LUXURY VILLAS IN ITALY

Things to do in italy

Cities in Italy

Discover the Italian countryside

So much of the countryside you’ll experience at our Italian villas is a joint venture, beauty crafted both by nature and the people who live in it. The rolling, misty hills of Chianti and the Langhe are decorated with geometric rows of trellised vines; the Umbrian hillsides by the silver-green sparkle of olive groves. In Puglia’s Trullo country, limestone houses poke their conical roofs above the orchards in one of Italy’s oldest agricultural landscapes. White dots peppering Sardinia’s quiet countryside are sheep whose milk makes some of Italy’s best pecorino cheese.

Explore Italy's History

Ancient Rome may have started life as a Greek backwater, but it soon found a voice—and an army—strong enough to dominate a continent. Going further back, remnants of the Etruscans are scattered across Tuscany—including in museums at Volterra and Cortona—and the only record of the Umbri people is their ‘Rosetta Stone’ in Gubbio. Florence was the wellspring for the ideas, art, and architecture that became known as ‘the Renaissance’—its Uffizi Gallery has the world’s premier collection of 14th-, 15th-, and 16th-century paintings. Staying at one of our Italian holiday villas provides you with the perfect base to explore the country’s rich history. 

Relaxation in Italy

With distinctive and world-famous food, scenery and culture – it’s easy to fill every moment you have with activities and explorations. However, this beautiful country can also be the ideal destination for a relaxing break. Villas with pools in Italy offer the chance to truly unwind when you’re back at your home from home – whether you’re in the heart of the country or on one of Italy’s stunning coastlines, where you'll find a fantastic range of Italian beach villas. Our family villas in Italy have the space for everyone to find a moment of peace while of holiday and our villas for large groups are perfect for a special celebration, whereas our villas for two provide romantic seclusion for couples looking to really de-stress. 

Arts and culture in Italy

Renting a villa in Italy is a great way to truly immerse yourself in the visual arts of the country. Early superstar painters included Giotto, whose greatest frescoes survived World War II bombs in Padua (only just); leading lights of the Renaissance like Leonardo, Donatello, Botticelli, and Michelangelo hailed from Florence. Brunelleschi’s ochre dome has become the symbol of that city; Bramante designed St. Peter’s in Rome; Palladio’s classical buildings in Venice and Vicenza were copied all over the world. Opera was another Italian invention, and operas by its exponents such as Rossini, Verdi, and Puccini still play in houses like Milan’s La Scala and Venice’s La Fenice.

Active pursuits in Itlay

If you like it wild, then we offer a variety of villas in Italy that are near some of the most exhilarating actives in the country. The Pollino National Park on the Calabria–Basilicata border has 190,000 hectares of jagged terrain, ripe for canyoning, whitewater rafting, paragliding, and more. Umbria is another region with wild outdoors: raft on the waters of the Valnerina or explore the caves below the Monte Cucco Park. The windsurfing schools of Porto Pollo, in Sardinia, or Ischia are a great place to perfect your technique, while the coastline of Sicily is ideal for kitesurfing, canoeing and scuba diving. Elsewhere, equestrians can ride with real cowboys, the butteri, in the Tuscan Maremma.

Italian mountains and lakes

The Italian peninsula hangs from its great mountain ranges. In the north, the Alps and Dolomites stretch from France in the west to Slovenia in the east—both are littered with ski-resorts and empty hiking and mountain-bike trails. Sardinia’s interior, where many of our luxury Italian villas are located, is also mountainous; explore the Bronze Age ‘nuraghic’ settlements on strenuous hikes in the Gennargentu National Park. It is all a littler gentler in the manicured island gardens of Lake Maggiore.

Eating and drinking in Italy

Staying at one of our holiday villas in Italy offers the chance to sample a range of Italian food, however there is no such thing as ‘Italian cuisine’, not really. Even pasta is not universal; the authentic staple on the northern plains of Piedmont, Lombardy, and the Veneto is rice—the town of Vercelli is known for its risotto. In the Alps, Dolomites, and northern Apennines, polenta (a maize mush) is paired with a hearty meat stew. You can get pizza pretty much anywhere, of course, but Naples is its home. Italy’s truly world-class wines are red: from Piedmont, Barolo and Barbaresco; from Tuscany, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

Flights to Italy

Our Italy team can easily add flights as an optional extra to any villa holiday booking. Whether you're travelling to Campania & the Amalfi Coast, Lake Como, Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany or Umbria & Lazio, just speak to a member of the team about arranging your flights and any other extras or click on any of the region names above to find out more.

• Arrival Airports
  We can arrange flights to the following airports: Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Florence, Naples, Olbia, Palermo, Pisa, Rome and Trapani.
• Airport Transfers
  We can also easily arrange transfers to and from the airport to your villa, even if you aren't booking a flight with us.
• How to add flights to your booking
  Speak to a member of the Italy team today who can quickly and easily provide a quote for flights travelling on your chosen dates, and can book them there and then.