Self catering Tuscany - apartments to rent close to Siena, Italy

Self catering Tuscany – This family-run holiday home, a mediaeval farmhouse in the heart of Tuscany, is only a few miles away from the fascinating city of Siena.

This Tuscan villa’s position dominates the vineyards, castles and villas of the Chianti and the Crete Senesi, a unique ‘lunar’ landscape. In the past, farmers used to meet at Villa Monte Chiaro to dance and hold traditional fairs, and an aura of this harmony and happiness still remains today.

A recent careful and sympathetic restructuring of the old stables on the villa’s ground floor has created two wonderful apartments, Le Rondini and La Loggia. These have typical old Tuscan fireplaces, marvellous wood and terracotta details, warm colours, lovely gardens and a swimming pool overlooking the idyllic surrounding countryside. Silence, peace and comfort make this place an oasis in which to relax and gaze upon the swallows and doves that every year choose Villa Monte Chiaro to make their nests.

Apartment Le Rondini sleeps 6+2. The private entrance from the large garden opens into an exceptional Tuscan-style sitting room with a large fireplace, antique furniture and colour glass doors behind which lies the fully equipped kitchen. The main bedroom, with its double bed and en-suite tub and shower bathroom, provides a warm atmosphere and a high, wood-beamed ceiling. On the left of the sitting room is a corridor to two further double bedrooms. Antiques, a terracotta arch over the bed, large windows overlooking the garden and a cosy atmosphere make these rooms the perfect environment for a relaxing holiday. The bedrooms also have a large common bathroom with tub.

Apartment La Loggia sleeps 4+2. The private patio entrance is furnished with table, chairs and vases of flowers. Furnished in the antique Tuscan style, the apartment has a sitting room with fireplace, a fully equipped kitchen, a twin bedroom, a bathroom with shower, a double bedroom furnished with an antique four-poster bed and with en-suite tub bathroom. As with the entire house, the apartment has terracotta floors and beamed ceilings. The windows overlook the Chianti hills, the garden and the swimming pool.

The apartments share a parking area, barbecue and washing machine. On request, a housemaid, babysitter, telephone, internet and cooking courses are available. Pets are allowed on request.

Villa Monte Chiaro, thanks to its strategic position, is the ideal place from which to discover the treasures of an extraordinary land. Only 10km away we find the city of Siena with its palaces, museums, the Campo square and the tradition of one of the most important horse races in the world. The Palio of the Contradas is run every year on 2 July and 16 August, and brings colour and life to the entire city. Florence is 70km away, Pisa 100km.

[ local map | map of Tuscany ]

But there is much more than just these fabulous cities of art to see. Villa Monte Chiaro is located in the heart of Chianti Classico with its marvellous mediaeval hill towns and villages, castles and villas. Here you’ll find Italy’s top producers of wine and olive oil, of Gaiole in Chianti and Castelnuovo Berardenga. This is a land crammed with museums – so much history has been lived here. There is the landscape museum, one for terracotta, for olive oil, for farms and, in the Val d’Elsa, the crystal museum.

And passing through the beautiful hillsides of vineyards, we come to the superb landscape of the Crete Senese. This remarkable land comprises waves of eroded rock, pepper and with areas of old woodland. The Crete change colour following the different seasons (from purple to gold and to white) and are the exposed bed of a shallow sea that receded more than a million years ago.

Here you can visit abbeys and monasteries dating back to the tenth century, important art collections and precious archaeological finds. In the heart of this landscape you first find the town of Asciano and then the famous town of Rapolano Terme. Since time immemorial, health-giving waters have bubbled from the ground here, the sulphurous waters that form the porous travertine stone; the Romans knew the value of these thermal springs. There are two thermal resorts for you to visit: Antica Querciolaia and Terme San Giovanni, both offering mud and herbal treatments and homeopathic therapies.

Weekly prices for Le Rondini range from EURO €1050 to €1250 depending on the season. La Loggia ranges from €850 to €1050. The use of the sofa bed is a further €15 per day. Prices include lighting, bed linen and towels, weekly cleaning and central heating. Arrival is on Saturday from 4pm to 7pm, departure Saturdays by 10am. For booking, confirmation and cancellation procedures, please contact your hosts.

Discover more about this marvellous Tuscan vacation – combining the lushness of Chianti, the spectacular landscape of the Crete Senesi and the mediaeval masterpiece of Siena, it is several Italian holidays in one. Click below to discover more.