I am no longer representing vacation rental properties in Italy. Alas.
But if you are interested in traveling there, I can whole-heartedly recommend the following properties to you: Montestigliano or Castello di Grotti.
Both are estates about 15 minutes southwest of Siena in the heart of Tuscany. They each offer various sizes of authentic and charming accommodations and have an English-speaking owner or manager.
I represented both of these properties for many years and stay in regular touch with the owners as well as visit as often as I can, which of course, is not often enough!
If you decide to contact Francesco at Montestigliano or Paolo and Maddalena at Castello di Grotti, please give them my best.
If you’re interested in what I am up to now, check out these sites:
Northland College, a small, environmentally oriented liberal arts college on the south shore of Lake Superior, where I serve on the board of trustees.
FairVote Minnesota, which is working on electoral reform issues, especially the introduction of Ranked Choice Voting.
Ujamaa Place, providing life and employment skills for young African-American males.
I am also involved with Friends of Wabasha, an informal, unincorporated group of volunteers working to mobilize friends and supporters of the little Mississippi River town of Wabasha MN to seize opportunities and address threats faced by our community. In our current project we are working to optimize the benefits and mitigate the drawbacks of proposed frac sand transloading facilities.
Meanwhile, my husband Peter continues to write. His 2006 historical novel The Fugitive Wife was very well received by a broad range of critics, including the NYTimes. It is set on a wheat farm in northwestern Minnesota in the 1890s and the Nome, Alaska, gold rush of 1900. Subsequently he published a history of Christmas Lake MN. And he is now collaborating on a book on learning and memory with my psych professor brother. And he is eager to get back to another novel.