Villa L'Acacia Historic Residence - Standalone Villa - Family Lodgings

THESE ARE SOME OF THE DATES ALREADY BOOKED IN 2011: July 2-Aug. 26, Sept. 2-4, Oct. 1-21 THESE ARE SOME OF THE DATES ALREADY BOOKED IN 2012: June 23-29 Character: Typical Florentine villa with lots of room and a nice private garden, right on the edge of the city. Advantages: One bedroom and bathroom can be a separate apartment, for grandparents, etc. Stay in the city but feel like you're in the country. Very friendly owners. Walk to shops and restaurants. Location: In northeastern Florence, on a city bus route and within walking distance of shops and restaurants. Click here to see the map for Villa L'Acacia. Size: Sleeps 10; living room, dining room, kitchen opening onto a pergola-covered patio, five bedrooms, four bathrooms, winter garden and walled garden. Features: Gated property. Fireplace, telephone, satellite TV, wireless Internet, window screens, ceiling fans, dishwasher, full fridge/freezer, oven, microwave, American coffee maker, washing machine and dryer, hair dryer, swimming pool, rooftop sundeck, brick barbecue. Cook and babysitter available. Minimum stay: Saturday-to-Saturday except in low season. Disadvantages: Bathrooms are good but not state-of-the-art; very light sleepers could possibly be annoyed by traffic on the road. Car needed: No.

If you have ever been to Florence you know this is a town where "suburbs" takes on a very special meaning. Just outside the very hectic circonvallazioni, the main arteries that lead into and out of the city center, are a host of picturesque residential areas where the aristocratic and wealthy built their spacious villas in the shade of huge umbrella pines. Cypress trees line the narrow roads that wind upwards past olive groves and tiny vineyards, so that almost at once you forget about the noisy city you just left behind. But it's there, visible from every curve and terrace, dominated by Brunelleschi's inexplicable cupola and the forboding tower of Palazzo Vecchio. What a perfect combination, to have the sights of the Renaissance city but not the smells, sounds and mayhem of 21 st century Firenze!

This 17th-century gated villa occupies a hillside on the old road to Bologna, just fifteen minutes north of the city center. It has its own 4500-square-foot walled garden, in which a swimming pool occupies one of the natural terraces where lemon trees used to be cultivated in a great earthenware vases. Facing this side of the property is the glass-enclosed room where those trees were protected in winter; now it holds a table where six people can dine with a view of the Duomo. Completing the garden are a built-in brick barbecue and a cottage with a washing machine, dryer, iron and board, and a small WC.

Also occupying the ground floor of the villa are a comfortable sitting room with couches, chairs and satellite TV, a dining room whose table can open up to accommodate sixteen people, and a living room with a fireplace, armchairs and telephone. These rooms have stunning casement ceilings. Next to the dining room is a kitchen, furnished with a full fridge and freezer, oven, range top, microwave, American coffeemaker, and dishwasher. It has a table for two, and opens onto a covered pergola with dining for the entire group.

Upstairs, the spacious master bedroom has a double bed, a roomy wardrobe and a door onto a private terrace overlooking the city. Next door is a bathroom with shower and tub. Across the hall from the bathroom, a door opens onto a tiny back street, perfect for unloading bags and parking if you have more than one car.

The next two bedrooms share a balcony: one has two twin beds, the second has a full-sized bed and a single bed. Then there is a suite with its own entrance, featuring a double bedroom, small kitchen and bathroom with shower. Another flight of stairs leads up to the last bedroom, which has a double bed and a bathroom with a stall shower. All the windows in the house have screens, and the rooms have ceiling fans.

For this property:
Prices include: Taxes, services, one set of linens per week, water, electricity, gas and wireless Internet.
Not included: Mandatory weekly cleaning (200 Euro/week), metered heating (usually about 300 Euro/week in winter) and metered telephone (if used).

Dinner can be served at the villa. The cost for shopping, preparation, serving and clean-up is 55 Euro/person per meal including wine, for a minimum of 6 people, and at least two days advance notice is required.
One or two day beds can be added to the master bedroom and another double bedroom, but the total number of people cannot exceed 10.

The #25 city bus stops in front of the villa and goes to Piazza della Libertà, Piazza San Marco, Piazza Indipendenza, the station and the cathedral. So it is indeed possible to stay here without a car, and many guests do.
However, if your primary reason for staying here is touring the countryside and the small villages, you will do much better with a car because it is easier, especially with children, to tour with a car than with buses (trains are out of the question for touring the small towns and countryside).

Check-in: 4-6pm
Check-out: by 10am
Refundable security deposit: 500 Euro

Click here for information about private transfers to the property.