Chianti holiday bed and breakfast rental, Castellina in Chianti with private pool, walking, jacuzzi/hot tub, rural retreat

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Podere Palazzolo (bed and breakfast)

Home description

A charming farmhouse, harmoniously situated in the traditional and magical frame of the Chianti hills, 1 km from Castellina in Chianti, in the heart of Tuscany... the ideal place for discovering the enchantment of Siena, the suggestive charm of Florence, the towers of S. Gimignano, the Etruscan Volterra, Pisa and the sea.

13 lovely double bedrooms with private bathroom, most of them with private entrance and a beautiful view on the landscape. All the bedrooms have old ceiling stones and the typical Tuscan cotto. The bedrooms are provided with: mini bar,safe, hairdry and, tv sat.

Regular size standard rooms and have a beautiful view on the garden.

Superior rooms are larger and have a breathtaking panoramic view.

The ROMANTIC room has private entrance, jacuzzi for 2 people in the room, have a breathtaking panoramic view and are larger and more comfortable.

We offer a small and welcoming restaurant, with characteristic wooden beams and Tuscan terracotta floors. During the summer, dinners will be served in the garden.

The warm atmosphere, the genuine flavours of local products and the range of our wines, will bring cheer to every guest's stay. The typical farming hamlet becomes all-round with its production and direct sale of extra virgin oil.

welcome	for your breakfast
swimming pool	view from the breakfast area

To see more photos please visit http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/56523

The Tuscany region

A row of cypress trees breaking the blue sky on a rolling hilltop. Olive groves and grapevines marching tidily down the side of a slope. Little medieval hill towns gazing down upon a country that has been carefully cultivated since the time of the Romans. It has been said indeed, that rather than take a photo of the modern landscape, you can gaze into a painting by Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael or Piero della Francesca. Much of the scenery is simply unchanged in 500 years.

Where to start with Tuscany though? We have the 'art cities' of Florence, Pisa and Siena - the galleries and museums, devotional buildings and architecture of Florence (Firenze) alone could swallow your entire vacation in Tuscany. Another week would just about deal with Pisa and its Campo dei Miracoli around the Leaning Tower and Baptistery. There is lesser known Lucca, a perfect medieval city within its unbreached medieval walls. But let's take a few other highlights without which no tour of Tuscany is complete.

Siena is a superb medieval city, which depopulated a few hundred years ago due to the Black Death and never quite filled up again. Indeed parts of this opulent and stylish town, around the stunning black-and-white marble Duomo, retain a semi-rural air. Cobbled streets spiral toward the central 'Campo' site of the twice yearly Palio horse race. There are dozens of little hill towns south and west of Siena, with San Gimignano (the city of towers) being best known. Montepulciano, Cortona and Pienza are joys, but also see lesser-explored Pitigliano, Massa Marittima and Volterra.

Between Florence and Siena we have Chianti, superb wine country of course and a popular retreat for British and American expats. The main towns of 'Chiantishire' are Greve in Chianti and Radda in Chianti. See too the medieval cloth town of Prato, with the Castello Imperator and a fine Pisan-Romanesque Duomo. Another undiscovered gem is Pistoia, with a well preserved medieval core. Heading towards the coast we have Pisa, Lucca and then the coastline of the Versilian Riviera. The most famous of the resorts is Viareggio, a fashionable resort in Victorian times, and still a fun seaside town, with great gelaterie, restaurants, beaches (though you will have to pay) and the huge February carnival. Livorno (or Leghorn as Brits dubbed it) is often dismissed as a bombed and uninspiringly rebuilt port town, but there is a lovely old town of canals and humpback bridges, a 'little Venice' indeed. Offshore we have the isle of Elba, once home to a defeated Napoleon.

The southern Tuscan coast becomes the Maremma, once a malaria-ridden backwater but now home to the famed Maremma cattle and the 'butteri', cowboys who tend them. The countryside rises to the hills of Monte Argentario and the rather lovely and very ancient town of Orbetello. South of Siena we come to the remarkable San Gimignano, a little town that became a powerful republic, albeit briefly. The soaring towers are monuments to the pride and hubris of the warring families of the town. Volterra is something quite other - built remote and striking on a high plateau, DH Lawrence wrote that it 'gets all the wind and sees all the world ... an inland island'. Thence on to Massa Marittima, an important mining town since pre-Roman (Etruscan) times. And south of Siena spreads the countryside of the Crete Senese ... which is probably that Tuscan countryside that most of us first-time visitors picture in our minds.

We can't leave southern Tuscany without visiting the Abbazia dei San Galgano, one of Italy's most stunning Gothic buildings, and the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, with its superb Renaissance frescoes. On to Montepulciano, at 600 metres above the sea it's the highest hill town in Tuscany. Then to Pienza, a Renaissance new town created from scratch by Pius II in 1459. Another lovely hill town nearby is Montalcino - wine buffs will know the name.

Eastern Tuscany's main towns are Arezzo - a beautiful Etruscan, Roman and medieval city, and the home and inspiration of movie clown Roberto Benigni (much of 'La Vita e Bella' was filmed here). Finally on to Cortona, from whose heights you gaze down upon Lake Trasimeno. The town has the Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca, a fine Duomo and the Museo Diocesano.

Chianti / Castellina in Chianti area

The Chianti area is one of the most charming in Tuscany,with its hillsides, outlined by the vines and medieval castles.Castellina in Chianti - If we want to find the origin of Castellina in Chianti we have to go far back to the beginning of history.

The origins of Castellina in Chianti go back until the 7th century B.C. A whole series of Etruscan villages and hamlets once existed along a major route following the crest that passes through Castellina and provided a link between the great cities of maritime Etruria – Vulci, Vetulonia and Roselle – and the markets of the north, particularly Spina, the most important trading harbour on the Adriatic and the gateway to the East.
Many important archaeological finds have come to light in Castellina, particularly the imposing burial vault of Mt. Calvario, which measures about 53 metres across, just outside the town on the road to Florence. The tomb contains four burial vaults arranged in a cross aligned with the four cardinal points. The hill takes its name from a little chapel that once stood on the summit, the last station of the Way of the Cross.

At Poggino, to the east of the village of Fonterutoli, along the old road towards Siena, archaeologists have unearthed a small necropolis containing five tombs, four with burial chambers and one small rectangular chamber shaped like a chest. Artifacts found among the burial objects show that rich families of noble birth lived in this region throughout the 6th century B.C., the Etruscan period of greatest splendour which, according to Diogenes of Halicarnassus, "has no peer". Castellina continued as a settlement in Roman times up until the 1st century B.C. but traces of sudden destruction followed by a fire indicate that the town came to a tragic end.

Castellina came to prominence in the mediaeval period as witnessed not just by the structures in Castellina itself but also the many magnificent fortified farm houses and tower houses dotted through the territory. The Cassero di Grignano, for example, overlooks a bridge that crosses the Cerchiaio gully and the Pesa stream, thereby controlling commercial traffic between Castellina and Panzano, and thus also between Sienna and Florence. Pietrafitta and Grignano are mentioned in a donation made by Marchese Ugo to the Marturi Abbey in 998.

Castellina was a border between the powerful Etruscan lucumon-ruled territories of Volterra, Chiusi and Fiesole, which were in both political and cultural opposition. The ancient border is reflected today in the division of the Castellina region between the dioceses of Siena and Fiesole. The town of Castellina in its current location is probably of Roman origin but any traces have been lost over the centuries. Castellina's military importance probably increased dramatically during the 11 C when a Castellina dei Trebbiesi is mentioned, a name derived from the nobles of Trebbio, members of the alliance of the Conti Guidi, owners of a castle nearby of which the remains are visible at Badiola. During the 12 C, Castellina played a military role within the Chianti Alliance mainly because of its strategic location, which guaranteed the control of all the surrounding roads as well as the entire valley of the Elsa river. Evidence of the town’s importance during this period is its imposing fortress, built in severe style. The entire town was surrounded by massive walls and towers, with only two gates providing access, one towards Sienna, the other Florence. Unfortunately both gates were completely destroyed, the Florence gate during the Second World War. Most of the walls still stand today, although houses have been built right up against them in numerous places. These defences witnessed centuries of battles, sieges and clashes. The battles had alternating outcomes. Alberico da Barbiano, in the service of the Duke of Milan, took Castellina by storm in 1397. The troops of Ferdinando d’Aragon failed in their attempt to do the same in 1452 and withdrew after a 44-day siege. The town was stormed in 1478 after a lengthy siege by the Duke of Calabria, despite Lorenzo the Magnificent, who then ruled Florence, having despatched the famous architect Giuliano da Sangallo to Castellina to strengthen the town’s defences.

How to get there

From Milan, Pisa and Rome take A1 to Firenze and exit at Firenze Certosa.

Turn right direction Siena and exit San Donato.

Follow the markings for Castellina in Chianti until you arrive at the stop signal in the centre of Castellina in Chianti.

Turn right towards Poggibonsi (SS429) and continue for about 700m. On your left you see the sign “Affittacamere Podere Palazzolo”.

Turn left and at the end of the track you will find your hideaway.

Activities near Chianti

Facilities

Further details indoors:
Reception - The trilingual staff will do their best to censure a truly exceptional tuscan experience, comfortable indoor reading room. Exclusive garden with breathtaking view over the Chianti valley.

Private swimming pool. Open from 05.01 – 10.01, Secluded outdoor corners with umbrellas and lounges.

Other available services for an extra fee:
Outdoor Jacuzzi spa overlooking the valley, Podere Palazzolo offers a small and welcoming restaurant, with characteristic wooden beams and Tuscan terracotta floors.

The warm atmosphere and the genuine flavours of local products and the range of our wines, will bring cheer to every guest's stay.

The typical farming hamlet is complete with its production and direct sale of extra virgin olive oil and red wine.

Podere Palazzolo Bed and Breakfast is open from 2008.03.21 to 2008.12.01

Further details outdoors:
Whole property is surrounded by a park. The swimming-pool too is encircled in the greenery, perfectly fitted in the surrounding environment.

From the swimming-pool set you may enjoy a fascinating view on the Chianti hills. The swimming-pool is usually opened from the 01th of May to the 01th of October.

Private illuminated parking available for guests.

Rental rates

Period	From	To	Weekly	Nightly rate		Minimum  stay
				Weekday	Weekend
standard room	15 Mar 09	31 May 09	665£ 599	9586	0-	2 Nights
standard room	14 Jul 09	1 Oct 09	686£ 618	9888	0-	Flexible
standard room	1 Oct 09	1 Dec 09	630£ 568	9081	0-	Flexible

NB: Prices may be subject to change at the advertiser's discretion.

PRICES 2009

Standard room: from e 90 till € 98 for 2 people breakfast included

Superior room: very nice rooms with view = from €.100 ill €. 115 for 2 people per night breakfast included

Romantic room- private entrance, jacuzzi for 2 people in the room, breathtaking panoramic view:

= from €. 125 till €. 140 for 2 people per night breakfast included

Price includes: breakfast , daily cleaning, heating, towels, bed linen,

Availability

See below for next 9 months' availability - to see the next 24 months click here

Send Enquiry

To contact this advertiser please visit: http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/56523

Contact details for the advertiser of home 56523
Name:	Laura Angiolini
Tel:	+39 348 5237423
Mobile:	+39 348 5237423
Be aware of time-zones Please mention Holiday Lettings when contacting this advertiser
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Advertiser joined: Apr 2008

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