Walk your socks off in the Apuane Alps. The views across the mountains to the Tyrrhenian Sea are glorious. And so are Ailsa’s picnics: home-grown salads, local pecorino, sweet pies baked that morning.
She and Jamie took on this remote farm in 2003. They cultivated the terraces (cherries, apricots, olives, vines), strung hammocks between the trees, and breathed new life into Lavacchio. Now, two rustically elegant retreats (La Stalla, an apartment in the farmhouse, and La Fattoria, close by) are filled with comfort and light. The saltwater pool has dreamy views and there’s ping-pong under the loggia.
Molezzana, 2.5km, is big enough for a post office, bar and bread shop. The treasures of Lucca are a 50-minute drive. Return to rain showers, books, paintings, antiques, friendly wood-fired pizza nights, and dinners under the stars.
It's rare that a remote oasis offers so much: an organic farm so elegantly appointed, indoors and out; a shaded yoga deck with 360 views; and above all, hosts that will nourish you (Ailsa's caponata, savoury and sweet pies are memorable) and guide you on thrilling hikes into the surrounding territory (Jamie is intimately familiar with the mountains' paths and histories). It's transformative!