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A free night in the Tuscan hills
Villa Mangiacane, a 15th Century wine and olive grove estate in the Tuscan hills, is offering a free night for those booking four and five nights. Situated just seven miles and a 20-minute drive from the historic city centre of Florence, the Villa is both a perfect base for cultural exploring and a relaxing, luxurious retreat.
Built for the Machiavelli family from designs by Michelangelo in the 15th Century, Villa Mangiacane is set in 600 acres of vineyards and olive groves with two outside pools and 28 individually designed rooms and suites.
After hectic sight-seeing schedules, the vineyards, olive groves and pools set in tranquil gardens offer a rural escape from the city and provide perfect al fresco settings for lunches and picnics served with award-winning wines and distinctive olive oil from the estate.
Inside, the comfortable salons and the loggia with restored renaissance frescoes and arches framing a view of the Duomo, offer restful havens to contemplate the beauty of the region. Here you can also learn more about Villa Mangiacanes intriguing past and how it provided cynical diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli with the sanctuary needed to write The Prince – one of the most inflammatory treatises in the history of political thought. 2013 marks the 500th anniversary of Machiavellis arrest and incarceration.
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Count me in – Florence is a place I really want to visit. I am especially interested in this place as I studied ‘the Prince’ as part of my university degree.
Sounds like a fabulous place! One small point: given he was born in 1475, I assume Michelangelo worked on the designs for the villa in the 16th, not the 15th centuries. Perhaps what was meant was the Cinquecento, or 1500s …
Here’s what it says on their own website:
“Mangiacane dates back to the fifteenth century and was built for the Machiavelli family with whispers that Michelangelo himself participated in the design. In fact, because of the significance of the owners and architects, the original buildings plan for improvements are housed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. These plans include a grander palace with a new wing, designed by Giorgio Vasari “Il Giovane” (nephew of the famous architect Giorgio Vasari).”
What a great offer, one thing that makes it even batter is that the hotel is only about 5 miles from the city of Florence as well as being about 2 miles from A1 highway which can take you to so many other places. This gives you the option of being in the peaceful countryside to sleep while being able to go into the city during the day for sightseeing.