Spacious Restored Ancient Attached Town House for Rent in Collodi Castello, Tuscany, Italy

Ancient Hillside Home in Ancient Village of Attached Houses

Furnished by art dealer owners with Modern Italian furniture and appliances and fine Italian antiques and art, the house is located forty minutes by car or train west of Florence, twenty minutes east of Lucca, in Collodi (Castello), one of the most beautiful villages of Tuscany. Although pictured in many coffee table books, the approach is somewhat hidden and, unlike the lower town of Collodi, it is only rarely and lightly visited by tourists, sometimes by trekkers and even more rarely, by equestrians who lead their horses to water in the small fountain in the Piazza della Fontana as seen from the house. The village is inhabited by local, very friendly and helpful Italian families, albeit with little English spoken. The house and village feature panoramic views of the plains of Pisa. The village is entirely residential. Easy shopping for food, other necessities, and at least two superb trattorias are located in the busy little town below with its Parco di Pinocchio -- the tale was written by Carlo Collodi in the exquisite Garzoni Villa from which the attached houses climb the hillside from the villa and its magnificent gardens of rare plants, sculpture, bamboo forest, and layers of magnificent, old tiled walkways and walls. (Free passes to the garden are available to renters; entry is from the lower village.) The house for rent features cathedral ceilings and exposed beams throughout, a huge sala grande (living room), large master bathroom with king size and extremely comfortable mattress, two guest rooms -- both with comfortable sofas that fold out to equally comfortable beds (one single and one double), two full bathrooms, and a large modern kitchen in red and white. The village is reached by a half mile drive up the side of a hillside of olive groves and a narrow dirt road to a recently paved and convenient parking lot just outside the town wall. The house is a charming walk through a stone archway from the parking lot up a narrow cobblestone walkway to an open courtyard, Piazza della Fontana, and then a short ancient curving stone stairway, also often pictured in books, to the entry. The interior is entirely on one floor with two steps down to each of the guest rooms. One of the guest rooms can serve as a den and boasts a wide screen high definition t.v. There is a second, small high definition t.v. in the kitchen. The house may be rented for a week for $1500 per week or $5000 per month.