Smuk villa med privat pool og spektakulær udsigt over Apuan Alperne

I am Italian, but I spent many years living in London, so I have always felt a little bit English too. When I first came to Lunigiana, the local people jokingly called me “l’inglese”.

I Ginepri has been part of my life for more than twenty years. What began as an abandoned stone house gradually became a real family home, and today I love sharing it with guests from all over the world.

I still enjoy many of the same things that first made me fall in love with this place: long meals around the table, local food and markets, the changing seasons, and listening to people talk about porcini mushrooms, chestnuts and the year's harvest.

I live in Bologna, but I personally look after I Ginepri and I am always happy to share my favourite places, restaurants and ideas with guests who want to discover this less-known corner of Tuscany.

We first came here in 2003, when the house had been abandoned for more than fifty years and little remained beyond its stone walls. But the view was magnificent, the setting was beautiful, and somehow we could already imagine what the house might become. So we took the plunge.

More than twenty years later, the reasons we chose this place are still the same: the space, the light, the landscape and a way of life that seems to make you slow down almost without noticing.

After many years living in London, coming to Lunigiana felt like entering another world. Here, mornings might begin with pheasants crossing the fields or roe deer appearing near the river. From the house and pool you look towards the Apuan Alps, yet the sea and the villages of the Ligurian coast are close enough for an easy day out.

What we loved then — and what I still love today — is this unusual combination of mountains and sea, countryside and small villages, wonderful local food and a sense of space that is increasingly difficult to find.

Lunigiana remains one of Tuscany’s quieter corners, and perhaps that is exactly why it still feels so special.

What makes I Ginepri unique is the feeling of having a real Tuscan home entirely to yourselves.

The property is rented exclusively to one group at a time: the main house, the barn, the private pool, the gardens and almost four hectares of land are all yours. There are no shared spaces and no other guests.

The house was restored as a family home rather than created as a holiday rental, and I think you can still feel that. There is a proper kitchen where people actually cook, a library, a piano, old fireplaces, books and objects collected over the years, and plenty of places to gather around a table.

At the same time, the property is large enough for everyone to find their own space. Some guests spend the afternoon by the pool, others read under the veranda, children explore the garden, and someone inevitably disappears for a nap.

Perhaps what makes it most unusual is the combination of privacy and freedom without isolation. You are surrounded by countryside and look across to the Apuan Alps, yet villages, restaurants, shops, the motorway and the coast are all within easy reach.

It is a place designed less around “staying in a villa” and more around living together for a while — with no schedules, no shared spaces and plenty of room to make the house your own.