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NEWS about Tuscany
From "the New York Times":
At the 11th place of the list we found Maremma. A small part of Italy located on the south/west of Tuscany. Only one hour and half drive north from Rome airport, one hour and twenty drive west from Florence. This is a special place where Italians would like to have their own home. This is a beautiful place to live. Here everything is pure: nature, food, wine:
"Four words: George Clooney was here. The Italian coast of Maremma, a raw landscape of pebbled beaches in southern Tuscany, has, for some years, been the summer playground of Italian and English aristocrats. But now the beau monde is all abuzz about Mr Clooney's visit; he rented the 16th century Montepergoli villa in the village of Bolgheri. And Bulgari is reportedly looking at the coastline for a resort. Get here before hoi polloi ruins classy hangouts likes Zanzibar, a clubby waterfront bar in San Vincenzo, or the two Michelin-star restaurant next door, Gambero Rosso, witch the estimable food critic of Le Figaro, François Simon, once called his favorite restaurant in the world."
From the "San Diego Reader Weekly":
Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy
By Bonnie Maffei | Published Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009
For more local color, visit the sculpture studio of Tondicarlo, visible from the main highway to Grosseto. In about an hour or so, talented resident sculptors Marco, Stefano or Adelpho will model you in clay for about 400 Euros. Legend has it that the building was once a thriving country restaurant where unusual fare was served, bringing to mind tales of hearty meat pies prepared by the infamous Nellie Lovett of Sweeney Todd fame.
Stay in a Tuscan-style room at Agrit. La Pulledraia Podere Montegrappa on Via Del Molinaccio, 10 in Grosseto for about 80 Euros per night, including breakfast. You can even bring a small pet.
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From the "Forbes"
...Following Patmos at a close second on our list is Lucca, a medieval city within a city in the region of Tuscany, central Italy. It has "all the Tuscan charm of its neighbors Pisa and Tuscany but without the crowds," says Gillian Pearsall, marketing manager at Intrepid Travel. Tour busses are not the norm here: It's "blissfully cut off by its perfectly preserved Renaissance walls," says Schultz.
"This is a quiet, though classy town, with lawyers and housewives peddling the narrow cobblestone streets past thousand-year-old churches and made-in-Italy fashion boutiques," she says, adding that you can visit the outdoor antiques market every month to furnish your Tuscan farmhouse. The larger city of Florence is just 45 miles to the east; both the beach and skiing in Abetone are about an hour away, in opposite directions. Foreigners who buy into the area tend to be professionals from Britain or other parts of Europe, and some of the most sought-after properties are within the walls of the medieval city.
An apartment in the epicenter can set you back between 300,000 and 500,000 euros ($428,700 and $714,320), depending on how much restoration needs to be done. It's difficult to find a house there, so a good entry point is to find a property within the walled city for the winter, where you could be sheltered from the cold and not worry about electricity outages. Though if you can find it, a house in the hills just outside the city for the spring and summer would be appealing, but prices range from 500,000 to 800,000 euros ($714,320 to $1.1 million).
Vincent suggests avoiding properties that are being sold by a wave of Brits who invested in the area in the '70s and '80s, and who are now seeking to cash in with high asking prices. A better bet would be a local who is selling an inherited house and isn't as desperate to create a nest egg for retirement....
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