My mother and my wife's mother both turned 70 this year, so we decided to do a joint family birthday trip with 19 kids and adults to Tuscany to celebrate, and we could not have been more delighted with the property, the location, and the owner. It was truly a trip we will remember with joy for the rest of our lives.
The property is spectacular. It feels like you are staying in a movie set, with massive rooms, frescoed walls, antique furnishings, incredible oil paintings, ornate wooden desks, massive old wine barrels, and inlaid marble floors. Out nearly every window you have a view of the historic church next door with the Italian countryside surrounding it, and the backyard opens into the family's private olive groves (while the front yard offers terraced lawns with a pool and goldfish pond). One of the highlights of our trip was spending a night cooking homemade pizzas and drinking red wine in the 500-year-old (!!) wood-fired stone oven in the older section of the house. It was amazing in every way.
The location was also perfect, as Ponte a Moriano is a 20-minute drive from the amazing walled city of Lucca and less than two hours from Cinque Terre, Siena, Florence, Pisa, Bagni de Lucca, San Gimignano,, and Portofino, all of which members of the family visited while we were there. (Two groups also did overnight trips to Venice and Rome!) The house is also a 10 minute walk from an amazing local restaurant, Erasmus, in Ponte a Moriano, as well as tasty local pizza places, cafes, shops and other conveniences in town. You can also hike or drive up the hill to see other spectacular villas and gardens in the area.
Finally, the owner, Isabelle, and her boyfriend Massimo, were delightful. They live in a small house attached to the property, and they were always available for any and every need, from changing car reservations in Italian to helping book local restaurants, get converters, or master wood cooking in a centuries-old oven.
In short, the only thing we would have changed was leaving, and we hope others have an equally amazing time in our Italian fantasy home.