“We spent a few heavenly weeks at Marie-Elisabeth’s romantic Villa in the rarified hills overlooking Firenze. We cooked wonderful meals in her well equipped kitchen, sipped vino round the scrubbed dining room table and gazed blissfully at the view across the vineyards and olive trees. In between all this loveliness we did day trips to Pisa, Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano and Forte dei Marmi. There wasn’t a hill or dale around the city that we did not explore. We had the best of both worlds, a feeling of being in the countryside but on the doorstep of the bustling crowded centro. The Villa is charming with olde world style but don’t expect modcons, and rent a small car: the roads to and from the Villa are narrow and narrower! Bellissima! X”