The villa was built in the 1900s and is light and elegant. Our house is the central section section of the villa with its grand stone staircase rising five stories. We have restored the original paint designs and terracotta and encaustic tile floors. Much of the furniture is original. Other antique items from England. There are views of the mountains and hill top villages from all parts of the house. At the front of the house is the car park and beyond that a very short path up to the centre of the village (good restaurant, bar and shops, ancient church.) The first room is a sitting/ dining room and has a DVD projector and large film and book library. From here you walk on across the stair landing to the kitchen and straight out onto a large terrace with a canopy of wisteria over the table to keep you cool while eating lunch. Above this floor are two floors of elegant double bedrooms plus an attic level with an extra bed. Beneath this level are the main bathroom and cellar and the converted barn (this is attached to the house - its roof is the terrace.) Here there is another sitting room, a bedroom with a sofabed and a small bathroom. From here you get access to the rose garden and Kiwi-clad pergola. From here you go down some steps and along a path to the lower garden where there is a pool and large lawn where you can play badminton. Please keep to the path as the garden on either side of this belongs to neighbours. The big garden at the end of the path is all ours and comprises: large lawn, 10x5m private pool, vine pergola with outdoor sofa, olive grove and, beneath all this, some more land with a walnut grove and hammock seating. The house suits family holidays and groups of friends very well. It is spacious and cool in the heat of the day. Clearly you need to be happy with going up and down quite a few stairs. There is lots to do at home and nearby. Being in a village you don't have to leave to buy essentials (there is fresh bread every day in the general shop) or to eat out well (Santina's meat sauce is legendary.) The people are very friendly. There is lots of hiking to be done on the hills (the mountain you look at above the village is 1300m high) and also rock climbing, river swimming and sports (in the Lima), high rope courses, quad biking, electric mountain bike tours... Also sightseeing. Bagni di Lucca is 10mins away; Lucca is 40 mins; Pisa about an hour; Florence an hour and a half. Pisa is the nearest airport.