Destination: Italy: Tuscany
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Villa Mangiacane
When you first drive up the lavender-lined path that leads to the Villa Mangiacane—a unique hideaway some eight miles south of Florence that is bound to give the venerable Villa San Michele a run for its money—you feel as though you’d stumbled onto a Bernardo Bertolucci set. The sculpted gardens, lush with jasmine, citrus trees and slender cypresses; the gnarled olive grove; the surrounding vineyards; the huge terraces with views of Florence—everything has an air of orchestrated flawlessness that makes you question its authenticity and age. But then you learn that the pink stucco villa was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria Machiavelli (uncle of Niccolò), that Michelangelo is rumored to have been consulted on the façade and that the frescoes on the first-floor terrace, discovered during the renovation, date from the 16th century. And you realize that Mangiacane is the real deal.
The villa, which belongs to the Stein Hotels & Resorts, a Barcelona-based collection of boutique properties across Europe that recently expanded to the U.S., opened its doors to guests in 2005, providing an exquisite new hotel option...
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