Tuscan

Villa Bianca, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates

Today's home is a chance to live in a piece of history. Villa Bianca is located on a hill in Fiesole, Italy with jaw-dropping views of Florence and the surrounding countryside. The home dates back from the XIV century and is spread out over three levels. The first floor has a wide loggia with columns, library, study, living room with access to the garden and more. The five-bedroom home still includes details that date back hundred of years including stone fireplaces and wood floors. It's obviously in need of restoration but the classic vault and cross vault ceilings, boiserie and graceful lines make it worth the care and effort. This slice of Tuscan romance is listed at 4.2 million euros.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Gallery: Villa Bianca

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Tags: fiesole, florence, tuscan, villa bianca, VillaBianca

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L'Andana, Ducasse Under the Tuscan Sun

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Great food always benefits from great scenery, so I can only imagine how dinner is at L'Andana, Chef Alain Ducasse's Inn in the Maremma region of Tuscany, Italy. The property is located in Tuscany's hills and groves and has 33 guest rooms, a Michelin-starred restaurant Trattoria Toscana, a 6,000 square foot ESPA spa, three pools, tennis court, /opportunities for yachting excursions, horseback riding and other jaunts through the scenic countryside. When it opened in 2004, the inn was named to Travel + Leisure's list of hot new places to stay. Even the reviewers at Trip Advisor have found little to complain about.

What goes perfectly with Tuscan food and Tuscan scenery? Tuscan wine of course. This year they are offering the Super Tuscan experience (ranging from €3.052 – 3.658, low to high season) which includes three nights (with buffet breakfast each morning), and two days visit and wine tasting in the famous Tuscan Omellaia, Sassicaia, Michele Saita with Mercedes transfer and Tognoni in the small medieval village of Bolgheri as well as dinner for two at Trattoria Toscana. Due to the current exchange rate the inn has implemented a guaranteed dollar rate program, meaning regardless of the weakness of the dollar at the time of your vacation, L'Andana will honor the rate at 1.45.

Gallery: L'Andana

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Tags: alain ducasse, food, italy, landana, supertuscan wine, SupertuscanWine, tuscan, vacation

Cook with the Chef at Villa Mangiacane

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wine

In beautiful Tuscany sits Villa Mangiacane, a hotel that in addition to beautiful scenery and luxury sleep accommodations offers its own wine, olive oil, and now cooking classes.

As part of the "Flavours of Chianti" package you're treated the first night to a 4 course candlelit dinner prepared by Mangiacane's acclaimed Chef Massimo Bocus, which prepares you for the following day's cooking lesson with the Chef and a Villa Mangiacane wine and olive oil tasting. Among other treats (like cooking aprons, daily spa access, and fresh fruit in your room) you'll also get a Tuscan Cookbook and a bottle of Villa Mangiacane Chianti. €1270-€2450

Gallery: Villa Mangiacane

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Tags: cooking, hotel, hotel package, hotel packages, HotelPackage, HotelPackages, hotels, italy, travel, traveling, tuscan, tuscany, villa mangiacane, VillaMangiacane, wine

Staten Island Wine

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

When you think of Tuscan vineyards Staten Island is probably not first on the list of places that come to mind, or anywhere on the list of places that come to mind for that matter, but it may soon be. A large-scale educational vineyard is being planned for New York City in Staten Island, along with a signature wine called Super Staten Island Red.

The non-profit vineyard will be all of 2 acres, producing cabernet sauvignon, merlot and sangiovese varieties. It will be an educational effort in regards to how grapes are grown and how wine is made. Created with the assistance of its sister city in Italy, the Staten Island vineyard will take at least 4 years before it's expected to actually start producing grapes for wine.

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Tags: New York, New York City, NewYork, NewYorkCity, NY, NYC, Staten Island, StatenIsland, Tuscan, Tuscany, vineyard, wine

Tulsa Tuscan, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

You can throw the McMansion sobriquet at this home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but for a newer home done on a grand scale it is actually pretty elegant. This four bedroom home is perched on a hill and has a modern Mediterranean style that seems like it belongs in Florida or California. The home has a large rotunda with a curved staircase, formal dining room and large rooms with stuccoed walls and 18-20 foot high ceilings. The home has a butlers bar, commercial grade kitchen, library with built-in shelves and a media room with a projector. The master wing includes a bedroom with a sitting area, his and hers bathrooms and access to the pool and spa. There are three other bedroom suites with marble baths and wet bar and a separate game/exercise/ in-law-suite. The home is listed at $2.875 million. After the jump, light, marble, stucco, Oklahoma?

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Tags: estate of the day, luxury real estate, oklahoma, tuscan

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