Live Auction Item

TUSCANY IDYLL
Under the Tuscan Sun -- spend seven days and six nights exploring Tuscany and Umbria with this charming stone farmhouse outside Cortona as your home base.   The house has two bedrooms with full baths plus dormitory accommodations for kids -- sleeps six comfortably.  The farmhouse has a modern kitchen with old world ambience.  Enjoy spectacular sunsets from the terrazzo while you sip superb local wines.  Not fancy but fantastic for those with discriminating taste.  Airfare NOT included.
Choose a mutually agreeable date in June - July 2018

Appealing Places to Visit Nearby

                        The best thing about this place is that you can easily make day-trips to enchanting destinations in Tuscany and Umbria.  You do need a car for everywhere but Florence, Orvieto and Arezzo.  We recommend the following excursions:

                        Cortona, of course – walk up to the very top of the mountain and visit the Medici fortress.  Also the Museo Diocesano has important works by Fra Angelico, Luca Signorelli, Gino Severini and others.  Le Celle – Franciscan monastery founded by St. Francis of Assisi in about 1215 AD -- is sublime in natural beauty and silence.  Excellent restaurants abound in and around Cortona.    

                        Montepulciano – world famous wine town.  We recommend Caffe’ Poliziano for lunch; ask for the table on the balcony overhanging the valley.  View is stupendous. 

                        Montalcino – another celebrated wine town; Brunello di Montalcino is a world-class red wine.  Lunch in the courtyard of the castle is fun.

                        Pienza – a Renaissance gem and the home of the famous pecorino cheese with which the locals bowl -- yes, bowl -- in the main street.

                        Bagno Vignoni – thermal baths in a gorgeous setting.

                        Orvieto -- cathedral has astounding frescoes by Luca Signorelli that influenced Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Last Judgment.  The well (pozzo) is an engineering feat that must be seen to be believed.
                       
                        Arezzo – take the train from Camucia-Cortona to this magnificent city (only two stops on the way to Florence), which is famous for goldsmithing, antiques, and frescoes by Piero della Francesca.

                        Florence – go by train; it takes only an hour and 15 minutes from Camucia-Cortona and is much less stressful than driving.  The museums are justly world-renowned.  Book ahead for reservations to L’Accademia (Michelangelo’s David and other masterpieces) and the Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo (my personal favorite -- Michelangelo again).  Brunelleschi’s Duomo is astounding.  Santa Croce and environs are of course wonderful.  We like the Oltarno, which is the area across the river from most of the tourist sites -- walk across the Ponte Vecchio to sample artisans’ work shops, outdoor cafes and the enormous Pitti Palace.       

                        Siena – archrival of Florence, scene of the renowned Palio horse race.  Visit the Duomo and related sites.  Art and architecture are beyond description.

                        Perugia – only 42 kilometers from our house, Perugia is an elegant medieval city with a bloody history.  Today it is the seat of the Universita’ degli Stranieri (a university that specializes in international studies and teaching Italian to foreign students).         

                        Assisi – home of St. Francis and awesome frescoes by Giotto.

This auction item is donated by Colin Walsh and Carolyn Williams           

Dinner Purchases begin at 6:15 and go until 8 pm

The event is outside and will be held rain or shine.

There is ample parking on site; golf carts will be provided for those who may need assistance