Fivizzano holiday house "Casa Delle Rondini" in Caugliano, Fivizzano

The house and village : A quiet road snakes through chestnut woods to the hilltop hamlet of Caugliano. According to born and bred Caugliano neighbours, our house is the oldest building in the village, dating from the late Middle Ages. It is listed by the Belle Arte as a protected building, but its history is lost in time. Maybe it was once an inn used by pilgrims on the route from Canterbury to Rome, perhaps the uniform-sized bedrooms once housed monks or nuns, or was it merely a farmhouse sheltering a family with delusions of grandeur at one end, peasants at the other, animals below? Some rooms were certainly used (or abused!) to roast chestnuts (chestnut flour ranks alongside porcini as local specialities in this part of Tuscany). Whatever its age or purpose, the house , the garden and the pool represent a peaceful haven - the perfect escape from today's manic world.

Places to go, things to do nearby: Five minutes away ancient Fivizzano has shops, bars, restaurants, a weekly market and during the summer a 'manifestazione' ranging from a festa of locally grown food and wine to a car rally, medieval flag throwing to a fashion show almost every week. Eating out is an everyday delight. Most local restaurants serve beautifully cooked antipasti (a bewildering number of traditional appetisers), freshly made pasta, locally produced meat, fish and seafood fresh from the nearby coast, seasonal vegetables that taste 'just-picked', the 'best ice-cream in Tuscany’, and a bill that's usually a pleasant surprise. Riding/trekking nearby, castles on our doorstep the coast 40 minutes away, ski slopes, an hour away.. With its heart-stopping views, and peaceful atmosphere it is an area you will return to again and again.

Lunigiana and Liguria: Lunigiana is Tuscany's best kept secret - a land of rivers and castles, vineyards and forests, steep wooded valleys and walled hilltop towns silhouetted against a background of mountain peaks piercing the sky. Here life still follows the seasons. Yet the sandy coves, stylish marinas and cliff top walks of the stunning Ligurian Coast are only 40 minutes away. This breathtaking coast may be relatively busy in the summer, but amazingly it remains unspoilt. Colour washed houses stacked close together appear to tumble down the cliffs to the sea, much as they did when Byron, Shelley and later DH Lawrence lived and worked here on a stretch of coast that became known as the Bay of Poets.

And for culture lovers and shoppers? The great Tuscan cities of Florence, Pistoia, Piacenza and the less known medieval jewel of Lucca are all easy to reach by train from our local station. Parma, Pisa and Genoa are all about 1.5 hours via the motorway.

Painting holidays in Spring and September. Wine trails to follow. Markets and festas to enjoy. Castles to explore.