Fiesole

Fiesole is small, so the best way to get around once you're there is on foot.

• Remnants of Etruscan walls.
• Roman baths.
• Roman theatre.
• Palazzo Comunale.
• The Duomo.
• The view of Florence.

Vinandro on the main square serves delicious typical Tuscan food and wine in a rustic ambience, desserts a particular speciality. Part of the Slow Food movement. Book ahead at the weekend.

• La Sorgente di Francesca, Via montetrini 34/37, ☏ +39 055 8300702, +39 389 6586288, info@lasorgentedifrancesca.it. Located on a very secluded Tuscany hill. 
• Hotel Villa dei Bosconi (3 stars), Via F. Ferrucci, 51, ☏ +39 055 59578, fax: +39 055 5978448, villadeibosconi@fiesolehotels.com. 
• Hotel Villa Fiesole, Via Beato Angelico, 35, ☏ +39 055 846860, fax: +39 055 8468680, info@hoteldeivicari.com. On the side of an ancient Etruscan Hill, surrounded by centuries old woods. 
• Il Trebbiolo Relais, Via del Trebbiolo, 8, 50060 Molin del Piano (Firenze), ☏ +39 055 830 0098, info@iltrebbiolo.it. Il Trebbiolo is an long-standing Tuscan villa in the countryside around Florence, near Fiesole. With a stunning view all around, guests are hosted in classic guestrooms in the villa or in rustic houses around it. There is a fine restaurant, and the relais can also be booked for weddings and private events. 

• 🌍 Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany. A UNESCO World Heritage site consisting of 16 major and 11 minor villas owned by the powerful Medici family in the 15th-17th centuries. .
• 🌍 Giardino di Pratolino in Vaglia (Villa Demidoff). The Medici Villa of Pratolino was demolished in 1822, but was later bought by the Demidoff family of Russian origin, who used the secondary building of the pages as a new villa, enlarging and renovating it. The park, although distorted and stripped over the centuries, is one of the most beautiful and vast in all of Tuscany, among the most important in the English style. Although many original works of art have been removed over the centuries, the park still retains many of significant interest. 

The spectacles include: the 🌍 Colossus of the Apennines by Giambologna. ; the Fonte di Giove, whose copy was placed by the Demidoffs at the end of the nineteenth century; the two sponge goals; the chapel designed by Buontalenti, with a hexagonal plan with an external loggia, near which the last princess Demidoff is buried; the Fonte del Mugnone, whose statue was sculpted by Giambologna (1577); the Peschiera della Maschera, also used as a swimming pool and equipped for hot baths; the Great Aviary; the Pheasant; the Grotta di Cupido, built by Buontalenti in 1577; the neoclassical Casino of Montili, built around 1820 by the architect Luigi de Cambray-Digny. Throughout the park there are centuries-old trees, including oaks, English oaks, cedars and horse chestnuts, real natural monuments full of charm.

• 🌍 Villa di Castello.