Tuscany, Pisa, Italy

Beautiful character apartment in the historic centre of Montopoli Val D'Arno.

Located on the first floor and comprising: entrance hall, kitchen overlooking the square in the historic centre, living room also overlooking the square, one bedroom, one bathroom with shower, a small attic used as a storeroom, plus a useful built-in closet between the hallway and the bedroom. There is no central heating system, only a stove in the living room, but the property is in good condition and is perfectly habitable.

On the first floor there is also an external storage room, plus a cellar on the ground floor.

The San Romano-Montopoli-Santa Croce local train station, is just 5 mins away, from which there is a direct line to Florence, Pisa and Livorno (from where you can catch the ferry to Elba), and there are also connections to La Spezia for the Cinque Terre (UNESCO World Heritage site), Rome, Lucca, Bologna and Milan, which all provide wonderful day trips. It is even possible to leave in the early morning to get to Naples for a famous pizza and be back in time for a sundowner.

The hills around Montopoli are famous for the precious white truffles. Specialist truffle-hunters scour the countryside with their dogs throughout the autumn, and often come back laden, but they never reveal the exact spot where the truffles were found. They are often sold to brokers at high prices to be distributed globally, but can also be found in the local restaurants. In November the White Truffle market exhibition takes place in San Miniato which, in addition to the precious truffles, also offers visitors the best fine wines of the area and other gastronomic specialties. San Miniato is a pretty place, only 15 km from Montopoli.

Just 30 mins from Pisa airport and 40 mins from the centre of Florence, there are many interesting places to visit in the immediate vicinity: the town of Vinci is the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci and hosts a wonderful museum in his honour; Montelupo Fiorentino hosts an important museum of Renaissance ceramics works; and Artimino, with a collection of wonderful Medici villas. This area has been continuously inhabited since the Etruscan time: almost all the villages in the surrounding hills already existed in ancient times and it is not a rare event to come across Etruscan finds and archaeological excavations. This is the perfect place from which to explore the whole of Tuscany with the art treasures and architecture of Florence, Volterra, San Gimignano and Lucca on the doorstep.

Distances: Montopoli on the doorstep, Pisa (airport) 35 km, Lucca 40 km, beaches 40 km, Florence 45 km, San Gimignano 45 km, Volterra 50 km, Siena 80 km.