Experience Tuscany

Just opened a new section on ThriftyTuscany.com dedicated to Tuscany special offers and accommodation rentals offered at lower prices for a limited period only.
Easter is coming soon. Although that particular week is usually considered a period of high season, there are many properties that offer special discounts for your Easter holiday in Tuscany without forgoing any quality.

Like Relais Il Fienile in Bibbiena near Arezzo, located in a wonderful and peaceful location immersed in a natural environment, yet close to art and history cities. It is the ideal base to enjoy the natural Casentino mountains, unique for its parks with breathtaking scenery to explore hiking, biking, or simply strolling through its large grasslands.
The Relais il Fienile bases its hospitality principles on Character, Courtesy, Calm, Charm, Cuisine, wisely mixing these ingredients to prepare the perfect relaxing holiday. Your Tuscany stay will be an enchanting experience.
The details of this offer are the following:

Valid from April 2 to April 6, 2010.
- 5 days, 4 nights in double room. Half board service 268 Euros per person. B&B service 184 Euros per person.
- 4 days, 3 nights in double room. Half board service 216 Euros per person. B&B service 153 Euros per person.
- 3 days, 2 nights in double room. Half board service 154 Euros per person. B&B service 112 Euros per person.

Children’s beds in room with parents are 38 Euros per day with half board service and 17 Euros per day with B&B service.

Visit Tuscany apartments and rooms Relais Il Fienile to view pictures of the property, get a more detailed description of this Tuscany rental anmd contact the owner directly to reserve. As usual, Relais Il Fienile is a Tuscany rental by owner from ThriftyTuscany.com.

A new fantastic contest to extend your holiday in Tuscany for free and learn the crafts that have made Tuscan manufacturing and arts great in the world. The tradition continues thanks to the effort of many artisans that pass their craftsmanship along to those willing to learn.
Photography, cooking, painting and ceramic are the courses on which this contest focuses. 4 arts and crafts that combine the most antique Tuscan traditions with more modern ones. The winners of the contest will learn the rudiments and secrets of these forms of art enriching their Tuscan experience with invaluable knowledge.
Each prize also includes 2 nights in Tuscany in a superior room B&B, each in a different part of the region. Each location is bound to a specific craft for local traditions or peculiar characteristics of the land. The photography course will take place in the Siena area, due to the wonderful scenic properties of this territory. A professional will guide you and teach you how to shoot professional pictures. You will be enlightened on the art of painting in Florence, the cradle of Renaissance. Ceramic is reserved to the Maremma in Sorano, where there is a renown ceramic school. The cooking class is going to be in Barberino del Mugello, an area renown for the sapient mastery in the art of cooking.
For more details on prizes and the rules of the contest click here or open this document.

To participate, as usual, you need to send four electronic postcards to friends or relatives. Each of these that will participate in turn will give an extra chance to win. Go here to complete this step. After registration and sending the post cards you will be asked a little more details about yourself, and you are done! This contest is open from February 13th to April 14, 2010. Hurry, and good luck!

The month of March offers many advantages to women that want to take advantage of a short pre-summer break and relax at one of the many thermal spas in Tuscany.
Either for a few days or for the entire month of march, the majority of Tuscan spa resort offer one or multiple special packages dedicated to women’s wellness and relax. You can choose to stay one or more nights, or take advantage for only a day spa with treatments and thermal baths. Here are all the spa special offers and packages dedicated to women for March of 2010.

Please note: all the links to the official websites below are in Italian as it was not possible to find the corresponding page in English. However, the staff of each resort speaks English and you will have no trouble getting detailed info by email or phone.

San Giovanni Terme in Rapolano Terme near Siena: The packet “Daily You” includes one entrance to the thermal pools, one light lunch and one treatment all at 80 Euros per person. Valid for the entire month of March 2010. The “Mimosa Packet” includes two week days and one night in a comfort room-type, one treatment, thermal pool access and fitness room access for two days at 155 Euros per person. Valid for the entire month of March.
In addition on March 8th women enter for free showing the wellness STR card membership, and no single room use surcharge is applied for double hotel rooms for the entire month. More info at www.termesangiovanni.it.

Antica Querciolaia in Rapolano Terme near Siena: Overnight stay at 120 Euros per person in a double room with dinner and breakfast, including entrance at the spa until late night, massages and healing muds. Your stay will be at Hotel Posta del Chianti on the night of the 8th. More info at www.termeaq.it.

Terme di Saturnia in Saturnia near Grosseto: From March 6 to the 9 at 210 Euros per person you can have a day spa including spa manicure, hydralift, and herbal hair treatment. For golf lovers, a miniclinic of three days is also offered at 450 Euros per person including golf classes, video analysis of your swing, practice, thermal baths and final tournement. More info at www.termedisaturnia.it.

Fonteverde in San Casciano dei Bagni near Siena: For the entire month of March 2010 you can choose three midweek days or two weekend days at 597 Euros per person. Although the price is quite remarkable, also your accommodation, services and care offered are of the highest quality. The package is for women only and includes treatments specifically targeted to women. More info at www.fonteverdespa.com.

Grotta Giusti in Monsummano Terme near Pistoia: From March to May women are offered a special treatment at Grotta Giusti. 720 Euros per person will grant you three days of absolute bliss and the priviledge of being spoiled in a wonderful accommodation and served the best beauty and wellness treatments. If you bring along a female friend you will be both offered a rich dinner at the prestigious restaurant of the hotel. More info at www.grottagiustispa.com.

Terme Sensoriali in Chianciano Terme near Siena: On March 8 women are admitted for the entire day at only 30 Euros per person. For an additional 85 Euros you will be able to get a special scrub treatment and admittance to the Salone Sensoriale. More info at www.termechianciano.it.

Terme di Casciana in Casciana near Pisa: The Pour Elle package offers a day spa treatment with massage, entrance to the thermal pools and a present at 80 Euros. The Pour Famme package at 110 Euros per person adds a facial treatment. More info at www.termedicasciana.com.

Terme Bagni di Lucca in Bagni di Lucca near Lucca: For the entire month of March 2010, Day Spa with Mimosa package to stay overnight at only 159 Euros per person. Half board, treatments, and thermal baths included in the price. Reductions for groups of 6 plus women. More info at www.termebagnidilucca.it.

Take advantage of these fantastic offers dedicated to women for a splendid Tuscany spa relax.

Easter is coming soon, precisely on April 4, 2010. A great idea would be to spend your Easter holidays in Italy, and more precisely in the Tuscany region. During spring time Tuscany is a great place to be. This time of the year brings along thousands of typical events to take part to, traditions to discover. Most importantly you will be able to attend the awakening of the wonderful natural setting of Tuscany. During Easter the gray and brown fields become covered with intense green little plants that later in the year become wheat or other crops to harvest. The first pale leaves gather more intensity from the warming sun to become of an intense green that adorns river ways and side-roads. The rising temperatures and lengthening hours of daylight make it even more pleasurable to be in the outdoors visiting wonderful settings like Siena, San Gimignano, Florence, Pisa, and many more thousands of delicious towns and villages of Tuscany.

If you need few ideas where to spend your 2010 Easter in Tuscany, the best thing is to stay in one of the many holiday rentals. The Casentino mountains, for example, offer great accommodations in Tuscany by owner. Like Bio Agriturismo Il Vigno, an organic farm house near the Casentino mountains park and the La Verna monastery, a place of great religious faith and immense beauty.

If you would like to take advantage of the still white Tuscany mountains, you can go even further up on the Abetone mountain of the Pistoia province. For the remainder of the 2010 ski season in Tuscany you will be able to take advantage of great hotel and ski lift discounts while enjoying an unmatched natural landscape.

The warming season, however, can make you roll directly on the Tuscany coast in the wild and beautiful Maremma. Here much of the natural setting is protected, and the landscape preserves a great charge of romantic beauty. Seeing the wild horses run free, or walk bare feet on the sandy beaches of Tuscany are emotions to divide with some one special.

Just like the rejuvenating and relaxing experience of trying one of the many Tuscany thermal spas. Rapolano Terme, Cascina, Grotta Giusti, Bagni Vignoni, Saturnia, and many more are the thermal resorts scattered all over Tuscany that can offer you complete accommodation packages or just a day spa with treatments.

And why not spending your Easter in Italy crossing a section of Tuscany with a Vespa? The Etruscan coast near Pisa is a wonderful and off-the-beaten-road area to discover in a fun way with this tour dedicated to Vespa and motorbikes enthusiasts.

Spending your Easter in Italy dedicating a large chunk of you holiday to Tuscany is one of the best treats you can do to yourself. You will want to come back over and over!

“Underwater in Tuscany” is a scuba diving contest that will bring you to the discovery of the fantastic sea bottom in front of the Tuscan coast. The uncontaminated waters of Tuscany each year gain the highest recognitions from Italian national environmentalist associations. There are few other places with such clear and pure waters where thousands of animal and plant species thrive. You will discover such a high density of underwater flora and fauna that will leave you bewildered. Each year thousands of international scuba divers come to Tuscany to enjoy a safe and perfectly preserved underwater environment that allows hours of fun.
You will have the chance to be one of the two lucky winning couples that will spend three nights and three days on the wonderful Elba Island, which preserves some of the most spectacular sea bottoms thanks to the marine park of the island. Elba Island is part of the Tuscan archipelago together with other wonderful islands such as the Giglio and Giannutri. During your holiday in Tuscany you will have the chance to also discover these other wonderful islands with their wild natural environment and sea bottom.
What is to be won exactly? The contest includes two identical prizes of three nights for 2 people on the Elba Island. Your stay will be in a superior double bed and breakfast room with half board service, a personal boat with scuba diving instructor at your disposal that for two full days will lead you in the most wonderful spots of the Tuscan islands, and finally free ticket entrance to Tuscan museums. If you wish to have more details on the prizes visit this page.
To participate to the contest simply visit this page. You will have to introduce your email address and a password to access the simple game that once solved will bring you to the registration page and give you the possibility to win one of the two fantastic prizes.
Good luck!

Tuscany apartments Il Vigno rises among the uncontaminated hills of Tuscany. This organic farm includes 4 lovely and fully furnished apartments that can accommodate two, four or six people at a pinch. They all get their names from local plants that grow in the wild and are typical of these lands. Like the apartment Ulivo, romantic and cozy, it’s the ideal for a couple. Larger apartments like Quercia and Ginestra have one double bedroom and a comfortable sofa bed for two more guests. On the estate of the property is also a farmhouse independent from the other apartments. This is La Casa del Torrente (see picture above), a larger accommodation in Tuscany that welcomes up to 6 people with its 95 square meters of size, two double bedrooms and one sofa bed. Here you will also get more amenities like a fireplace for colder winter days, a satellite TV set, a private terrace and a gazebo for your al fresco dinners.
The formula at Tuscany apartments Il Vigno is that of self catering apartments, but you will be surprised to know that breakfast is included in the price! After breakfast you can head straight to the swimming pool to relax sunbathing and enjoying the world famous Tuscan landscape from the property terrace. Else you can start your day with a fun day trip. This Tuscany farmhouse is indeed located in a very favorable position close to many itineraries of great cultural and gastronomic interest. The many towns, monasteries and villages will keep your holiday interest at its highest. Near the property you will discover the native house of Michelangelo Buonarroti, the renown sanctuary of La Verna bound to the life of Saint Francis and his stigmata, the precious towns of Anghiari, Monterchi and Sansepolcro, where Piero della Francesca’s works are preserved. If you would like to go a little further, within just one to two hours drive you will get to cities and towns like Perugia, Arezzo, Siena, Florence, Montepulciano and Pienza.
Prices also include swimming pool usage, mountain bikes, hiking maps, consumption of organic products grown on the property, and heating for the colder months! Visit these Tuscany apartments and see their pictures on ThriftyTuscany.com.

Great news for those that wish to travel in winter to Tuscany to ski and enjoy the wonderful Tuscany mountains in the Pistoia province. There is a touristic agency that offers great discounts on transportation and monetary incentives on mountain lifts for groups of people that are of at least 15 people. More info here.
The Tourism Promotion Agency also offers great advantages for weekend and weekly stays. Half board stays of three days and two nights start at only 175 euros per person including your accommodation and all the mountain lifts for two days. A full week stay with half board service is only 480 euros per person! And if you decide to stay at Cutigliano Doganaccia, the price is even lower, at 145 euros for the weekend and 410 for the whole week!
You will be able to enjoy well over 60 kilometers of wonderful ski slopes in an amazing natural setting. Here modern lift equipment satisfies all skier levels. The equipment includes from the simplest stand-up ski lifts to the protected and fully enclosed high lifts that lead to the peak of the mountain. From these privileged points of view you can really appreciate all the beauty of Abetone and the Tuscany mountains.
Less expert skiers can learn this wonderful sport at ease thanks to the many school camps that everyday gather practicing skiers with teachers that for a few hours teach all the techniques to become an excellent skier. There is a fantastic discounted rate also for those who are total novices to skiing and do not even have the equipment. For just 330 euros per person you will have half board stay for two nights, two days’ worth of ski lifting, 4 hours of one-on-one ski lessons, and two days boot and ski rentals, while for a week stay the offer is even better. You get all the above for six days at 725 euros per person. Prices are lower if instead of Abetone you choose Cutigliano Doganaccia. Weekends are for 275 euros per person and weekly rates are at 605 euros per person! For more info on these great rates please visit this page and this page. Unfortunately you will have to use a translator to get them in English. At the bottom of each page is a form to request info and reservations. You can fill it in English and it will be answered to in English.
These great rates are valid for the entire 2010 season. For as little as 810 euros per couple you will be able to stay one full week in Tuscany half board and enjoy the wonderful mountains and great little towns that have made the history of this portion of Tuscany. Towns like Fiumalbo just wait to be discovered after a full day on the white peaks. Learn to appreciate the local cuisine, so different from all other parts of Tuscany, and experience a great winter in Tuscany!

A very unusual way of discovering Tuscany, a new experience to rediscover an ancient relationship between man and nature. This and more is the Donkey Trekking program that Gli Amici dell’Asino have developed in Tuscany dedicated to adults and children in particular.
This association was born near the city of Arezzo on the Casentino mountains to foster the appreciation of donkeys as sensitive animals as loyal companions during excursions at the discovery of historic trails off beaten tracks. Thanks to the employment of donkeys, you will be able to visit places and discover historic landmarks that would really be hard to reach otherwise. The slow pace at which donkeys move is especially attuned to that of children. The family oriented organization of all the activities makes of these excursions and this association the perfect occasion to spend a splendid family experience in Tuscany. You and your children have a wide range of choices to learn to love and respect these wonderful animals. The grounds of the association offer large spaces for short donkeyback rides on the estate. But if you and your family are more on the “adventurous” side, the best is to go for a day trip excursion of the wonderful Casentino mountain with a donkey.
These excursions are guided and offer the emotion of riding these animals fully equipped like it was once customary. You will travel the Tuscan lands as peasants carrying their goods and belongings used to up until just a hundred years ago or even less. The saddled donkey will have to carry you, your food and other equipment through the mountain trails of an unspoilt natural landscape. There are many already established excursions, but the association helps each person and family by customizing and adapting them to their needs.
During these excursions you and your children will learn that the famous stubbornness of donkeys is reserved only to mean and cold-hearted people. They become very obedient as soon as they encounter a gentle hand that can understand their immediate needs. You will immediately be conquered by the nice sensitivity of donkeys.
This is a great activity to do in Tuscany. The next organized trips are the following:
Weekend of May 1 and 2. You will discover the Arno valley in the Arezzo territory, it’s medieval castles, wonderful landscapes and millennial woods.
Weekend of June 5 and 6. A trip through the hamlets and the wonderful hills of Tuscany.
Weekend of August 25 and 26. The National PArk of Casentino Forests and its “green cathedrals” will unveil wonderful biodiversity treasures.
Weekend of October 2 and 3. Greeting the coming of fall with its thousands of colors, sounds and fruits in the Arno valley aboard a donkey!

For more info please visit www.gliamicidellasino.it.

The emotion of the Palio of Siena awaits you! There is nothing more mesmerizing than the atmosphere in Siena during the three days prior to the Palio. Thanks to “The Unforgettable Palio di Siena” contest you will be able to live these three days like a Sienese does. The prize is indeed three days in the city with a prime ticket for the Palio and a dinner ticket to live the grand dinner prior to the Palio day in one of the districts of the city, also called contrade.
Each contrada has its own people that was sworn in through church blessing and remains part of that district for life. The night prior the Palio the city streets of each district become a large restaurant with thousands of people sitting at long tables where wine, food, and typical chants fill the air in a festive and emotionally charged atmosphere. You will be in the middle of all the people belonging to that contrada and feel part of them for one night!
The next day you will of course take part in what is perhaps the most exciting event in Tuscany. Usually it is extremely hard and expensive to find Palio tickets, especially in a good position such as the one awarded through this contest. You will be sitting right near the start line, the hardest and most expensive tickets to find. The visual from there is the best not to miss anything of the race, and you will enjoy the crucial victory moment when the exulting people of the winning contrada come to claim the Palio, the painted banner that will be hung in their museum with all the others.
How nice will be to get to know Siena in a deep way to return to your wonderful hotel accommodation. A superior room for two people in a B&B with all comforts.
Participating is extremely easy. You just need to go here and complete the easy puzzle after the usual three seconds registration. After completeng the puzzle you will be asked to insert more details about yourself and then you are ready to get extracted and win this wonderful prize. For more info on the prizes, please visit this page.

Please click here to view or hide the contest rules, or visit this link.

Good luck!

Tuscany is a fascinating land where you can still find many hidden pearls, places where time has stood still. Small towns of ancient history in which traces of their past are still visible. Medieval villages, sometimes far from the more traveled routes, constitute treasures of inestimable value. Here you can still breathe a medieval atmosphere near monasteries, Romanesque churches, but above all castles.
Who doesn’t wish to spend a special holiday in a Tuscany castle hotel? Old farm houses, fortified villages and medieval castles open their doors for a dream vacation. Nothing is like spending your holidays in exceptional venues, relaxing under majestic towers and sojourning in ancient halls.
Like at the Castle of Gargonza, set in a landscape of rare beauty and tranquility. It is the ideal to spend an elegant and comfortable vacation. A Thirteenth century fortified village between Arezzo and Monte San Savino, away from the chaos of the city, a place to rediscover oneself with plenty of activities to enjoy your castle hotel. Ideal for those who want to rediscover a luxurious place of peace and tranquility, including nature walks and gastronomic traditions of Tuscany. Panoramic swimming pools, ancient oil mills transformed into apartments, and luxurious rooms for an excellent hospitality. From here you will be able to explore the rest of Tuscany, that of Etruscans, Renaissance masters, and wine roads.

In the Casentino region, a short distance from Subbiano, stands the Valenzano Castle. This Tuscany castle hotel lies in luxuriant nature and is enriched with fairy-tale romantic details. The spacious rooms beautifully accommodate guests. Quality cuisine and princely hospitality are the watchwords of this structure that wants to make the stay of its guests an unforgettable emotion.

Among the Terre di Siena and the Maremma is the Monte Antico Castle. On a hill of Civitella Paganico, with the gorgeous Mount Amiata as background you can find this old feud with a true Tuscan cuisine loyal to the most ancient Tuscan tradition. The welcoming and refined taste accommodates guests in antique salons, the luxury rooms and the resort. Located a short distance from Siena, San Gimignano, the mountain Amiata and the Natural Park of Maremma, this place offers the unmatched advantage of including art visits and natural excursions to your vacation in a Tuscany castle hotel.