Archive for 'Books and Movies'

There are many ways to tour the incredible birthplace of the Renaissance during a stay in one of our villas with pools in Florence. You could follow famous artists around the city by visiting their works in various galleries and museums and churches, go on a sartorial pilgrimage of flagship stores and fashion museums, take in the architectural gems of various architects, discover all of the key spots where the Medici made history, eat your way around the city’s most beloved restaurants, visit all of the stunning gardens of the city, take a tour of supposedly haunted locations, or – to go with similarly spooky vibes – you could follow Hannibal Lecter around the city...

In The Silence of The Lambs, Lecter first displays his admiration for Florence when we see a meticulous sketch of the city's skyline that is hanging in his prison cell. Then, in the following film in the series, Hannibal, we are shown more than a mere sketch and are transported directly to the captivating landscapes of Florence...

The stunning Villa del Balbianello is already an impossibly beautiful architectural gem that is well worth exploring should you find a villa on Lake Como but in addition to being an important historical and artistic attraction, it has also been the filming location for some famous films.

It is no wonder that the Villa del Balbianello has caught the eye of location scouts multiple times – its good looks are truly cinematic! Perched prettily over Lake Como with blooming manicured gardens that directly overlook and flow down to the water, a lovely example of 18th century architecture, and filled with incredible works of art and furniture from all over the world, it is exquisite and utterly romantic. 

The gorgeous and dreamy historic town of Montepulciano in Tuscany known for its delicious wine gained international fame back in 2009 when it was chosen as a filming location for one of the movie adaptations of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight book series, New Moon. Fans worldwide were suddenly focused on this Tuscan gem and were were captivated by both the town's beauty and its newfound connection to the beloved franchise. So, if you love the movies and/or books and have always wanted to experience the allure of Montepulciano for yourself, then browse our villas in Montepulciano and plan a visit to this charming town...

Lots of people like to follow their favourite characters on their fictional journeys through destinations and then shadow those footsteps themselves in real life. Think of Bloomsday in Dublin, each summer, that sees fans from all over the globe come to follow Joyce’s protagonist Leopold Bloom around the city. Recently, another Irish author has given us yet another engaging and fascinating protagonist whose journey we can chart with Maggie O’Farrell’s fictionalised novel about the life and death of Lucrezia de' Medici, Duchess of Ferrara, in The Marriage Portrait.

The celebrated and well-loved O’Farrell released the book in 2022 to great acclaim and immediately transported readers all over the world into the life of an incredibly young bride in Renaissance Italy. Certain liberties have been taken with the details of her life but the story is rooted in historic record and real events and places. Those, therefore, who have read and adored the book can pretty easily track Lucrezia’s path from birth to childhood to a rather nerve-wracking young married life in a strange court. In fact, many of the places in the novel are already key tourist attractions that one might already be planning on visiting if booking a villa in Florence and/or a vacation rental in Emilia Romagna. 

Continuing on from our last post and our residual excitement from the finale of the excellent season two of HBO’s hit show, “The White Lotus,” we have been outlining a tour of some of the key destinations and locations that were featured in the show and that gave us yet another reason to start stalking incredible villas in Sicily and plan a vacation in this gorgeous part of the world! In the previous post, we mentioned some of the places in Taormina that were used as filming locations but noted that there were many more key destinations featured in addition to this impossibly dreamy city in Italy.

In fact, even the beach from the Taormina scenes was actually located elsewhere as, while the city does have some very charming stretches of coast in and around it, they are somewhat rocky and not quite perfectly sandy enough. So, they had to go elsewhere, to Cefalù for her picture-perfect beaches though the town also got to be a star in its own right too. The show actually introduced us to several other unimaginably picturesque towns and settings and made us fall in love so, if you have booked your holiday rental in Sicily and you are ready to start exploring the island as a whole, here are the other key spots from the show to visit during your trip: