Casa Ramona is an apartment of 70 square meters (approximately 750 square
feet), which sleeps six persons, with a view of the vegetation.
The house is part of a farmhouse which covers 20 hectares (50 acres) where you
will find six apartments. The guests of the farmhouse share the gardens, two
swimming pools, a tennis court, the olive grove, the vineyard and the wood. The
house has a parking lot.
Casa Ramona has one bedroom with a double bed, a bedroom with two single beds, a
large living room with fireplace and cooking area, two bathrooms with shower,
and a reserved area in the garden where you will find a table, a beach umbrella,
chairs and deck chairs.
It is located at the bottom floor of a nice and ancient stone house, which is
part of a tiny historical burg made up by four buildings. The buildings are
connected by terracotta pathways and surrounded by lawns and flowerbeds. This
tiny burg is just at 1 km (approximately half a mile) from the small medieval
village of Montaione.
In past ages the four buildings were used to grow the olive grove and the
vineyard. They have been carefully restored and transformed into holiday homes
in a way that keeps the atmosphere and the charm of the ancient Tuscan farm
houses.
The walls of the houses have the warm pink and orange colors of the stone and of
the terracotta, which stand against the green of the very well looked-after
lawns that surround them. The lawns are broken here and there by thriving rose
bushes, groups of irises and slender dark green cypresses.
From every observation point in the burg your sight will embrace a wide horizon
of gentle and wavy hills, some of them decorated at the top by bunches of
houses, clenched around a watch tower or a bell tower.
It is a splendid view upon one of the most beautiful and history-rich
territories of Tuscany, among San Gimignano, Volterra and Florence.
A short pathway among the flowers will take you to the area where you will find
a swimming pool for adults and a swimming pool for children. The swimming pools
are equipped with shower and solarium, as well as with beach umbrellas and deck
chairs. All around there is only vegetation, trees and view of the hills.
The swimming pool for adults is 14 x 7 meters (46 x 23 feet), 1 meter to 2.5
meter deep (3 to 8 feet deep). The swimming pool for children is 7 x 2.5 meters
(23 x 8 feet), 50 cm deep (1.5 feet deep). They are open from Easter until the
beginning of October.
You will be able to buy locally olive oil and wine made by the owners, and there
is also a small vegetable garden where you will be able to pick up free of
charge the season produce.
The owners live on the premises, and they will be happy to answer questions and
give you information.
Casa Ramona is at the bottom floor, on a single level. You will enter a spacious
living room, where there is a nice fireplace, a sitting area equipped with
satellite television and telephone, and a large dining table. A divan bed
provides two sleeping places. The bedroom with a double bed has an en suite
bathroom with a shower. The other bedroom, which has two single beds, is
serviced by a second bathroom with shower.
In the living room you find the cooking area, which is equipped with a
four-burner cooker, an oven, a refrigerator with freezer and a dishwasher. As a
guest of Villa Ramona you will have a reserved area in the garden, equipped with
beach umbrella, table, chairs and deck chairs. This area has a nice view of the
surrounding hills. There is also a portable barbecue and firewood is available
if you wish to grill the famous "Florentine" steaks al fresco.
The furnishing is in the characteristic style of the Tuscan countryside: the
floors are tiled with terracotta tiles, the ceilings are made of wood beams and
terracotta flat tiles, the furniture is made of wood, in a rustic style.
The rooms are decorated with objects of the country life.
Everything is graceful, well-kept and welcoming.
The house is equipped with central heating and it has a direct phone line. A broadband Internet connection is available for your laptop at no charge
through a standard Ethernet port. Wood for the fireplace and a shared
laundry room are also available.
You will be able to rent bicycles and scooters, and join guided mountain bike
trips.
Casa Ramona is at approximately 1 km (half a mile) from Montaione, where you
will find shops and restaurants. In the area you will be able to play golf, go
horse riding, enjoy mountain bike trips, wine and other local products tasting
in nearby farmhouses.
In the medieval hamlet of Montaione be sure to visit the church of San Regolo,
where the “Madonna del Buon Consiglio” (school of Cimabue, XIII century) is
kept, the Palazzo Petrorio, with its Natural History Museum, and, just out of
the center, the chapel of the Santissima Annunziata, with a remarkable fresco
painting of the seventeenth century.
Around Montaione there is also a large number of burgs and cities to be visited.
Besides the famous cities of art, Florence, Pisa, Siena and Lucca, which can be
reached in a one-hour drive, close by you will find the medieval burgs of San
Gimignano, Volterra and San Miniato.
Do not forget to visit the monastic complex of “San Vivaldo”, with its “Sacro
Monte”, located at only 5 km (3 miles) from Montaione. It represents, with its
series of small chapels, a scaled down version of Jerusalem as it was at the
time of the Crusades.
The closest train station is Castelfiorentino, at 10 km (6 miles). The closest
airports are “Galileo Galilei”, in Pisa, and “Amerigo Vespucci”, in Florence,
both at approximately 45 km (28 miles).
To stay at Casa Ramona it is recommended to have a car.
Accommodations: Independent house or villa in small complex