This little house with pool is well-equipped and would be perfect for a “get away from it all” holiday for a couple.

NEW – so there’s still good 2011 availability

Just 1.5km from Tuscan village of Marciano della Chiana and around 1 hour South of Florence. Accessible to Siena, Arezzo, Perugia and Lake Trasimeno.

1 double bedroom, 1 sofa bed – sleeps 2+2

A lovely swimming pool, an external Jacuzzi (6 seats) and a gym (shared use with owner)

Satellite TV (with Sky decoder), DVD player, internet access, air conditioning, dishwasher and washing machine.

Rental price from Euro 500 per week.

Owner will prepare breakfast and dinner on request.

See more photos, details and book Vignacce here

Casale Vittoria is new in our programme. This farmhouse  sleeps 15 and, most importantly, has a large and well-equipped common room where everyone can cook and eat together. Plus a private pool! Close to Lake Trasimeno with its water sports, steamers and unspoilt natural beauty.

Casale Vittoria

Pool at Casale Vittoria

Details:

Farmhouse with private pool, sleeps 13 + 2 . Near Castiglione del Lago (Lake Trasimeno area), Umbria / Tuscany borders. Rental prices from Euro 1300 per week. Still some availability for Summer 2011.

Perfect for large groups of family and friends.

7 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. Plus large common room with kitchen so everyone can eat together.

See more photos, prices and book Casale Vittoria here.

La Contea pool

La Contea - house in Tuscany

La Contea tennis court

At this time of the year our time is largely spent looking forward to the next holiday season. That means taking a close look at our website, adding new villas and updating prices where necessary.

It has struck me how much booking patterns have changed over the 22 years that I have been running One Stop Italy. In the olden days, January and February would be the key months for new bookings; the phone would literally not stop ringing all day. (Of course in 1988 there was no internet and not even a fax machine in our office!)

Nowadays, the year has fewer peaks and troughs though there is always a spike in July/August as the late-bookers coincide with the early birds. For example, this year we had a last-minute rush for August 2010 holidays at the same time as people were booking one year ahead for large group, family reunion and wedding accommodation for 2011.

The biggest change of all has been the move towards large group holidays. Customers have realised that the cost savings can be enormous and yet – and this is important – they don’t have to sacrifice their privacy. Rather than sharing an independent villa they can, if they wish, take over a group of farmhouse apartments. The end result is the same: private use of swimming pool, tennis court and any other on-site facilities. But at the same time each family also has its own space, living room, kitchen etc. Here’s an example of  this type of family group holiday – see La Contea.

“I wanted to send you a note to say how much we enjoyed our holiday at Il Piscino.

Our first villa holiday & I feel we may have been spoiled from the start!

Il Piscino is very well equipped and in huge grounds (which, although the description says that, the images give no hint of). It’s very quiet and restful and the pool is just superb, exactly what we wanted. All in all a very good week.”

The villa is located in the Orvieto area of Umbria.  It has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  One of the bedrooms has both a double bed and a bunk bed in it, so it can accommodate a family of up to 6 people comfortably.  As it is set in such spacious fenced grounds and has its own private swimming pool plus a 1km trail with benches (ideal for joggers and walkers), it would also suit a honeymoon couple who want peace and seclusion and their own space.

Rental prices for 2011 start at Euro 790 per week.  More photos and details of Il Piscino here.

Il Piscino with its private pool

A farmhouse apartment with these sports facilities on site – and maybe also others, e.g. table tennis, volleyball, bowls – will work out considerably more cost-effective than a private villa with private pool and private tennis court.

Rental prices for our comfortable holiday apartments in Italy with shared pool and tennis court start at just Euro 300 per week for an apartment sleeping 4. That’s just Euro 75 per person!  Fantastic value for money.

See more of our Italian apartments with shared tennis court and swimming pool here.

Tennis court at Fattoria Il Salice, Tuscany

If you’d like to find out more about how we organised their villa holiday, please visit the OneStopItaly  webpage to read the full story and our client’s testimonial.

We are so pleased that our big villa holidays are such a hit with our customers.

Enjoying a drink before dinner

As this small, easy to use airport is only 4 miles from Florence city centre, this means that travellers can be in their holiday accommodation enjoying their first glass of Italian wine within minutes of arriving in Italy.

My suggestion for a great short break in Florence is Santa Trinita, an apartment in a historic palazzo in the heart of the city. The property sleeps 2 (with an option to sleep 4 at a supplement). Daily rental rates Euro 180, weekly rates Euro 1050.  For more information and to book, please visit our webpage for Santa Trinita. Or contact us here.

Fantastic terrace and loggia at Santa Trinita apartment

Elegant interior furnishings at Santa Trinita apartment

A sweet little one-bedroomed house has just come onto our books near Montepulciano, Tuscany. (Great location for those who enjoy the odd glass of wine; the streets of Montepulciano are lined with wine merchants tempting you with samples of their wares!)

This small villa has its own pool, solar panels and airconditioning. See photos and details of Casa Cervognano here. Rental price for the property from Euro 520 per week. Still some availability for summer 2010, especially late August and throughout September. Now booking also for 2011.

An introduction today to the Italian ‘sagra’ or festival.

These are held in towns and villages all over Italy. They are essentially local fairs usually – but not always – devoted to food.  Quite often they relate to a local product. For example you might go to a ‘sagra della cipolla’ (onion) or, perhaps more invitingly, a ‘sagra delle fragole’ (strawberries). You will be able to try and buy lots of different dishes containing the product in question.

The most charming ‘sagre’ are those with historic origins in tiny villages, not designed in a commercial fashion to pull in foreign tourists but purely an annual event enjoyed by local people. For example, a village I know well in Tuscany will be holding its ‘sagra della pizza’ on 6th August.

Today I’ve been dealing with enquiries from two sets of clients looking to get married in Italy in 2011.

We can provide the accommodation for a wedding group, plus as many of the add-on services – catering, flowers, photographers etc – as the couple requires. However, we only offer this wedding planning facility in Tuscany, where we have the experience and the personal contacts so can be confident that clients will receive excellent service.

For more information, please call +44 (0)1603 812212 or contact us here.