In a corner of Tuscany where the hills roll without hurry and time seems to soften at the edges, Casavecchia Villas stands apart, not as a monument to luxury, but as a quiet argument for meaning.
This family-run estate, offering a range of different types of accommodation, boasts centuries of history stitched into its stone walls. Casavecchia is less a holiday rental than an invitation: to pause, to connect, to live as the Tuscans do.
As well as being popular and highly regarded, it is easy to get to as well, just a short 25-minute drive from Florence airport, with Bologna a 25-minute train ride from Florence, or 1 hour from Pisa airport.
While high-end villas across Italy lean into polished grandeur, Casavecchia offers something else entirely: the lived-in warmth of a home where stories have had generations to settle in. Authenticity is the buzzword at this place.
Here, terracotta floors are worn from footsteps that span centuries, kitchens are built for shared meals, not catered perfection, and the gardens are beautiful, too.
At Casavecchia, you don’t check in, you’re welcomed. Filippo Roselli-Cecconi and Michele Roselli-Cecconi, the current stewards of the estate, don’t outsource the art of hospitality. They live it. This isn’t management; it’s lineage. With roots stretching back generations, their care for the place isn’t performative; it’s personal.
Anti-tourist’s Tuscany
In a travel landscape increasingly shaped by algorithm and aesthetic, Casavecchia is an antidote. Guests here aren’t asked to admire Tuscany from behind the glass; they’re invited in. To cook with recipes passed down through the family line, shop in the same village markets the Roselli-Cecconi family has used for decades, and walk the olive groves not as tourists, but as temporary custodians of something enduring.
This is not the curated, often sterilised authenticity of Instagram. This is the real thing: imperfect, unpolished, unforgettable.
So, who finds their way here?
1. Matriarchs planning milestone gatherings
Travellers in their 60s and 70s often come looking for more than a pretty view. They come seeking something rich in feeling: a place to gather far-flung family for a milestone birthday, a meaningful reunion, a rare moment of multigenerational connection. They’re not looking for formality; they want warmth. Casavecchia offers it in abundance: space that breathes, but never feels impersonal.
2. The solo traveller
Then there are the guests who arrive alone. Recently retired. Children grown. Decades of caregiving behind them. They come not just to rest, but to remember. Who they are now. Who they might still become.
Casavecchia’s wellness retreats aren’t scripted. They’re held lightly. Yoga beneath open skies. Conversations over garden lunches. Olive oil tastings that end with unexpected tears and laughter.
Most leave with something they didn’t know they needed: clarity, connection, community. And often, plans to return with friends.
3. Retreat facilitators
Casavecchia is also a quiet favourite among those who lead retreats: yoga teachers, writers, coaches, and creatives.
They don’t want just a pretty setting; they need a place that holds space. One that doesn’t just accommodate transformation, but helps facilitate it.
The estate offers exactly that: rhythm, soul, and support. The family knows when to show up and when to step back. It’s this sensitivity that keeps facilitators coming back, year after year.
4. Culinary pilgrims
And then there are those who come for the oil, not just to taste it, but to understand it. The Casavecchia olive oil isn’t a branding exercise. It’s heritage in a bottle.
Guests can walk the groves, meet the trees, and learn the harvest rhythms. The result? A bottle of something golden-green, yes, but also a story. One, they’ll retell each time they serve it back home.
5. Artists in residence
This wonderful place also hosts painters and writers, the ones who crave stillness in order to hear their own thoughts. For them, Casavecchia offers what studios and cities cannot: mornings of clear light, unbroken hours, and evenings where colour hangs in the air a little longer than seems fair. They come for the solitude. They often leave with a manuscript, a canvas full of sun, or simply the relief of having created something that matters.
Why Casavecchia works
1. Hospitality that’s personal
Not staff trained in charm, but actual family members, deeply invested in each guest’s experience. Whether it’s an olive oil tasting or a local recommendation, nothing here is transactional.
2. Living history
The estate dates back to the 12th century. These aren’t antiques for show, they’re objects still in use, in a home still loved.
3. Deep community roots
Guests don’t just see Tuscany, they’re woven into it. From introductions to local winemakers to visits with generational craftspeople, access here isn’t bought. It’s shared.
4. Space for all seasons of life
Whether you’re travelling solo or bringing three generations along, Casavecchia manages to feel expansive without losing intimacy.
5. A philosophy of connection
More than a villa, more than a venue, Casavecchia is a home that holds space for celebration, reflection, creativity, and rest. It adapts to what its guests most need, often before they realise they need it.
Glowing comments from former guests bear testimony to the wonders of this place. Take this, for example: “Within an hour of arriving, I understood the difference. This wasn’t a rental, it was coming home to family I didn’t know I had.”
And this: “I came alone to get away from my life. I left with clarity about my next chapter, and three friends who feel like sisters.”
Another former guest recalls: “We’ve stayed in five-star hotels around the world. We’ve only wanted to return to one place: Casavecchia.”
So there you have it. In a region long romanticised and frequently commodified, Casavecchia remains quietly, stubbornly itself. And for those lucky enough to stay, it offers not just a glimpse of Tuscany but a way to belong in it, if only for a while.
