Movies: Italian Travel Inspiration

A Room with a View: When Lucy Honeychurch and chaperone Charlotte Bartlett find themselves in Florence with rooms without views, fellow guests Mr Emerson and son George step in to remedy the situation. Meeting the Emersons could change Lucy’s life forever but, once back in England, how will her experiences in Tuscany affect her marriage plans?  (Florence, Tuscany)  James Ivory, Helena Bonham Carter

Casanova: Set in Venice in the 1700s, the movie tells the story of the legend, whose dalliances have inspired countless lovers through the centuries. When Giacomo Casanova discovers Francesa Bruni, he meets his perfect match, succumbing to the only woman ever to refuse his charms…until he can prove himself worthy.  (Venice, Vicenza)  Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons

Bread and Tulips: A housewife starts a new life with a new man in Venice. The scenes in Venice are very good.  (Venice)  Licia Maglietta, Bruno Ganz, Giuseppe Battiston

Ciao, Professore!: Want to try to understand the difference between the north and south of Italy? Well, in this film a teacher applies to be transferred to a nice northern Italian city, when a typo on his application changes his destination from a village in the wealthy north to the impoverished south. He is forced to teach kids in a village where schooling is given a very low priority. Despite it all, this is a very upbeat film.  (Sicily)  Paolo Villagio

Dangerous Beauty: Beautiful scenes of Venice in this historical movie about an infamous courtesan set in the 16th century. (Venice)  Catherine McCormack, Rufus Sewell, Jacqueline Bisett

Gladiator: When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered by a corrupt prince, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge.   (Rome, Tuscany)  Ridley Scott, Russel Crowe

Il Postino: The man selected to deliver letters to Pablo Neruda, exiled on an island off the coast of Italy, has his worldview changed by the poet, who returns to Chile, leaving the postman with dreams and aspirations he can’t figure out how to achieve.  (Amalfi Coast, Positano)  Michael Radford, Massimo Troisi

La Dolce Vita: A journalist and man-about-town Marcello struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome’s elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.  (Rome)  Federico Fellini,  Marcelo Mastroiani, Anita Eckberg

Life is Beautiful: A Jewish man has a wonderful romance with the help of his humour, but must use that same quality to protect his son in a Nazi death camp.  (Arezzo, Tuscany)  Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini

Much Ado About Nothing: Set in the beautiful Tuscan countryside with magnificent scenery, this Shakespeare tale will get you in the mood for a trip to Tuscany. It’s one of the easier Shakespeare plays to understand and it’s in English.  (Tuscany)  Kenneth Brunagh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington

Only You:  Woman believes that two soul-mates can be united if they find each other.  (Rome, Tuscany, Venice, Positano) Marisa Tomei

Roman Holliday:  Take a delightful romp around Rome with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in this 1953 movie set in Rome.  (Rome)  William Wyler, Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn

Tea with Mussolini: Tea with Mussolini, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, is a Merchant Ivory period movie set in Florence during the rise of fascism. The movie centers on a group of British and American women and a young boy living in Florence. (Florence)  Char, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith

The Italian Job: Thieves plan to pull off the heist of their lives by creating Los Angeles’ largest ever traffic jam.  (Venice)  Gary Gray, Mark Wahlberg, Donald Sutherland, Charlize Theron

The Scarlet and the Black: The true story of Vatican efforts, lead by Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, to save Allied POWs and downed Allied airmen from Nazi imprisonment. Set in 1940′s Rome, the film also explores the SS effort, lead by SS-Lieutenant Colonel Kapplar, to stop him. (Vatican, Rome)  Gregory Peck, Christopher Plummer, John Gielgud

The Talented Mr. Ripley: While you might not warm up to Mr. Ripley himself, the beautiful Italian scenery is sometimes breathtaking. The movie is a thriller in English staring Matt Damon that takes place in several parts of Italy, including the Amalfi Coast.  (Amalfi Coast)  Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett

Under the Tuscan Sun: Cortona is a scenic hill town in Tuscany, Italy.  After Frances’s seemingly happy San Francisco marriage ends abruptly, she goes into a funk. Urged by her friends to move on, she joins a bus tour of Tuscany where, on the spur of the moment, she buys a crumbling villa.  (Tuscany) Diane Lane, Raoul Bova

1900: Set in Italy, the film follows the lives and interactions of two boys/men, one born a bastard of peasant stock the other born to a land owner. The drama spans from 1900 to about 1945, and focuses mainly on the rise of Fascism and the peasants’ eventual reaction by supporting Communism, and how these events shape the destinies of the two main characters.  (Italy)  Bernardo Bertolucci, Robert Deniro, Gerard Depardieu

Tuscany - Recommended Reading

Tuscany, with its sweeping hillsides planted with vineyards and olive trees, Mediterranean villas, and distinctive regional cuisine, is one of the most popular regions to visit in Italy. It can be difficult to choose which of the villages to visit to get the most out of the region.

Bentley highlights 37 villages and towns; both for their intrinsic beauty and for the part they have played in Tuscan history and culture. Page after page of Alex Ramsay’s magnificent color photos evoke the beauty of the land and capture the charms of the architecture, the landscape, and the people. Specially compiled listings of hotels, restaurants, and festivals complete the tribute to Tuscany and its villages.

This is a beautifully put together book.  The photography is outstanding.  You will long to visit Tuscany after reading this book.  It makes a beautiful coffee table addition.  You will find it hard to resist looking at it again and again. Here are just three of the recommended towns.

Artimino

Artimino is a small fortified hamlet in the Provence of Prato surrounded by olive trees and cypresses. The first evidence of the Village of Artimino dates to 998 with the  documented presence of the Pieve di San Leonardo, one of the best examples of Romanesque Lombardo architecture in Tuscany. The Etruscans were the first inhabitants of this site. Artimino affords splendid views of the neighboring countryside, whose vineyards produce excellent wines.

Bagni de Lucca

Bagni de Lucca, “land of princes and poets”, is the largest mountain commune in Italy with a great number of hamlets.  It is known for it’s historic spas.  It is situated in the valleys of the Rivers Serchio and Lima, surrounded by green hills covered with century-old forests of chestnut trees. Scattered in the area are many elegant mansions of the 19th century, surrounded by rich gardens populated with rare plant species, which poets and musicians used as a romantic retreat and source of inspiration.

San Gimignano

The “city of the beautiful towers” rises up from Tuscany’s Elsa Valley like a medieval dreamscape. Once an Etruscan settlement, founded in the 6th century, it became a town in the 10th century, and in its heyday boasted 72 towers.  The towers were symbols of the power and wealth of the city’s medieval families.  Today it is noted for its intact gates and palaces, as well as the 13 remaining towers built in 1150.  The town is surrounded by lush, productive land and the setting is altogether enchanting.

Stibbert Museum - Florence

The Stibbert Museum is located on the hill of Montughi in Florence, Italy. The museum contains over 36,000 artifacts, including a vast collection of armor from Eastern and Western civilizations.  The museum was founded by Frederick Stibbert (1836 - 1906), who inherited a vast fortune from his grandfather and did not work for the rest of his life.  Frederick Stibbert dedicated his life to collecting various objects, antiques, and artifacts and turned his villa into a museum. When the size of the collections outgrew the villa, Stibbert commissioned various additions created by the likes of architect Giuseppe Poggi, the painter Gaetano Bianchi, and the sculptor Passaglia, who contributed to the present day appearance of one of the most precious examples of l9th century museums. 
The vast park surrounding the villa is recognized as one of the most beautiful gardens in Florence.

Today, the museum comprises 10 rooms to exhibit the wide-ranging collections of Stibbert. The rooms are crowded with very sumptuous objects reflecting the taste of a collector.  The museum includes a very lavish group of portraits belonging to different ages and most of the wall drawings are in leather.  The furniture itself includes very valuable pieces dating back to the 15th century.  There are important porcelains and majolica that were produced by the most important Italian and foreign manufacturers.

The museum, however, owes its reputation to its collection of arms and suits of armors that comprise an incredible number of varying and rare pieces ranging from the 15th to the 17th centuries. The vast majority of arms are European, although there are also Oriental, Persian, Indian and Islamic examples. A particularly suggestive view is offered by the parade of horses and riders fully equipped to represent the Italian, German and Islamic arms and suits of armors belonging to the 16th and 17th centuries.  The museum also displays a very important group of Japanese arms, with dozens of suits of arms and hundreds of swords, which constitutes the largest collection of this kind outside of Japan.

Rental Reason #2 - Ambience!

 Villa al Boschiglia!

Built in the 17th century, Villa al Boschiglia is set in beautiful northwest Tuscany, in the ancient parish of Vorno near the magnificent medieval town of Lucca.  Displaying the easy elegant lifestyle of the period, the noble, or main, floor is raised from the country floor, and entered through a portal atop the outside double flight stairway, with a symmetrical distribution of the other rooms around the central salon. There is also interior access to the country, or ground, floor where guests can enjoy delightful dinners in front of a large fireplace. 

Guests are embraced by the gentle colors and sharp fragrances of the panoramic countryside. Upon the opening of the private gate, the guest’s first sight is an alley of ‘tall and pure’ cypresses. The wide park of the villa with lime-trees, oaks, olives, magnolias, large bushes of aromatic plants, and roses is the ideal background in which to begin one’s visit.

Otis' Villa Testimonial

Rental Recommendation - Villa al Boschiglia
A Testimonial from a Sock Dog

I highly recommend to you humans Villa al Boschglia. I can tell you from personal experience why you should rent this spectacular villa. I was warmly welcomed with my family while staying at Villa al Boschiglia. It is a spectacular villa in the heart of Tuscany. Here you can live out your dream of life in a luxury villa. I am pleased to say that cats are not allowed in the villa, just sock dogs.

Why rent in Tuscany? Tuscany epitomizes the birth of the Renaissance. The region’s most prized art and historical relics reside in the larger cities, while hilltop medieval towns offer their own history. Tuscany offers breathtaking views of the undulating countryside with its rustic vineyards and olive groves and the majestic Appiennes Mountains. The blend of delicious foods and beautiful wine is classic Tuscany. Whether you come in search of pure relaxation and rural charm or an experience packed with local culture and tradition - you will fall in love with Tuscany!

Why rent Villa al Boschiglia? Besides having me to answer any questions at otis.sockdog@gmail.com, I can give you 12 of the reasons to rent this villa in Tuscany!

Here is the first, with more to come!

#1 Location, Location, Location!
In a beautiful corner of Tuscany, near the medieval town of Lucca, the magnificent Villa al Boschiglia is for rent. Villa al Boschiglia rental was built in Tuscany in the middle of the 17th century. This central location allows you to explore the numerous well-known sites of Tuscany such as Carrara, Chianti, Florence, Lucca, Pisa, and Siena. It is also the ideal location from which to visit the lesser known, but worthy of exploration, places such as Fiesole, Montecatini Alto, Pistoia, San Gimignano, San Miniato, Vinci, Vicopisano, and Volterra.

Still Thinking

Welcome to Fall, Humans! I am still pondering my book, but I think it will go something like this!

My trip to Italy planned I was getting very nervous about flying. It was my first time on a plane, and it was a long way from the United States to Italy. But, having researched Italy and all the wonderful places I wanted to visit, I knew I had to go. Pushing my fears away I concentrated on packing and getting ready for my adventure. I did have one other little concern; even though I had a passport would the agents let a Sock Dog through customs ?

What do you think? This is a hard task for a Sock Dog, but I will get it done! Here are a few pictures showing how hard I was working on my vacation.

My Book