Holiday in Tuscany?

It's just not possible to divorce Tuscany from our preconceptions. A row of cypress trees breaking the blue sky on a hilltop. Olive groves and grapevines marching tidily down the side of a slope. Little medieval hill towns gazing down upon a country that has been carefully developed since the Roman times. It has been said , that rather than take a photo of the modern landscape, you can gaze into a painting by Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael or Piero della Francesca. Much of the scenery is simply unchanged in 500 years.

We have the 'art cities' of Florence, Pisa and Siena - the galleries and museums, devotional buildings and architecture of Florence (Firenze) alone could swallow your entire holiday in Tuscany. Another week would just about deal with Pisa and its Campo dei Miracoli around the Leaning Tower and Baptistery. Then there is lesser known Lucca, a perfect medieval city within its unbreakable medieval walls. But let's take a few other highlights without which no tour of Tuscany is complete.

Siena is a superb medieval city, which depopulated a few hundred years ago due to the Black Death and never quite filled up again. Indeed parts of this opulent and stylish town, around the stunning black-and-white marble Duomo, retain a semi-rural air. Cobbled streets spiral toward the central 'Campo' site of the twice yearly Palio horse race. There are dozens of little hill towns south and west of Siena, with San Gimignano (the city of towers) being best known. Montepulciano, Cortona and Pienza are joys, but also see lesser-explored Pitigliano, Massa Marittima and Volterra.

Between Florence and Siena we have Chianti, superb wine country of course and a popular retreat for British and American expats. The main towns of 'Chiantishire' are Greve in Chianti and Radda in Chianti. See too the medieval cloth town of Prato, with the Castello Imperator and a fine Pisan-Romanesque Duomo. Another undiscovered gem is Pistoia, with a well preserved medieval core. Heading towards the coast we have Pisa, Lucca and then the coastline of the Versilian Riviera. The most famous of the resorts is Viareggio, a fashionable resort in Victorian times, and still a fun seaside town, with great gelaterie, restaurants, beaches and the huge February carnival. Livorno is often dismissed as a bombed and uninspiringly rebuilt port town, but there is a lovely old town of canals and humpback bridges, a 'little Venice' indeed. Offshore we have the isle of Elba, once home to a defeated Napoleon.

The southern Tuscan coast becomes the Maremma, once a malaria-ridden backwater but now home to the famed Maremma cattle and the 'butteri', cowboys who tend them. The countryside rises to the hills of Monte Argentario and the rather lovely and very ancient town of Orbetello. South of Siena we come to the remarkable San Gimignano, a little town that became a powerful republic, albeit briefly. The soaring towers are monuments to the pride and hubris of the warring families of the town. Volterra is something quite other - built remote and striking on a high plateau, DH Lawrence wrote that it 'gets all the wind and sees all the world ... an inland island'. Thence on to Massa Marittima, an important mining town since pre-Roman (Etruscan) times. And south of Siena spreads the countryside of the Crete Senese ... which is probably that Tuscan countryside that most of us first-time visitors picture in our minds.

We can't leave southern Tuscany without visiting the Abbazia dei San Galgano, one of Italy's most stunning Gothic buildings, and the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, with its superb Renaissance frescoes. On to Montepulciano, at 600 metres above the sea it's the highest hill town in Tuscany. Then to Pienza, a Renaissance new town created from scratch by Pius II in 1459. Another lovely hill town nearby is Montalcino - wine buffs will know the name.

Eastern Tuscany's main towns are Arezzo - a beautiful Etruscan, Roman and medieval city, and the home and inspiration of movie clown Roberto Benigni (much of 'La Vita e Bella' was filmed here). Finally on to Cortona, from whose heights you gaze down upon Lake Trasimeno. The town has the Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca, a fine Duomo and the Museo Diocesano.

Vivid Italy is your perfect choice for a holiday in Tuscany. In Tuscany we have villas, apartments and hotels ideal for your holiday.

How To Get There

There are direct flights to Florence and Pisa from several airports in the UK.

You can fly from Gatwick to Florence on most days with Meridiana.

From Bristol, Gatwick and Luton you can take an Easyjet flight to Pisa on most days including weekends. Gatwick also has a British Airways flight to Pisa on the weekends.

From Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bournemouth, East Midlands and Birmingham you can take a Ryanair flight to Pisa. Their flights from Stansted, Liverpool and Dublin leave Monday-Sunday.

With Jet2 you can fly from Leeds/Bradford, Belfast, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Manchester to Pisa.