The House

DOWNSTAIRS 

 The kitchen, which is to the left just inside the entrance hall, is a long, old fashioned room with an enormous, original fireplace. The room is characteristically furnished, (as is the rest of the house). The main pieces are handsome hardwood, the counter tops of local marble. The walnut table seats six. The stove and refrigerator are new. -- There is no dishwasher; however, the view from the  traditional marble-composite sink is “to die for,” which makes doing dishes pleasant. The house comes equipped with all the dishes & cooking utensils one might need. Also, there will be an adequate supply of firewood available for use during your stay. Except for electric heaters in the bathrooms and one for use in the upstairs library/sitting room, wood is the only form of heat. 

The telephone is located at the end of the kitchen      where there is a small built in divan with lots of cushions. You may phone wherever you wish within the Lucca area code. For long distance calls you will need an international calling card.

 Off the dining end of the kitchen, a large open doorway leads into the “new” room (completed in ‘99). It is a cozy living room furnished with new, comfortable chairs -- a good place for family & friends to gather and a fine spot to curl up in on a rainy day. This room has the view only through the large doorway which is directly across from the kitchen terrace doors. 

TWO BATHROOMS 

On the right side of the house’s entrance hall is the new, beautifully tiled bathroom completed in 2000. It has a shower whereas the bathroom upstairs, also tiled, has a tub (which converts to a shower with a curtain). The washing machine is located in the downstairs bathroom space. There is a good supply of hot water and towels and linens are provided. 

UPSTAIRS

Stairs lead up from the entrance hall to the second floor which has three rooms plus the bathroom. Two of the rooms are bedrooms. One has a delightful traditional iron bed (queen size) which is high -- the better to catch the view.  The other bedroom, with twin beds and a window facing onto the quiet street, is small, but lovely. The third room is a charming library/sitting room. It has comfortable chairs, good reading light and a great selection of books in English. It has a new sofa which opens up to a queen size bed. Let us know ahead of time if you would like to make use of this room as a bedroom so that the caretaker may open out the sofa-bed and make it up. 

STUDIO 

On the third floor of the house is a large artist’s studio with a skylight and a big windows overlooking the same stupendous view as most of the other rooms. This room is really a working studio and it therefore has little in it apart from an easel, an armoire, a few tables and miscellaneous straight back chairs. It does have one single bed which, with pillows, doubles as a place to sit. It also has an efficient wood stove.

GARDEN

The garden can be reached by descending the wide stairs leading down from the kitchen terrace or through the high wrought iron gate from the stone street Via Piazzola. The garden has an elegant feel to it with a formal plan centering around a small pond from which four pathways spoke out. The four plots of land formed by these little paths are surrounded by box hedge. Then adjacent to the low stone wall bordering the edge of the garden is a tile patio covered by a grape arbor. There is a large table on this patio where, weather permitting, it is very pleasant to have meals.