Six of us returned yesterday from a fortnight at Casale Lavinia, which proved to be a wonderful base from which to explore Northern Tuscany. Edo and his family are outstanding hosts; helpful without being obtrusive, and they were so kind to us throughout our stay. The house itself is beautifully maintained, and we spent a lot of time in and around the garden and pool area, which had the breeze to mediate the heat which some of the towns lower down in the valleys didn't during the current heat wave. As a mark of the care they devote to the place, the pool was cleaned every day, and was pretty idyllic as a place to keep cool and enjoy pool volleyball or just ploughing up and down trying to work off the pizza, pasta and Chianti. We also enjoyed sitting out on the terrace at night in the warm evening breeze, usually with all the outside lights turned off watching shooting stars and enjoying the sounds of the mountains and forest at night (lots of wildlife around - saw wild boar, many foxes, buzzards and some beautiful large butterflies).
A couple of tips - there is no air conditioning in the house itself, and so the bedrooms can become quite hot. It may be worth taking a portable fan or something similar just to get some sort of breeze through the rooms at night (open windows result in mosquitoes getting in). Secondly, the nearest supermarket is a 20 minute drive down the spectacular mountain road so if, as we did, you arrive late on the first evening, it is probably worth doing a food shop in Lucca before you head up the hill to the villa.
A couple of recommended trips...Lucca generally is beautiful, and we had a particularly lovely afternoon cycling around the city walls, which is a really popular pastime and allows you to see the city whilst keeping cool and getting some gentle exercise. Also, a place near Bagni di Lucca (40 min drive) has just recently opened called Canyon Park....stunning gorge adventure place with zip lining, high ropes, and paddle boarding up the gorge. Sounds intimidating but isn't, and has the most stunning opal coloured waters to swim in and clamber up the rocks and jump in...we had several teenagers with us and they, and we, loved it, although the water is cold so takes some getting used to.
Overall, a wonderful place to stay, with lovely hosts and an idyllic setting.