Villa Luciano

Surrounding Area

Just 30 minutes north-east of Florence in a lesser known part of the Chianti area (Rufina), Villa Luciano is a comfortable 18th century country villa with a beautiful terraced garden and large swimming pool. It dominates the village of Londa, set on the hill and overlooking the valley. This location is really excellent for visiting Florence, the northern part of Tuscany and parts of Emilia Romagna. We are at the foot of the Mugello Hills in Valdisieve , the pre-Alpine area of Tuscany and Emilia. Here you can find traces of a history worthy of a great European capital and the small towns which have sprung up along the River Sieve, previously an important Etruscan region and then the site of Roman colonies

Vacation Rental Property

A stone staircase from the entry foyer leads to the main floor and a landing hall (first floor). At the top is a pleasant sunroom/verandah which opens to a small courtyard and a few steps up to the garden and pool. On this floor is the formal and very elegant dining room with fireplace and French doors to a furnished, terraced garden. Adjacent is an eat-in kitchen/breakfast room with a corner fireplace, ideal for grilling and barbecuing, large fridge and freezer, electric oven, four gas stove-top burners, dishwasher. The living rooms are very spacious, divided into three separate areas with a reading room/study and lounge, all furnished with sofas, armchairs, and a corner with card table. There is a second kitchen on this floor with wall oven, dishwasher, gas burners. In the oldest part of the villa is the original sitting room with a beautiful 300 year old stone fireplace and TV. This is furnished in a more casual manner and two French doors from this living room open to a foot balcony with steps leading to the formal gardens. There are lovely views from here. Small WC.
On the second floor are the bedrooms which are divided into two separate apartments. One offers three bedrooms and two bathrooms as follows: one queen bedroom with sitting room and ensuite bathroom with tub and hand-held shower, another queen bedroom with small dressing room, a bathroom with Jacuzzi and shower and one twin bedroom sharing this bathroom with the queen bedroom.
The other apartment, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, is comprised of a twin bedroom more suitable for children, corridor to a large bathroom with tub and hand-held shower, a second twin bedroom for children with built-in closets and crib, second bathroom and separate WC.
On the top (third floor) in the tower is the penthouse suite with parquet floors, offering one queen bedroom with exercise equipment, a pink marble bathroom with shower, and a single child’s bedroom. The villa is thus excellent accommodation for two families giving each family its own sleeping quarters and, if necessary, its own kitchen.
Furnishings are comfortable and elegant, offering spacious and excellent accommodation with a warm family atmosphere. Floors are in terracotta or tiles and beamed ceilings are visible in most rooms. The garden and pool areas are very enjoyable, with plenty of sunny and shady areas, and panorama on the surrounding hills and the village. Large terracotta pots and urns, full of colorful flowers, are scattered throughout the garden. The persimmon trees are a beautiful spectacle in autumn and offer a cool retreat with a book on a hot day. There is also a formal Italian garden with fountain and the vast estate offers the possibility of long walks through the surrounding woods.

Sleeps & # of Bedrooms

sleeps 14
7 bedrooms and 6 baths

Amenities

Heating
Bath Linens
Stove and Oven
Mini-Refrigerator
Toaster Oven
Iron
Antenna TV
Radio
FAX
Golf Clubs
Fireplace
Balcony
Microwave
Blender
Washer
Beach Towels
Satellite TV
Stereo
Windows Computer
Housekeeper
Firewood
Patio
Dishwasher
Coffee Maker
Dryer
Games for Kids
VCR
CD Player
Private Swimming Pool
Cook
Bed Linens
Charcoal Grill
Refrigerator
Toaster
Coin Laundry Room
Portable Radio
Alarm Clock
Phone
On Street Parking

Services Offered

Villa Luciano - Cooking Classes
Villa Luciano and Chef Guido: demonstration of ‘la cucina toscana’.
Guido is an expert and respected chef working at Villa Luciano and in very exclusive Florentine restaurants. Discover the art of eating and cooking with Guido’s personalized culinary classes at Villa Luciano. Come and enjoy hands-on cooking lessons in the large period country kitchen on the ground floor of the Villa. Here you will find everything you need to prepare typical Tuscany recipes with a large fireplace and stones oven used to bake bread at the beginning of the century. Guido will start the day shopping for the regional and seasonal best, and finish it together with a Tuscany meal that you’ve helped plan and prepare. Wines of the Sieve Valley will be recommended and selected by a sommelier. Classes are informative, informal and fun. Guido recipes are not upscale or trendy. They are simply the best that generation of Florentine families and chefs have used daily and perfected into ‘cucina Toscana’. Guido teaches what recipes don’t or can’t tell you. This is especially important in preaparing Tuscan dishes where seasonal and fresh ingredients require minimal preparation and are treated with restraint. If you enjoy crowding around a pot to see and smell and participate in what’s cooking, then Guido’s lessons are for you. Classes may be vegetarian, appetizers, breads, fresh pasta or desserts. You may want to learn how to make ‘panzanella’, a Tuscan bread and vegetable salad or ‘ribollita', a left-over bean soup baked with bread that yields different soup for three meals, Guido will teach you.
2000 PRICE LIST:·
Cooking Classes: US $ 180 per person (minimum 8 persons).The price includes all fresh ingredients, demonstration, wine taste selection and shall terminate with lunch/dinner.
DURATION:
The classes are usually arranged for the afternoon/evening BOOKING:
Booking to be advised 4 weeks in advance. Minimum 8 persons. Payment is required at the time of booking.

Restrictions

pets without notice

Rates & Availability

Price list 2001
Budget: 6 Jan-28 Apr / 20 Oct-15 Dec
Low: 28 Apr-26 May / 22 Sep-20 Oct
Middle: 26 May-30 Jun / 1 Sep-22 Sep /15 Dec-5 Jan
High: 30 Jun-1 Sep
(*) Price are in United States Dollars (US$)
Budget Low Middle High Guests
2,400 3,300 4,800 7,200 6
2,700 3,600 5,300 7,200 8
3,000 3,900 5,800 7,200 10
3,300 4,200 6,300 7,200 14
(*) Price for Villa Luciano rental only. Rentals are from Saturday to Saturday. Check-in: 16.00 to 19.00 Check-out: 10.00
·Payments by credit cards shall be subject to commission charges
·Prices above include: water, gas, electricity.
·Prices above exclude: central heating (2,4 US$ per mc consumption); telephone (0,32US$ per minute); check-out/final cleaning (lire 250,000 paid locally);
·Security deposit: a deposit for ITL 1 million, must be paid by credit card or euro/travel cheque on arrival;
Maid services offered at Villa Luciano
Professional Chef and waiter with exclusive set menu: US$ 80 p/person (minimum 8 people)
Cleaner: US$ 16 p/hour
Fire place: wood US$ 32 p/basket

·SPECIAL OFFER FOR THE WEEK-END INCLUDING MAID SERVICE DINNER
Week-end price: 2 nights from Friday to Sunday including Saturday maid service dinner
Guest Price
6 2,500
8 3,300
10 4,000
13 4,900

·Method of payment
Payments can be done by bank transfer, credit card or cheque, call our booking office for advice
·Booking & Payment
If the booking is made more than 56 days prior to departure, a deposit of 30% of Villa rental costs is requested to confirm the booking. The balance as shown on the confirmation invoice, must be paid 56 days prior departure
·Holiday insurance
You must arrange for your insurance cover within 7 days from the booking confirmation invoice according to our terms and conditions

The International Booking and sales office of Villa Luciano is:
First Floor, 96 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3EA
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7407 3919
Fax: +44 (0)20 7691 9602

Other Information

Villa Luciano - Wine Tours
Villa Luciano and the Wine of the Sieve Valley: 'The Rufina Chianti-Putto'There are seven Chianti denominations. Chianti Classico is the best known, but Chianti Rufina has some excellent winemakers. Rufina is based on the Sieve valley stretching from Pontassieve, east of Florence, up to Dicomano. The valley is very attractive, and Londa with Villa Luciano is a characteristic rural village, ideally located and excellent base from where to start this not very well known wine route. Rufina has a wine museum in the Villa Poggio Reale. Art lovers may like to visit Giotto's birthplace at Vicchio, near Dicomano.The geography of the valley is the key to the quality of Chianti Rufina. High vineyards laying in a narrow valley that gets very hot in the day and cools rapidly at night harvest grapes that make elegant wine with fragrant bouquets and a capacity for long ageingChianti Rufina has exactly the same grape composition as the other Chianti, but if Chianti Classico can be compared to Bordeaux for its rich opulence, Chianti Rufina is more like Burgundy for its elegance.
FATTORIE AND CASTELLI TO VISIT:·
CASTELLO DI NIPOZZANO A CASTELLO DI POMINO·
CASTELLO DEL TREBBIO E VILLA BOSSI·
FATTORIA SELVAPIANA E FATTORIA DI COLOGNOLE
DAY PROGRAM:-
visit to rooms of the Fattoria or Castello-
visit to wine cellars-
taste of wines
PRICE:US$ 100 per person.
The price includes transportation from Villa Luciano to two fattorie, visit and wine taste in each of the two fattorie with guide tour and return to Villa Luciano.DURATION:The visit can be arrange in the morning or in the afternoon BOOKING:Booking to be advised seven days in advance. Minimum 8 persons. Payment is required at the time of booking.

Directions

FROM FIRENZE AIRPORT:
(Time: appx. 1.00-1.15hrs)
Take the motorway in direction to Firenze Nord Exit, enter the motorway A1 in direction to Rome, and then get off at Firenze Sud Exit. From there proceed in direction to Pontassieve (15 kms), and then in direction to Rufina (7kms), then to Contea (7kms). At Contea, after crossed a bridge, turn to the right in direction to Londa (3kms). When arrived at Londa, in the centre of the Village, turn to the right, cross a bridge and turn straight to the left in direction Vierle. You will drive up around the Village, leaving the river on your left, and in direction to Vierle. After about 500 meters, just on the edge at the top of the Village on the hill, you will see an impressive period Villa, in yellow. This is Villa Luciano

FROM BOLOGNA AIRPORT:
(Time: appx. 1.45-2.00hrs)
Take the motorway A1 in direction to Firenze, after appx. 75kms, get off at Barberino di Mugello Exit. From there proceed in direction to Borgo San Lorenzo (10 kms), and then in direction to Vicchio (7kms), then to Dicomano (7kms), then to Contea (4kms). At Contea, just before to cross a bridge, turn to the left in direction to Londa (3km). When arrived at Londa, in the centre of the Village, turn to the right, cross a bridge and turn straight to the left in direction Vierle. You will drive up around the Village, leaving the river on your left, and in direction to Vierle. After about 500 meters, just on the edge at the top of the Village on the hill, you will see an impressive period Villa, in yellow. This is Villa Luciano

FROM PISA AIRPORT:
(Time: appx. 1.45-2.00hrs)
Take the motorway direction to Firenze, when at Firenze Nord Exit, enter the motorway A1 in direction to Rome, and then get off at Firenze Sud Exit. From there proceed in direction to Pontassieve (15 kms), and then in direction to Rufina (7kms), then to Contea (7kms). At Contea, after crossed a bridge, turn to the right in direction to Londa (3kms). When arrived at Londa, in the centre of the Village, turn to the right, cross a bridge and turn straight to the left in direction Vierle. You will drive up around the Village, leaving the river on your left, and in direction to Vierle. After about 500 meters, just on the edge at the top of the Village on the hill, you will see an impressive period Villa, in yellow. This is Villa Luciano

Discounts Offered

· SPECIAL OFFER FOR THE WEEK-END INCLUDING MAID SERVICE DINNER
Week-end price: 2 nights from Friday to Sunday including Saturday maid service dinner
Guest Price
6 2,500
8 3,300
10 4,000
13 4,900