Internal facilities
In the Farmhouse Marzalla you can visit Villa Guardatoia' gardens.
In fact the Villa, built in the first half of the XVII century as a country house and hunting lodge by the Cecchi family, who still own it, it is surrounded by a typical Italian garden that winds through two large quadrangular terraces joined by a walkway, to make a botanical journey through ancient roses and camellias, aromatic, aquatic and bitter orange trees, to be observed immersed in a timeless atmosphere. On the lawn in front of the villa there is the old depot for carriages currently restored as a conference room and, to the side, an old water tank covered by a roof and two guard posts made with cotto.
Our guests can also walk in the adjacent bersò, a cypress wood, an oasis of peace, coolness, shade and silence and admire the "aviary" and the lakelet.
Included in the price: yes
The Marzalla Agriturismo complex contains a splendid 6 by 12 metre “ecological” swimming-pool (where the water is treated by salt only, no pollutant chemical products are used).
The swimming-pool overlooks the picturesque vineyard and deck-chairs and umbrellas are provided.
Included in the price: yes
The Marzalla Agriturismo complex contains a pond for fishing.
Included in the price: yes
The Marzalla Agriturismo complex contains a volleyball court.
Included in the price: yes
The Marzalla Agriturismo complex contains a football field.
Included in the price: yes
The Marzalla Agritourism complex a conference room, which retains the charm and decor of the original “carriage room”, which it has replaced, and can seat up to 40 persons, should you wish to hold a meeting or convention.
The hall can also be used by groups as a common-room with cooking-facilities.
Free internet wifi
Included in the price: no
The restaurant, Osteria Il Poderino, at 50 meters far from the B&B and the apartments, is located in an ancient country house surrounded by olive trees.
In the internal dining-rooms you will find period furniture and be warmed by a fireplace which will often be used for traditional grilling ("cottura alla brace") of meat, vegetables, or spit-roasts.
The cooking is typical traditional Tuscan, which offers the old family recipes and includes handmade pasta, ravioli and tagliatelle, soups, grilled steak, the “carpaccio” and various home made desserts.
In summer you can dine outdoors, cooled by the mountain breeze which drifts down from the “Svizzera pesciatina”.
Included in the price: no
Sports
3 tennis courts with clay
Included in the price: no
Distance: 500 m
10 Km Benedict Court Handling, home to one of the best schools of jumping in Tuscany, has two fields and a rod in the sand and offers riding lessons for children and adults, as well as excursions tours in the countryside along bridleways of Lucca and its surroundings. The equestrian center has a team equipped and can accommodate horses pension box and paddock.
Included in the price: no
Distance: 10 km
15 km Montecatini Golf Club The route of nearly 6,000 meters, is complex and challenging, very rough, with natural water hazards that threaten the game in at least five of the eighteen holes. Other obstacles are natural valleys, vegetation of tall trees, and some out of bounds that can worry.
Included in the price: no
Distance: 15 km
The Adventure Park "Selva del Buffardello" has been running in Garfagnana for 7 years, consolidating its business successfully. Eight paths, three for children and five for adults. Five levels of difficulty: green, blue, blue plus, red and black, to let everyone play and test their own control. All users are equipped with certified equipment and participate in a briefing with educational personnel.
Included in the price: no
Discount: Agreement: with our voucher, 2 euro discount per ticket.
The therapeutic properties of Montecatini waters were already known in the Romans’ time: our garden-town bewitches the visitor with its wonders made up of picturesque avenues, green and flowery oases, artistic beauties, serene quietness and warm hospitality.
These waters originate from a hydro-mineral basin that is located at a depth of 60-80 meters, mainly belonging to the chloride-sulphate-sodium water type and are bacteriologically pure. They have been carefully examined for their physical, chemical, clinical and pharmacological aspects, to such an extent as to generate a very rich medical literature. It was thus demonstrated that they have extraordinary beneficial effects on your health and body.
Included in the price: no
Discount: Agreement: with our voucher, 10% discount on all treatments
Grotta Giusti benefits from its very own thermal grotta, a fascinating natural cave with a hot water underground lake in which guests can enjoy a relaxing and detoxifying steam bath. In addition to the steam baths, the Spa offers mud therapy, ozonised baths in thermal water, massages, inhalation treatment, a new area for Oriental Disciplines, a gym center , an avant garde Aesthetic Medicine Centre and a spacious relaxation zone.
The new open-air thermal swimming pool, a high-tech facility measuring 750 sq. m., with a large and spectacular waterfall and underwater hydromassage in spa water.
Included in the price: no
Discount: With our voucher 10% discount on all treatments
Tuscany, and especially the area surrounding Lucca and Pistoia, is a beautiful location for those who like to discover the area by bike.
Safe roads with low traffic, some even with protected bike paths, are combined with climatic conditions that are favourable throughout almost the entire year.
All it takes is just a few kilometres for you to discover this land that shows off its vibrant complexity through its strong identity and well-defined personality.
Listen to the sounds of the countryside, breathe in the fragrance of the woods and get to know the territory accompanied by competent and expert guides who have been living in the area for their entire lives.
All of these elements make an excursion a unique experience.
Included in the price: no
Cost: Base price: 20 Euros per person for a half day (minimum 4 adults, including insurance). Request a quote.
Cultural activities
The gentle hills surrounding the city to the north, just two kilometres from the centre, are the unusual and surprising location of Pistoia’s Zoological Gardens, covering an area of 75,000 m² and immersed in the dense vegetation of oak, pine and tropical plants. This is one of Italy’s most famous and modern zoos, and the home of over 600 animals from all over the world. The Zoo was founded and opened to the public in 1970 by Mr Raffaello Galardini. It is still owned and operated by the founder's family. It is actually focusing its animal collection on endangered species and it has been already successful in breeding rare and threatened species such as Fennec foxes, Caimans and Ring-tailed lemurs. Since 2001 the Zoo has started renovation of many exhibits in order to assure animal welfare, to promote conservation education and to support conservation of threatened species. The Zoo has also cooperated with some Italian Universities to carry out research project about biology and ethology of the housed species in order to contribute to their preservation in the wild.
Included in the price: no
Discount: 10% discount on the entrance ticket
The museum was opened in May 2010 and has various excellences that make it attractive to a wide target of visitors. It is located inside the Ceppo Hospital, one of the oldest hospitals in the world still working and also known for the presence of the famous frieze of the Robbian school, which attracts tourists from around the world. The museum has, in fact, a reconstruction of the history of the hospital, from an underground archaeological site along nearly 700 meters. The visit continues with the the world's smallestanatomical amphitheater, a small jewel with frescoes entirely and perfectly preserved from 1785 and a remarkable collection of antique surgical instruments. The museum, in fact, is fully wheelchair accessible and is equipped with panels Braille for the blind.
Included in the price: no
Cost: Biglietto scontato a € 4,5 (invece di 9€)
The institute of Historical and Archaeological Research has opened in May 2012, the new headquarters in the mountains, hosted at the new premises of the SMI Museum and Shelters, located at the interior of the old factory of Italian Metallurgical Company founded in 1911. Where once was the office building, which now houses the cultural center, were reorganized some thematic rooms that trace the history of the factory and the evolution of machinery and methods for the production of ammunition, equipment and original instruments that were used in the plant inauguration until closing in 2006. The cultural center also includes the air-raid shelters which is accessed down two long spiral staircases located within the conical reinforced concrete. The shelters, built in 1937-1939 to protect the workers and their families, were dug into the rock at an average depth of 20 meters for a length of about kilometers. There can be found, perfectly preserved, the infirmary of men, a chapel dedicated to Saint Barbara, the local clean-up and at the end of the path will be recreated the sounds and feelings.
Included in the price: no
Discount: Biglietto scontato a € 7 (invece di 9€)
The park was created thanks to the valuable collective work of many artists and the idea in 1951, prof. Rolando Anzilotti. In 1962, the Pinocchio Park had become a cultural reality established in 1972 and was built as a continuation of the Park Toyland, a fantastic journey designed by Peter Porcinai twenty-one and dotted with sculptures in bronze and steel construction and architect Pietro Consagra Marco Zanuso.
It is open to the public every day of the year from 8:00 am to sunset.
Included in the price: no
Cost: Entry only Pinocchio Park € 9 (instead of 12), only input Garden VIlla Garzoni and Butterfly House € 10 (instead of 13), Park entrance and Garden with Butterfly House € 17 (instead of 21)
It is a garden of internationally unique because it brings together over 200 varieties of citrus coming from your world. The park will surprise the visitor with a new route full of curiosity and is a particularly inviting for an audience of non-experts. The collection of citrus plants is indeed divided between driveways, tunnels, plants, fountains and large figures inspired by the tale of Pinocchio. With 2,000 square meters of extension, the large greenhouse ago from mantle to the park, protects it from the elements and allows you to be able to visit in any weather conditions.
Included in the price: no
Cost: € 3.50 instead of € 4.50
Open since 1992, the museum contains the private collection of Costantino Franchi, a series of specimens Bonsai collected in decades of intense and passionate work. It is divided in three distinct areas: the first contains the essences of both Eastern European origin, and the second area, an outdoor terrace brings together five needle pine, Aleppo pine, juniper scales, fir, yew, cypress, while the third zone is reserved for individuals who need a subtropical climate. Real pride for the company, open all year round except public testivi and with free admission, the museum is visited by groups of enthusiasts, from students and tourists from all over Europe.
Included in the price: no
Cost: Free entrance
The Plaster cast gallery Libero Andreotti, who can be called a modern art museum, is an unusual event in the panorama of Italian museum. Formed by 230 chalks coming directly from the studio of the sculptor, is one of the rare instances in which a collection can fully document the entire production period of an artist. The museum was created thanks to the generous donation from the family of the sculptor to his hometown, is the appropriate recognition in the case of an artist node for the understanding and definition of the first twentieth-century Italian sculpture.
It was inaugurated in late 1992 in the halls properly restored the Palazzo del Podesta, called "The palace", dating from the thirteenth century.
Included in the price: no
Cost: Free entrance
The Pescia Paper Museum located in Pietrabuona, preserves and passes on a universe of knowledge, shared over time and space: making paper. The Museum targets a wide audience of scholars and students, devotees and casual visitors that can come in, explore the world of paper and learn its secrets: from the priceless collection of watermarks (among which the 1812 portaits of Napoleon and Marie-Louise of Austria) to period tools and machinery used to make paper by hand. The Pescia Paper Museum has become an invaluable reference for restorers, scholars and bibliophiles from the world over.
Included in the price: no
13th century wooden Deposition: In front of the modern city hospital you’ll find the 14th-century St. Anthony Abbot oratory. The tiny church with its bare facade is mentioned already in 1327, nonetheless some of its parts make us suppose it is even older. Don’t skip it, go inside, in the left chapel, there is the wooden Deposition dating from the 13th century.
Included in the price: no
Picture by Berlinghieri (1235): in the San Francesco’s Church, restored in the late 20th-century but dates back to the end of the 14th-century, each altar and chapel tell of stories and legends of the town, but a real major set-piece is the picture of St. Francis of Assisi on the predella (base of the altarpiece), painted in 1235 by Bonaventura Berlinghieri showing with poignant and detailed scenes six episodes of the life of St. Francis, and his afterdeath miracles.
Included in the price: no
Inside the Parish of San Gennaro (Capannori) we find the Statue of the Annunciation's Angel, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. The professor Carlo Petretti (professor at California University , director of the Hammer centre for researches on Leonardo and world renown expert of the life and works of the artist) has no doubt: the polycrome earthenware angel is a work of the young Leonardo, made between 1476 and 1482 in the Verrocchio's workshop. The angel shows various typical features that remind us of the genius of Vinci: the drape on the arm, the hair, the face and the position of the body that seems to move. This angel was attributed to Leonardo in the seventies', when it was damaged by a sexton and then restored. The angel, 120 centimetres high, has an exceptional peculiarity: it is the only statue of Leonardo preserved.
Included in the price: no
Distance: 7 km