Tuscany

Tuscany is a region that even those who have never been here have an image of. The marvellous thing is that those images are firmly rooted in reality. Around nearly every corner there is a beautiful ‘still life’ or an amazing view or something else that makes one smile.

We think that we are very fortunate to live here and we quite understand that others may seek to do the same.

The landscape of Tuscany is diverse with coast, plains, hills and mountains but olives and vines form a recurrent theme, frequently punctuated by cypresses and woodland.

Houses are brick or stone built with roofs generally being tiled in terracotta. Internally tradition, and materials available, dictated floors tiled in thick terracotta floor bricks, some inch and a half thick, plastered walls, and ceilings constructed with large supporting beams visible, usually of chestnut though sometimes oak or pine, with ‘stringers’ running between them supporting a lining of thick terracotta rectangular tiles, like the floor. Windows were mostly smallish to keep out the sun in summer and the cold in winter. Larger windows or doors are a definite sign of the social pretensions of a house. Internal shutters were virtually universal, exterior shutters less so (the argument being that those who were out in the fields from sun up to dusk had no need of exterior shutters) . Size and layout of the house varied according to the area, the type of farming or trade pursued there and economic means at the time of building. Town or village houses had little or no outside space (they had to squeeze within the walls). In town or countryside the ground floor of houses was not designed for everyday living but was either where the animals were housed or was used as workshop/wine cellar/store room/seasonal kitchen production unit! This habit is undergoing some change but is still fairly ingrained.

Tuscan towns and villages grew up to be virtually self sufficient units which to a certain extent they remain today. The benefit is that unlike the UK you are unlikely to be marooned without the basics of life even in a very small Tuscan village even though you may have to get used to some seemingly inexplicable opening times.

Whilst cars have facilitated movement small towns and villages remain functioning communities rather than ‘dormitories’. Streets may empty at lunch time ( when reasonable people are expected to be eating lunch) but it is most improbable that there will not be people strolling chatting and generally connecting with the world in the late afternoon/early evening and in summer again after supper. We dare to suppose that this might be part of what has attracted you to the idea of buying in Italy in the first place. It is probable that the art, the history and the food might also have played a part, otherwise you would be looking at a website for new developments in Marbella. Under the heading ‘What we do’ you will find further details of the specific area of Tuscany where we are based.