Resources on Villa Rentals in Italy

Luxury Villa Rental in Italy

Villas

A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class. According to Pliny the Elder, there were two kinds of villas, the villa urbana, which was a country seat that could easily be reached from Rome (or another city) for a night or two, and the villa rustica, the farm-house estate, permanently occupied by the servants who had charge generally of the estate, which would center on the villa itself, perhaps only seasonally occupied. There were a concentration of Imperial villas near the Bay of Naples, especially on the Isle of Capri, at Monte Circeo on the coast and at Antium (Anzio). Wealthy Romans escaped the summer heat in the hills round Rome, especially around Frascati (cf Hadrian's Villa). Cicero is said to have possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of which was near Arpinum, which he inherited. Pliny the Younger had three or four, of which the example near Laurentium is the best known from his descriptions.

Renaissance villas
In 14th and 15th century Italy, a 'villa' once more connoted a country house, sometimes the family seat of power like Villa Caprarola, more often designed for seasonal pleasure, usually located within easy distance of a city. The first examples of Renaissance Villa dates back to the age of Lorenzo de' Medici, and they are mostly located in the Italian region of Tuscany (the "Medici villas") such as the Villa di Poggio a Caiano by Giuliano da Sangallo (begun in 1470) or the Villa Medici in Fiesole (since 1450), probably the first villa created under the instructions of Leon Battista Alberti, who theorized in his De re aedificatoria the features of the new idea of villa. From Tuscany the idea of villa was spread again through Italy and Europe.

Excerpt of "Villa." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 21 Oct 2006, 16:21 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 Oct 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Villa&oldid=82831165

Image from "Image:Villa_Medici_a_Fiesole_1.jpg" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 Oct 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Villa_Medici_a_Fiesole_1.jpg

Italy

Italy, officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Italia, [..] or Repubblica Italiana, [...], is a Southern European country. It comprises the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is also commonly called by Italians "lo Stivale" ("the Boot", due to its boot-like shape), or "la Penisola"[1] ("the Peninsula" as an antonomasia).

Italy shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italian territory. Campione d'Italia is an Italian enclave in Switzerland.
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Climate
The Italian climate is unique and can be far from the stereotype of a "land of sun.", depending on the region. The north of Italy (Turin, Milan, and Bologna) has a true continental climate, while below Florence it becomes more and more Mediterranean. The climate of the coastal areas of the Peninsula is very different from that of the interior, particularly during the winter months. The higher areas are cold, wet, and often snowy. The coastal regions, where most of the large towns are located, have a typical Mediterranean climate with mild winters and hot and generally dry summers. The length and intensity of the summer dry season increases southwards (compare the tables for Rome, Naples, and Brindisi).

Between north and south there is a quite remarkable difference in the temperatures, above all during the winter: in some days of December or January it can snow in Milan by -2°C while Palermo or Naples have just clouds and +17°C. Some mornings Turin can be by -12°C while on the same time Rome has got +6°C and Reggio Calabria +12°C. In the summer the difference is lighter. (‘‘See how Po valley can be frosty in winter)

Excerpt from "Italy." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 29 Oct 2006, 09:02 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 29 Oct 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Italy&oldid=84391810

Renting

Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good or property owned by another person or company. The owner of the property may be referred to as the lessor and the party paying to use the property as the lessee or renter. There is typically an implied, explicit, or written rental agreement or contract involved to specify the terms of the rental. Examples include:

• Renting real estate for the purpose of Housing tenure (where the lessee rents a residence to live in), parking a vehicle(s), storage, business, agricultural, institutional, or government use, or other reasons. When renting real estate, the person(s) or party who lives in or occupies the real estate is often called a tenant, paying rent to the owner of the property, often called a landlord. The real estate rented may be all or part of almost any real estate, such as an apartment, house, building, business office(s) or suite, land, farm, or merely an inside or outside space to park a vehicle, or store things. The rental agreement for real estate is often called a lease.