Dreaming Of Tuscany...

By Fleur Kinson


With its idyllic countryside, honey-coloured farmhouses and beautiful little cities chock-full of art treasures, it’s no surprise that Tuscany is Italy’s most visited region. It’s also the place most highly prized by foreign homebuyers. From top to bottom, Tuscany is hard to resist.

The far north sees clean, leafy highlands thinly dotted with charming villages. Inching down we meet the exquisite little walled city of Lucca, its jolly neighbour Pisa, and the crowded Renaissance honeypot of Florence. In central Tuscany we settle into the classic rolling landscapes of green and gold hills – striped with vineyards, bristling with olive groves, or crowned with quizzical cypress trees. Delicious medieval Siena is here, as is San Gimignano with its madcap towers. To the east lie stately Etruscan hilltowns such as Arezzo and Cortona, while to the west the Tuscan coast unfurls some lovely beaches and the island paradise of Elba. Tuscany’s far south turns wild and empty, with muscular open hills punctuated by sudden upthrusts of rock. The southern coast, meanwhile, is elemental and untamed.

These manifold delights have not only made Tuscany hugely popular, they’ve made it an especially safe place to put your money. Foreign buyers have been prizing homes in Tuscany for more than forty years, and they show no sign of losing interest in the region. Tuscany’s enduring charm and untarnished reputation powerfully protect the re-sale value of any home you might buy here. There are strict limits on new building, so demand will always outstrip supply. And regulations outlining the permitted style of building and restoration-work will always protect the look and feel of Tuscany, thus further safeguarding its appeal.

Gate-Away.com features more than 1,000 properties for sale in Tuscany – everything from historic villas and sumptuous converted farmhouses asking several million euros, to cosy old stone houses in mountain villages going for less than €50,000. With so much to choose from, you need to consider which areas of Tuscany most appeal to you and which offer the greatest choice within your budget. Generally it is Tuscany’s northernmost and southernmost fringes which have the lowest-priced country homes. Look to attractive northern areas like Garfagnana and Lunigiana (you may have heard about a recent flood in this latter area, but be reassured that it only temporarily affected one town, Aulla). There are plenty of charming village homes up here for less than €100,000. Further down, Lucca and its surrounding countryside yield some very good-value properties. Gate-Away.com features a lovely two-bed apartment in Lucca for €250,000.

Tuscany’s heavenly middle section is where the biggest prices lie. If you managed to buy a farmhouse here for €500,000, you’d be doing extremely well. Usually they go for €800,000 or more. Your holiday rental prospects on such a property would be superb, however. And if you’re thinking of holiday rentals, have you considered Tuscany’s capital? Tourists come to Florence year-round, and you’d never be short of clients for a well-situated apartment. Central two-bedroom flats start at about €270,000.

One way or another, isn’t it time to turn your dreams of Tuscany into a reality?