This is an excerpt from A Villa of My Own, our guide to selecting and enjoying your Italian vacation rental.

Select the link to download a free copy.

Before you start searching for a villa, you’re going to need to gather the basics and make some notes:

What dates would you like to travel?

Keep in mind that most villas rent from Saturday to Saturday, so your selection will be much greater if you can stay during that period. Generally, a villa’s calendar will be divided into a low season (winter months), a high season (peak summer months) and one or more middle seasons, which tend to be in spring and fall.

How long can you stay?

It’s great to spend a week in Italy. It gives you a good feeling for the sites and the culture. It’s even better to plan a longer stay, which will give you a sense of living there and learning more about the ways of the Italians.

What is the makeup of your group?

Take note of the number of adults and children. Italy has something for all ages. Is access a consideration? Does anyone in your group have a walking difficulty? By the way, if you are not traveling with school age children, think about traveling outside of the summer months, which can save you money. The ‘shoulder’ seasons (May-June and September-October) can be attractive because the weather tends to be good and the towns can be less crowded.

What kind of budget do you have for your rental?

There are several things to consider here. One is that if you are able to organize a large group, you can consider higher quality villa if everyone is able to share the cost. It’s really quite amazing how inexpensive it can become.

Another way to control your costs is to look at rental properties with multiple units rather than a private villa. There are a lot of high quality accommodations like this, and the bonus is that you will likely meet some very interesting people!

What would you like to do and see in Italy?

Making the decision to rent a villa comes with certain expectations and…dreams. Want to learn how to cook some authentic Tuscan dishes? Would you like to see some of history’s most important works of art? How about great wine? Is someone in your group a history fanatic?

Put together a wish list of must-see places and must-do experiences. You’ll be surprised at how many you can do!

Otherwise, you can look into purchasing a ‘chiavetta’ at one of the mobile phone shops that you see in city centers, train stations and shopping areas. A chiavetta is slightly larger than a thumb drive and connects to a USB port on your computer. It accesses the Internet through the mobile phone system. Where there is a good signal (which is an ever expanding area) it can provide speeds that range from adequate to very fast. If your villa turns out to be in a blind spot, the problem can usually be solved by going into the village for a coffee with laptop in hand, or talking a walk to a more open area.

The booking must be confirmed by March 31.  Please contact us for additional details.

The opera will take place on these dates:

TOSCA
Friday August 3
Thursday August 16
Saturday August 25

MADAMA BUTTERFLY
Friday August 10
Friday August 17

LA TRAVIATA
Saturday August 4
Saturday August 11
Saturday August 18

LA BOHEME
Thursday August 9
Sunday August 19
Friday August 24

ALSO:  Lucca Nobile is offering a 20% on these SIX NIGHT stays in June (sorry, no opera tickets):

If you can stretch your linguistic skills a bit, you might see that there is a similarity between the words vitello and italia.  Why is this?

According to David Gilmour, in his recently published (and highly readable) history “In Pursuit of Italy”:

“Italy seems to begin with the myth of Hercules, the Greek hero who rescued a stray calf that wandered across southern Italy and swum the straits of Messina.  The land the animal crossed duly became known as Italia, from the word ‘ouitoulos’ or bull-calf, a word that has also bequeathed us, via Oscan and Latin, the word ‘vitello’ or veal.  A related theory, recorded by the Greek historian Timaeus, held that the ancient Greeks had been so impressed by the cattle in Italy that they had rewarded the land with the same name.”

So originally, the term only applied to the land at the bottom of the boot.  In time, the Romans conquered this part of the peninsula and the name began to describe a larger area.

Over the centuries, Italy was actually a number of independent states, not unified until 1871, at which time the name ‘Italy’ was applied to the whole country.

Coverage can be given for medical reasons–including pre-existing conditions, but read the policy carefully on this one.  Other coverages include loss of luggage, strikes, severe weather, etc.

There are many reputable providers of travel protection insurance, and you should review several policies because there can be differences in coverage.

CSA Travel Protection has a helpful FAQ page that can get you started and answer some basic questions:
http://www.csatravelprotection.com/frequently-asked-questions.do

Other established firms include:

Travel Insured:  www.travelinsured.com
Access America: www.accessamerica.com
Travelex:  www.travelex-insurance.com

Also, in the US, check with your local AAA for their policies.

The most popular time to visit is during July and August, the height of summer.   This is most convenient for families, who tend to be limited by school vacation schedules.  If you go during this time, you can be assured that there will be a lot going on in terms of festivals, gallery shows, even street music.  It’s the best time to rent a villa with a pool and spend some time enjoying it.  In the major cities, you can expect lively crowds.

But if you are able to consider other times of year, you can save some money and still enjoy  nice weather and traditional events.  The months of May, June, September and October tend to be the mid-season months and prices of accommodations will come down during these months.  In the past few years, these times have generally provided good weather and Italy is as wide open and welcoming as during the high season.

Also, the further south you go, the longer the season.  We recently visited Sicily in November, and found it to be balmy, uncrowded and as fascinating as ever.

And for something truly unique, consider a stay during the holidays.  Italy is become ever more popular for Christmas, New Years and Easter.

If you are considering an Italy trip, contact us and we can give you some additional pointers about the best time to visit.

http://www.italyrentals.com/contact-form.htm

VdT – Vino da Tavola – This is the lowest and least regulated class of wine.  Because it is less restricted by government regulation, the wine maker is free to create it as he or she wishes.  Most are adequate, affordable and generally appropriate for casual dinner wine.  Because they can vary so much, there are some that are quite good.

DOC – Denominazione di Origine Controllata - The name means ‘designation of origin controlled’.  This requires that a wine (or food) product must come from the region indicated on the label.  You can find a list of Italian DOC wines on Wikipedia at this link.

DOCG – Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita – Literally ‘designation of origin controlled and guaranteed’, this standard is enforced by government regulators who test and taste the wine to ensure compliance.  Not a bad job if you can get one.  Currently, there are 47 DOCG wines, and here is a list on Wikipedia.

Trenitalia (www.trenitalia.com) is the site to check for schedules from city to city.  To get there the fastest way possible, look for “Le Frecce”, Italy’s version of bullet train.

“Freccia” means “arrow”, and there are three types of them:

Frecciabianca (the white arrow) – Up to 200 kilometers/hour.  Connects Milan to Venice, Udine, Trieste, Genoa, Rome and other points.

Frecciargento (the silver arrow) – Up to 250 kilometers/hour.  Connects Rome, Venice, Verona and other points.

Frecciarossa (the red arrow) – Up to 360 kilometers/hour.   Connects Torino, Milan, Florence, Rome, Naples and Salerno.

That night, we turned on our TV at the villa and there was Don Matteo himself, the humble priest who works closely with the Gubbio police chief to help solve mysteries and bring criminals to justice.  It was so much fun to watch.

Game shows, variety shows and talk shows are all across the dial, as well as many of your favorite series with dubbed voices.

It’s challenging if you’re not familiar with Italian, but lots of fun to watch and you increase your language skills just by listening.  Some game shows involve word play, and this can really help with vocabulary.

Here’s a link to the RAI page where you can choose from short features and some longer shows.  The most popular series may be limited to Italy viewers, but there is still a lot to watch:

http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/homeTv.html

The other major network, Mediaset, can be found here online:

http://www.video.mediaset.it/

- Visit www.weather.com
- Enter your destination city in the search box and select Search
- Select ‘Historical Data’ on the right side of the page (scroll down–it’s not easy to find)
- Select the month you will be traveling

There are ‘F’ and ‘C’ links in the upper right to switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

Here are the average temperatures in Siena for June:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/fitness/wxclimatology/daily/ITXX0072?climoMonth=6