You will never find a better villa experience than here at Ave Maria. Every guest seem sto find themselves feeling like part of the owners family.
The only thing understated about Ave Maria is its price.This villa gets 5 stars in our book and is priced much lower than other villas in the area of the same standards, another peek at the generosity of its most gracious owners. A perfect stay is guaranteed. Your only disappointment will be when you have to depart.
The owners, a home builder and physician couple, spent 14 years restoring this incredible villa back to its original splendor and adding state of the art luxuries such as glass enclosed rain showers, an extremely large, two room professional kitchen, formal gardens, rose and jasmine bordered swimming pool and of course free WiFi. No attention to detail was left undone. For example, they installed an elevator for the convenience of bringing luggage up and down from the bedrooms. Frigo bars and TVs are installed in the bedrooms.
For weddings, family parties and business conferences, the lemonaia has been restored to a beautiful all purpose room for additional dining or it can be broken down into four office/teaching rooms with built in projectors.

Like many Italian villas, this one has a remarkable history. Built originally in the 15th century as a summer home by a noble Luchesse family, it remained in the same family until the 19th century when it was given to an order of monks left homeless when Napoleon sequestered all church property. The monks divided the large rooms to smaller simpler ones and added a secondary school that was attached to the villa. The current owners bought the property and spent the past 14 years restoring it to its original beauty, including hiring their own Michelangela, an artist from Florence who has been living in the villa for the past few years, painfully restoring the 18th century frescoes and adding her own interpretations as well.
The villa looks over a parterre and a beautifully reconstructed formal garden from the original 1843 plans. Beyond the gardens is a vista of olive groves and rolling vineyards, a small village and the backdrop of the distant mountains. The villa is ideally located, within walking distance to a small village with shops and supermarket and just sevem kilometers north of the historic city of Lucca. Many stately villas are open as museums for touring, such as Villa Torrigiani.
On the grounds is another remarkable restoration. The lemonaia has been converted into a large airy space for meetings and lectures. It can also be used as a back up reception room in case of rain.
Villa Ave Maria is the ideal holiday home for families or friends, weddings, anniversaries or family reunions, cooking or language classes or business meetings. It is ideally located among local vineyards and ideal for interesting daytrips, exploring Tuscanys finest cities, villages and countryside. Only half an hour from the Pisa airport, it is also a good base to explore The Italian Riviera and the mountainous Garfagnana.

GROUND FLOOR
Double doors leads you to a large foyer. Once through the foyers threshold, you have an elevator on one side of the hall way and two guest bathrooms. Further on, you have a small study facing the formal gardens and lawns this room has a desk and high speed enternet internet connection ( besides the free wi fi throughout the entire property for your own laptop) To your right is a large very large living room with comfortable upholstered sofas blended with antique chairs and tables. Walk through the living room and you come to the very large two room professional kitchen with state of the art appliances. All three of these rooms have French doors leading out to the formal garden. On the other side of the living room is a large dining room where everyone can eat together if you choose not to eat alfresco.
FIRST FLOOR
Take the elevator or the staircase up to the first floor. The staircase leads you to a small hallway. On your right is the elevator and then a hall way that runs along the north side of the villa. Off of this hall way you have four bedrooms suites that are mirror images of each other. Enter the room into a small hallway with a bathroom with tub of to the side and an armoire. Further into your room is a small living room area with a sofa bed and staircase leading to the loft bedroom which has two twin beds that can be combined into a king bed. The loft also has a second bathroom with a shower and also a small refrigerator (Frigobar). The hallway running along the north side of the villa continues up a short flight of stairs and leads you along the west side of the villa to a small living area which also has a staircase leading up to the second floor. SECOND FLOOR
Continue up the staircase or take the elevator to the second floor. On the north side of the villa is a hall bathroom with shower, a king bedroom with en suite bath, a cozy living room and a second king bedroom with en suite bath. On the south side of the villa, facing the formal gardens is a bedroom suite with a balcony overlooking the formal gardens, this room also has a private study as well as an en suite bath. Further down the hall way are two additional bedrooms that also face the formal gardens share a large bathroom at the end of the hallway on the east side of the villa.
THE LAWNS, FORMAL ITALIAN GARDENS , AND SWIMMING POOL AREA
As with all formal Italian villas, the immediate area around the house has fine pea - gravel that leads to the spawling lawns that are well planned out. Tables and chairs that can comfortably accommodate 40 guests are under a large white canopied gazebo. A paved path takes you to the walled formal gardens that have been re-created from the original gardens of 1600's complete with a large fountain and ideal for leisurely strolls of solitude and tranquility- the air scented by the nearby walls of roses and over 100 potted lemon and grapefruit trees are scattered throughout the property . The views from the formal gardens look out over the valley and a quaint village. Once through the formal gardens, you are at the large swimming pool area, with banks of roses and jasmine climbing two sides of the ancient wall and create a canopy for shade as well as remarkable scents of rose, jasmine, citrus and herbs. An incredible tranquile experience!
LEMONAIA
The Lemonaia has been convereted into a large meeting hall or dining room that can be divided into four private rooms if needed for meetings. Large round tables and glass windows make this a wonderful all occassion room. ( Additonal charge for this room)

Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Study, Library, Family Room, Private Laundry, Terrace, Balcony, Courtyard, Garden, Large Garden Gazebo, Formal Gardens, Lemonaia for Weddings & Conferences

4 Loft Twin/King Bedrooms (Sleeps 2 + 2 each) with 2 en suite baths ( one with shower and one with tub) walk in closet, safe, two frigo bars and a small sitting area with a double sofa bed.
1 King Bedroom Suite (Sleeps 2) Bedroom, private study, en suite bathroom
2 King Bedrooms (Sleeps 2) with en suite baths
2 Queen Bedrooms (Sleeps 2 each) sharing a large bathroom with jacuzzi tub

8 Bathroom with Shower
7 Bathroom with Tub (includes either handheld or wall mount shower)
3 Half Bath

Stove, Oven, Microwave, Private Barbecue, Refrigerator, Freezer, Dishwasher, Washer and Dryer, Phone, High Speed Internet Access, Satellite TV with English Speaking Channels, AlarmClock, Stereo, Each Bedroom has SAT TV

Private Inground Pool, Elevator, Air Conditioning, Fireplace, Central Heat, Maid Service, Views, Maid Service 2 hours per day, Welcome Dinner, Bathrobes

           available     unavailable     on hold     by request     2011

2010 PRICES

Weekly rate, Sat. to Sat. arrival/departures unless stated otherwise

On Request Jan 02 - Apr 02 Oct 30 - Dec 31 Low Apr 03 - May 21 Oct 02 - Oct 29 $8,648 Mid May 22 - Jun 18 Sep 18 - Oct 01 $9,790 High Jun 19 - Jul 02 Aug 28 - Sep 17 $10,932 Peak Jul 03 - Aug 27 $12,988

Click here to see 2011 calendar and prices

Click here to see our Guaranteed Lowest Price Promise.

Arrival Time: 4 pm to 7 pm SECURITY DEPOSIT (payable on arrival to the key holder) 1000 Euro - will be returned upon departure ADDITIONAL CHARGES Air Conditioning, Heating, Telephone, Additional Maid Service 15 euro per hour TRANSPORTATION PRIVATE PARKING DISTANCE TO PARKING: on premises NEAREST AIRPORT: Pisa 48km/ 45 mins, Florence 75km/1 hour NEAREST TRAIN STATION: Lucca, 8km/15 minutes CITIES AND TOWNS: Lucca 8km, Pisa 45 min, Florence 1 hour SERVICES: Post Office, Bank, Pharmacy, Restaurants, Grocery Shops 1km NOTES The very kind owners live in the piano nobile on the east wing of the villa. They have their own private entrance and parking area.