Lizabetta sleeps 9 in 4 double bedrooms, 1 French bedroom and 3 & ½ bathrooms.

For a limited time, Lizabetta is offering a 15% discount in high season and 10% discount in mid season.

Please contact us for a complete proposal:
info@italyrentals.com
+1 303 733 6030 phone
800 362 3818 US toll free

This premium villa sits in a peaceful and scenic location not far from Montespertoli, in the Chianti countryside.   Through the recent renovation, the owner has both preserved and improved upon the classic Tuscan charm that characterizes this wonderful villa.

Because of a three week cancellation, the weeks of June 16 through July 7 are now open, and you can take a 10% discount off the web price for a new booking for any of these open weeks.

Villa Mima offers six bedrooms and six baths.

Please contact us for further details.

The roll-out of the tax has been gradual, with each municipality determining the way it should be implemented.  In the larger cities of Rome, Florence and Venice, the collection was begun for hotels in 2011 and was transparently worked into the room rates last year.

For villas and other kinds of vacation rentals, it will begin on April 1, 2012 for many locations, and — at least for now — it will be collected separately on site.

At this point in time there is no central point of information about it, and individual municipalities are gradually posting the details on their sites.  As times goes on, more and more towns are adding this information to their web sites, and we will update the list below as we learn about them.

The tax is charged by guest per night, with an upper limit to the number of nights that can be charged.  The rate is determined by the rating of the accommodation.  With hotels, this is easier to do, as there is a fairly standardized system of star ratings.

With villas and vacation rentals, there are differences from town to town in how this is determined.  For example, the link below for Cernobbio on Lake Como explains that the tax will be .50 Euros (half a Euro) per person per night for a maximum tax of 4 nights.

The link for San Casciano val d’Elsa specifies the tax for vacation houses as 1.50 euros per person per night for the first 7 nights.

Those excluded from the tax are children under 14 years of age, patients waiting for hospital admission, guides and bus drivers for groups of 20 or more people, disabled persons with special needs (including one companion) and employees of companies that have an agreement with the accommodation.

As we receive more information about the tax, we will post as much as we can here, and will clarify as much as possible.

The links below are in Italian.

Tuscany
San Casciano val di Pesa
Empoli – includes much of Chianti
Florence
Castellina in Chianti (English)

Lake Como
Cernobbio

Liguria
Genoa – includes Portofino

Visit Gelsobello in April or May and take 10% off the web site price–minimum 5 nights.  Contact us for more information.

Ginestra with Lavanda – sleeps 6-8
Alloro – sleeps 4-6
Salvia – sleeps 4-6
Ginestra – sleeps 4-6
Gelsomino – sleeps 4-5
Lavanda – sleeps 2-4
Prezzemolo – sleeps 2-4
Rosmarino – sleeps 2-3

They apply to the weekly price of rental, and not on extras such as annex rental, extra beds and services.  A discount may not be combined with any other offer.

These offers apply to currently available weeks, for new bookings confirmed between March 5 and April 8.

Lake Rentals

Como Bianco (Lake Como – sleeps 8) – 10% off
Villa Maraia (Lake Como – sleeps 6) – 10% off
Colle Belvedere (Lake Maggiore – sleeps 6) – 10% off
Casa Maggiore (Lake Maggiore – sleeps 8) – 10% off
Bellezza del Lago (Lake Maggiore – sleeps 10-12) - 10% off (15% off 2 week booking)
Carina del Lago (Lake Maggiore – sleeps 4) – 10% off (15% off 2 week booking)
Palazzo sul Garda (Lake Garda – sleeps 7) – 10% off
Bella Orta (Lake Orta – sleeps 9) – 10% off

Tuscany Rentals

Villa Castiglioni (Chianti region – sleeps 9) – 10% off
Casa Matteo (Chianti region – sleeps 10-16) – 10% off available weeks in April, May, September and October only
Borgo Casciano (Chianti region – sleeps 2-22) – 10% off single units / 15% off full property
Perla di Siena (Chianti region – sleeps 8) – 15% off
Settignano 1 (Florence area – sleeps 6) – 20% off
Settignano 2 (Florence area – sleeps 6) - 20% off
Villa Montepulciano (Siena area – sleeps 10-12) – 10% off

Veneto Rentals

Villa il Parco (Veneto countryside – sleeps 8-16) – 10% off

Discounts on multi-week bookings

Many properties are now offering a 7% discount on your second week for a booking of more than one week.  Please contact us for details.  This promotion is available through March 15!

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.