Italy Villas

The Villas of Italy and Tuscany The villas of Italy and Tuscany are very famous. Throughout the world, their various styles have been reproduced with modern construction criteria. At times entire sceneries, such as the historic center of Venice, were reproduced and became an attraction in the casino’s of Las Vegas as well as in Macau. When you travel to Italy you will find these villas everywhere, throughout the country. Both the city and the countryside feature these properties. Many of them can be rented for your holidays, and can be self catered or come with the staff necessary for you to spend a luxury vacation.

There are mainly two kinds of villas: the stately mansions, once the homes of landlords and noble families, and the rustic villas, which used to accommodate very large families of peasants and laborers utilized in the fields by the landlords. Their past may be different, but their present is fairly similar. Stately villas in Italy look very different from their rustic counterpart. The stuccoed exterior walls with pastel colors, high and frescoed ceilings, marble flooring, large paintings on the walls and very luxurious mural decorations are the main features of villas previously owned by noble families and landlords. The villas once inhabited by peasants, but still owned by lords, present rough exterior stone walls, rise two floors at the most from the ground and each floor has much lower ceilings. The latter are not frescoed, but show their intimate structure of rough wood pillars and studs. Floorings are made of cotto tiles, and interior walls may present a composition of stones or be stuccoed and plainly whitewashed. Never mind their very diverse origin and history. Both type of villas are nowadays very much appreciated. I’d say that rustic villas are actually much more en-vogue. Their homely looks and welcoming warmth have circled the world on home decor magazines and travel brochures. So much so, that people started to spend time in them for their holidays, and many private owners were inspired in their home improvement endeavors to theserustic looks. I go with this view too. Stately villas are beautiful, but are much more suited for a museum or a tea with a queen! But my everyday heart is definitely set within the comforts and coziness of rustic Italian villas. Of course for most of the villas, their living standards were raised to contemporary levels. In the good old days, the toilets were outside or in the open fields, there were no water pipes and heating relied solely on firewood. Today, most of the modern world hygiene amenities are a natural feature. The combination of the modern and the ancient is what makes these villas so special. The rustic character was left intact, as well as original materials reused as much as possible. For example, there are laws that prohibit the usage of unconventional materials when restructuring villas in Tuscany and many regions of Italy followed this practice to keep a piece of tradition alive. On the other hand, technology entered these splendid holiday homes in Italy in an unobtrusive manner. The outdoors are always well tended and most often include a scenic swimming pool to enjoy, during the hot months going from June until end of August in Northern Italy and from April until October in the South of Italy. Villas in Italy and Tuscany are one of the aspects that I admire the most of Italian culture. I think they were able to preserve and improve an important piece of their tradition while creating an incredible added value for their economy but also for the world at large to enjoy whenever possible. I wish all things were this well thought of and successful in Italy. This is a guest post by Matt who is passionate about his travel experience in Italy. If you love to travel Italy and would like to discover more, you can follow the blog Italy North to South , a trip to the discovery of Italy’s most and least traveled places, its Tuscan villas, and culinary traits.