Archive for 'Tourist Attractions'

Villa Demidoff, or Villa di Pratolino, is a park in the Florentine hills. The estate was bought by Francesco I de' Medici in 1568 and he built a beautiful villa and gardens on the site for his Venetian mistress, Bianca Cappello. Bernardo Buontalenti was hired as the architect and garden designer and created the perfect Renaissance pleasure villa set in a wonderland of a garden. Today, however, a very different place exists. Sadly, Medici's home and park, stuffed full of water fountains, grottoes and beautiful gardens filled with exotic plants and flowers, was mistreated and dismantled after his death. Three centuries later its beauty was finally restored.

If you love Florence and have an interest in history and museums but can't handle crowds and crazy lines, or merely want to experience things a little off the beaten track, this article might interest you.

We have gathered together a list of just three museums in the artistic and cultural centre of Florence that you may yet to have experience or consider.

Find a luxury villa in Florence and you can explore these little gems for yourself.

Florence is well-known throughout the world as a centre for art and architecture, as well as being the birth-place of the Renaissance. During this period of “rebirth”, there was expanded and recovered knowledge of advances in art and architecture. The styles and genius of ancient Rome and Greece were appropriated and used in new ways with varying degrees of accuracy and loyalty. One of the staunchest supporters of the ancients was Alberti, an architect famous for his buildings and his treatise, “On Architecture”.

A wonderful example of his work is the Palazzo Rucellai Florence's historic centre. Find a villa with pool near Florence and you could visit it yourself this summer!

Holidays can be expensive things, especially in European main cities such as Florence.

You want to invest the bulk of your money into finding the perfect luxury villa near Florence, into food and souvenirs. You want to enjoy yourself without worrying overly about a budget.

One of the best ways to do this is find things to do that won't cost you an arm and a leg; or better yet, that are free.

This is a list of things you can do in Florence for free.

Montalcino is a hill town in the south of Tuscany known for its famous wine, Brunello di Montalcino. One of its most distinctive features is the fortified castle that sits at the highest point of the town and overlooks everything below. Built on a pentagonal plan in 1361 and designed by the Sienese architects Mino Foresi and Domenico di Feo, the castle incorporates some of the pre-existing southern town walls (which date back as far as the 13th century), and other pre-existing structures including the keep of Santo Martini, the San Giovanni tower and an ancient basilica which now serves as its chapel. Find a villa with a pool in Siena nearby and spend a day experiencing this unique little town, its traditions and the wonderful Montalcino castle.