Archive for 'Main Islands'

We are very proud of the fact, here are Italy Villas, that we have a wide selection of different types of incredible rental properties all across Italy on our website. No matter what kind of vacation rental in Italy you are looking for – urban, rural, seaside, massive, cosy – we have it all! We are also constantly adding new and wonderful properties to our portfolio. This week, we have been highlighting some of our new, excellent listings and picking out some favourites among the many. Here are some more of our picks:

4. Il Cuore Di Cortona (From €192 per night)

This charming stone property is distinctly Tuscan and very romantic and located right in the centre of Cortona! Not only are you ideally located for enjoying the town but this lovely one bedroom apartment is also so inviting that you won't mind coming home at the end of the day – it may even be the highlight!

We are always working to seek out and bring you the best villas in Italy and to widen the range of properties available to you on our site so that you will be able to find the perfect rental for you and yours. Whether you're looking for a chic apartment, a seaside villa with incredible views or a peaceful farmhouse property, you will find all of that and more on our site.

As we are always updating our portfolio, we thought it might be helpful to showcase just a selection of the wonderful new vacation rentals in Italy that have been added to Italy Villas. Here are some of our most recent and favourite additions...

1. Villa Dell'angelo (From €300 per night)

This extraordinary stone country house is located in a scenic position on the hillsides of Lucca, near the lovely spa town of Monsummano Terme.

Levanzo, as we have noted in the last post, is an island off the coast of Sicily where you won't find endless tourist attractions but, instead, an incredibly charming and beautiful slice of paradise. A former agricultural settlement that is now home to just 200 people, it is a sleepy and peaceful place that boasts crystal-clear waters, an amazing cave full of prehistoric paintings, a single (but very pretty) village, and astounding views. It makes for the perfect day trip location if you are exploring the area. Just find a vacation rental in Sicily and come explore it for yourself - you're sure to fall in love.

After checking out the town and the Grotta del Genovese, if you still feel like exploring, the whole island is a treat for hikers and casual walkers alike as the island is small and none of the walks are especially demanding.

The island of Levanzo is a charming and beautiful place that is not flashy or action-packed but, rather, a natural gem that makes for the perfect peaceful day trip location if you have found the perfect vacation rental in Sicily.

Levanzo is the smallest of the three Egadi Islands, located just off the western coast of Sicily. The island is home to only about 200 people, who live in the one village on the island, which is made up of a cluster of pretty buildings established around the port. Once an agricultural settlement where grains were produced, it is now mostly only used for sheep farming. Fishing, however, remains important to this day, both as an industry and an activity, and visitors are attracted to the island to try their hand at it, go boating, enjoy other water activities and to take in the peaceful nature of this sleepy and beautiful little mass of land.

Sicily has a long history of having a succession of rulers from a variety of places and cultures. The island was especially influenced by the Islamic conquest of 827AD to 1091AD and the Norman rule of 1071 to 1194. The ideas introduced under these rules and Byzantine influences, led to a multi-ethnic culture that saw Western and Islamic cultures combined in art and architecture among other areas of culture. Palermo, in particular, beautifully reflects this meshing of cultures in her architecture and if you rent a luxury villa in Sicily and you can readily see it for yourself as you explore the city. In fact, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for precisely this reason.

Among the many beautiful Arab-Norman buildings in the city, there is San Giovanni degli Eremiti, an incredible five-domed church on a little hillside in the middle of a rather rundown neighbourhood. Dating to the 6th century, it was converted to a mosque after the Islamic conquest of Sicily and then made back into a Benedictine church in 1136. It was modified over the years but its medieval appearance was reinstated during restorations in the 1880s.