Antico Palazzo di Pietrasanta Historic Residence - Romantic Lodgings

Character: Meticulously restored 19th-century family mansion with only three junior suites and one suite, located in the center of a small historic village. Advantages: The small size allows the staff to treat you like family, and the location in an authentic town means you can walk to everything. Location: In Pietrasanta, halfway between Lucca and the Cinqueterre. Also close to the wide sandy beaches of Versilia, and the totally unknown scenic hills of La Garfagnana. Walk to the train station. Click here to see the map for Antico Palazzo di Pietrasanta. Size: Only five junior suites, one 2-two room suite and one double room. Each is totally unique, elegantly furnished with silk and brocade upholstery, and private marble bathrooms. Some rooms have a covered gazebo with table and chairs. Features: Elevator, Internet point, flat-screen satellite TV, direct-dial telephone with DSL Internet access in the rooms, air conditioning, heating, laptop safe, bathtub or shower, hair dryer. Breakfast is included in the price. Minimum stay: One night. Disadvantages: Not good for touring southern Tuscany, so use this for the second half of your stay in the region. Car needed: No.

If you have not been to the Tuscan coast where it meets southern Liguria, you cannot imagine the beauty of the little-known Apuan Alps. To drive beneath them any time before noon is to witness one of nature's most extravagant displays: you see, these are the mountains that harbor the pristine white marble beloved of Michelangelo and so many other renowned sculptors before and since. The Apuan Alps are not so very high, but their bluish-silver gleam is like nothing you have ever seen before. It's a sight to take your breath away.

This is quite a dramatic part of Italy indeed. First there's the warm Tyrrhenian Sea, edged by the broad sandy beaches of Versilia. From here the ground shoots up quickly, cloaked beneath a dark green blanket of forests dotted with minuscule towns, some of which consist of four homes and a street sign. Everyone knows everyone else around here, hordes of tourists are completely unknown, the air is crisp and clean, perfumed by fireplaces in the fall and yellow jasmine in the spring. When you fly into Florence from France you see the hinterland behind the Apuan Alps - a vast green paradise inhabited by a few lucky angels.

Pietrasanta, a charming little town filled with the workshops of master stonemasons and their apprentices, is just off the autostrada at the base of these picturesque mountains. Convenient to Florence and the Cinqueterre, only minutes away from Lucca and Pisa, it is nonetheless a classic backwater town with a sleepy air and a friendly greeting for visitors one and all. Lining the stately cobblestone main street (accessible only to pedestrians) there are many classic stone buildings which once belonged to the patrician quarry-owning families, and this elegant little hotel is just up the block. On the ground floor (which boasts such beautifully restored original embellishments as wrought-iron banisters, marble floors, delicate wall paintings and stucco moldings) you will find a cozy sitting room where a delicious buffet breakfast is served. If you stay in one of the two junior suites with a covered gazebo, you can enjoy your breakfast there in warmer months.

Upstairs (reached by elevator), guests can choose a lovely superior room, a slightly larger junior suite, a very special two-room suite, or a charming standard double room under the eaves (this has a queen bed that cannot be separated into twin beds). Non-smoking rooms are available; some rooms have king-size canopy beds or skylights. All the rooms are soundproof and furnished with authentic antiques, silk draperies and upholstery, and pleasing wallpaper or stenciled walls; all have plentiful drawers and closet space, a well-stocked mini-bar, safe large enough for a laptop, flat-screen satellite TV, direct-dial telephone with DSL Internet access, and air conditioning. Two junior suites on the 2nd floor share covered gazebos and can also be connected for families of up to five people; the suite is on the 1st floor and has a living room with double sleep sofa, a separate bedroom with queen bed, and a bathroom with stall shower (accessed through the bedroom). On the top floor is the very pretty standard double room, which has a double bed, sloping eaves and skylights. All the gorgeous bathrooms combine Old World marble with New Age convenience, including such features as steam showers and/or whirlpool tubs, terrycloth robes, a vanity mirror, towel drier, courtesy set by Hermès and hair drier. Accessible bathrooms also have a separate stall shower with massage jets.

Although there is no restaurant in the hotel, a nice breakfast with made-to-order eggs and bacon is served until the last guest has woken up, and cold dishes are available through room service. In addition, this town is famous for its traditional trattorie and enoteche, several of which are within 150 yards. During the day, you can drive or take the train to Pisa, Lucca or the Cinqueterre, or visit the nearby marble quarries, or enjoy a private session on the three machines in the hotel's fitness room, then stroll down the street to watch masterpieces being carved in the marble workshops. Another highly recommended day trip would take you away from the coast, into the hinterland called La Garfagnana, to visit the tiny towns of this virtually unknown corner of Tuscany

For this property:
Children 5 years and younger pay nothing in their parents' junior suite or suite. A baby crib is free of charge and must be reserved at time of booking.

There are a few reserved parking spots at the hotel which are free of charge. If those are not available when you arrive, there are always spots on the street in front of the hotel and it is very safe.

The Pietrasanta train station is 500 yards from the hotel.

Please note that it is not possible to guarantee Internet access at any property, because the property does not generate the service, it merely provides access from a server. If the server experiences any kind of problem at all, the property regrets it cannot be responsible for any inconvenience caused by subsequent lack of service.