| Reference | tus31 |
|---|---|
| Sleeps | Up to 3 |
| Bedrooms | 1 double (plus sofa bed) |
| Nearest Airport | Florence |
After travelling the narrow winding roads that lead to Cottage Contadina, you can relax as much as you like amongst its leafy seclusion. You can enjoy pockets of sunshine in the walled garden and the extensive vistas between the trees.
From your private car parking space two flights of steps built into the hillside lead you to the house. The large, pretty sitting room features a convertible sofa bed, cosy open fireplace and spiral staircase. The kitchen/diner has a hob, oven, fridge/freezer and a washing machine. Though the kitchen has no windows, it is built into the hillside and so it remains cool and well-ventilated. The shower room has a sink and WC.
You can access the illuminated, elegantly furnished terrace from outdoor steps or the airy double bedroom on the first floor. The terrace has a stone-built barbecue for dining in the shade and enjoying a refreshing mountain breeze.
Please note: because of the mountain drive to reach Cottage Contadina, it is advisable to take a supply of necessities on the day you arrive.
Cottage Contadina is the highest of a small group of holiday cottages spaced out in the forest and is perhaps the most private of them all. For your self-catering requirements, the delightful small city of Cortona is only five kilometres away. Lake Trasimeno, with its fantastic opportunities for swimming and water sports, is thirty minutes away from Cortona by car.
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.
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.
You can book accommodation only, or we can help you package flights, car hire or private transfers. You can find all this information on the website or call us on 0871 855 1565 to discuss all your requirements.
Our website carries comprehensive details for each property and its location. Our team visit each property, so can provide any other information you might need, call us on 0871 855 1565 with to talk through your holiday requirements.
There is a panel at the top right of this page where you can enter your holiday requirements. This will then display a calendar showing when the property is available. Now click on a GREEN day to get the price. The price displayed is the total price for the property, not per person.
If you need to hold a property while you talk to other people or book flights, you can put a 24 hour reservation on it with no commitment. The reserve button is displayed with the price of the property (see above section).
You can book and pay for Cottage Contadina online, you be given the chance to include car hire or transfers during the booking process. Alternatively call us on 0871 855 1565 and we will process your booking over the telephone - there is no extra charge for personal service!