Available year round, 3 night minimum stay. Rates are seasonal, with reduced weekly rates an option. Low season rate is: 120 euros nightly/720 euros weekly. High season: 150 Euros nightly/900 euros weekly. 40 euro cleaning fee.
Welcome to La Ginestra, a newly renovated cottage nestled inside Tuscany’s most romantic landscape, southern Siena Province.
La Ginestra is nestled halfway between Florence (1¾ hours) and Rome (2 hours), and is a little over an hour’s drive from Siena. The cottage is an easy drive to some of Italy’s most revered sights, mostly through breathtaking countryside. It’s an exceptional independent house for two, offering privacy, a perfect location, and stellar views.
La Ginestra has off street parking on the property behind a lockable gate. The house has one bedroom and bath, and is fully equipped with everything needed for a comfortable stay. There are terracotta floors throughout, with French doors in both the living room & bedroom that open to the outside. You can enjoy a meal or a glass of wine on one of the two patios. The modern, sleek and fully equipped kitchen has a professional style stove, quartz counter tops, dishwasher, and a full sized refrigerator with freezer. The bathroom’s oversized shower has locally quarried travertine. There is no air conditioning but two fans are provided. At 1740 feet, La Ginestra’s elevation keeps temperatures cooler in the summer. There is WIFI in the house.
The house's additional amenities include a fireplace (firewood provided), CD player with iPod/iPhone direct dock, CDs, wide screen Samsung Smart TV with Sky satellite dish, washer/dryer, iron, ironing board, first-aid kit, and hair dryer. There are area maps, guidebooks and recommendations on local restaurants, museums, shopping, walking and biking trails, and sights.
The house offers privacy without isolation. The closest village, a five-minute walk, is the charming medieval hill town Celle Sul Rigo, pop. 400. It has been singled out for its wine, olive oil and beauty. Celle offers dining options that range from trattorias to full scale fine dining. The village also provides a bakery, butcher shop, pharmacy, and grocery stores. There is also an Emergency Response facility with ambulance and first responder services a few blocks away.
There is an outdoor bathtub with hot and cold water with a spectacular view for you to enjoy while soaking in the tub. There is no smoking allowed inside La Ginestra.
The changing seasons all offer their own magic. The cottage is located on a ridge between the Val d’Orcia and the Val di Chiana, Tuscany’s evocative and most classically characteristic areas. It has a spectacular view overlooking fascinating hill towns, the occasional vineyard, pasturing sheep, olive groves and rolling hills.
La Ginestra offers something for everyone. Nearby are wonderful local food and wine options ranging from simple to sublime. Dotted with Etruscan sites, the area is a treasure trove of history and art. There are excellent roads for biking and trails for horseback riding. (There’s an equestrian center minutes away.) Also there is a wonderful public swimming pool in Sarteano, 20 minutes away. Tuscany's unspoiled coastline is a 2 hour drive. Year round, the nearby villages hold festivals that include music, food, and medieval pageantry. Celle sul Rigo holds an annual Sagra dei Pici, celebrating the local hand made pasta.
La Ginestra is named for the wonderfully fragrant yellow-flowered plant that perfumes the Tuscan air all summer long. The cottage sits on two and a half acres of olive and fruit trees. It produces its own olive oil from its 155 trees. It’s in a quiet and undiscovered part of Tuscany, untrammeled and off the beaten path, yet close to Tuscany’s hot spots.
The cottage lies twelve miles from the ski slopes of Monte Amiata, the extinct volcano (the highest mountain in southern Tuscany), that still fuels some 40 local thermal springs. The area is famous for its lovely therapeutic spas and the villages built around them. San Casciano dei Bagni’s Fonte Verde is rated one of the top spas in Europe. San Casciano is a five-minute drive from the cottage and is one of the area’s most beautiful hill towns, an elegant village that is a mecca for artists and writers who flock to its quiet environs. It’s been acclaimed as one of the 'Borghi Più Belli d'Italia', one of the loveliest villages in Italy.
