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Villetta Fabiana - Riviera Hills/Cinque Terre Area
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Accommodates 4 - 2 Bedrooms, 2
Baths
What an interesting, unusual
location! And yet it’s incredibly convenient to so much.
To be precise: Villetta Fabiana is an upscale property at
the southern end of the Italian Riviera, about halfway between
Pisa and Genoa, where Tuscany and Liguria come together. It’s
a great base for the Cinque Terre and much else. The property
is not on the water. On the contrary: Villetta Fabiana
is located in the green hills not far from Sarzana between
the delightful untouristed hilltop villages of Ortonovo and
Nicola. (Get a map and check it out.) Nicola is particularly
attractive, with two excellent trattorias of more than local
renown.
Even though it’s pink,
Fabiana has a more Tuscan country feel to it than a coastal
Ligurian feel. Its owners ran Fabiana for some years as an
intimate bed-and-breakfast.
What can you do from here? Well,
for starters, there are the stupendous marble quarries at
Carrara – this is the identical quarry from which Michelangelo
ordered the marble for his Pieta and David.
It’s an easy drive also to Pisa and Lucca to the southeast,
Genoa and Parma to the north and northwest.
And then there’s the whole
coast, from Viareggio through Forte dei Marmi, to Lerici,
Portovenere, and the fabled Cinque Terre, all the way to Portofino,
Rapallo, and Santa Margherita. The closest real beach, with
umbrellas and sand, is at Marina di Carrara, a mere 7 kilometers
away. A private tennis club, with swimming pool, is even closer.
Two or three golf courses are located within 30 minutes’
drive.
This is not only a coastal region:
You can find lovely mountain drives and trekking in the immediate
surroundings of the Apuan Alps (a part of the Apennines) which
line the coast from about 10 miles inland. Barga, located
in the heart of these mountains between here and Lucca, has
a spectacular opera festival in summer, and of course there’s
the renowned Puccini festival at the maestro’s own estate
at Torre del Lago.
The Fabiana estate itself is
a 16th-century farmhouse transformed by its current owners
into a luxury accommodation for themselves. They are a young
couple who are extremely hospitable, there when you need them,
but discreet. What they offer is a completely separate structure
on their property: in effect, the guest house of the estate.
In fact, the Villetta Fabiana
is really two separate structures. You come first to
one “cottage” which contains within it two exquisitely
furnished matrimonial bedroom suites, each with its own en-suite
bath (shower only), air-conditioning, frigobar, stereo system,
and satellite TV. One bedroom has its own little private terrace;
the other has a private sauna. From the bedrooms you must
go outside and down about 10 garden steps to the second structure,
which consists of a big, fully modernized open-plan living/dining/kitchen
with every possible appliance. The manicured garden contains
a neat gazebo with outdoor furniture as well as an above-ground
9x9 whirlpool, more like a hot tub with a jacuzzi feature,
with more outdoor furniture arranged around it. There’s
even a little fitness area with some equipment for those of
you who can’t live without. Laundry room shared with
owners. No phone: bring your own mobile. Included in the price
is daily housekeeping, plus midweek linen change, and, incredibly,
a welcome supper on your evening of arrival.
We were thoroughly taken with
Fabiana when we visited it recently, particularly the standard
of furnishings, the beautiful garden, and the enthusiasm of
the owners. Not to mention the great location and those gorgeous
views.
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Tentative
rates:
|
May
21-Sep 10; Easter/Xmas/NYears |
Mar
12-May 21
Sep 10-Oct. 29 |
Other
periods |
2,100
euros
per week |
1,890
euros
per week |
1,540
euros
per week |
| Extras: |
60 euros final cleaning
|
| Arrival: |
Saturday generally, but inquire
|
| Minimum stay:
|
1 week generally
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