Montemaggio is a short drive from both Radda in Chianti and Gaiole in Chianti, two of the area’s prettiest and most important wine-producing villages. Radda boasts a magnificent Palazzo del Podestà (City Hall) which has served the people of Radda for more than four centuries and has 51 coats of arms imbedded in  its façade. In the surrounding area you can visit the beautiful Romanesque abbey and cloister of the Badia A Coltibuono, which was built in the 10th century and inhabited by the Vallombrosan Benedictine  Monks until the beginning of the 19th century. Today the abbey is open to visitors, and the estates   produces some of the region’s best wines.

Visit also the medieval fortress of Castello di Meleto and the fairytale hamlet of Volpaia, built as a military outpost in the 10th century. Furthermore, if you rent your  villa in the month of September you may well coincide with the Sagra della Bruschetta in Gaiole, when  hundreds of varieties of the famous Italian antipasto will be on offer in the town’s main square.

With Florence just over an hour away, a day-trip to Italy’s ‘capital of art’ is a must for any guest of  Montemaggio. See Michelangelo’s David in the Academia art gallery, enjoy a visit to the world famous  Uffizi Museum and stroll through the Piazza Signoria with its impressive medieval buildings. And for a break from the heat of the city, enjoy a home -made ice cream as you wander through the Boboli Gardens.

Siena, with its fine Gothic cathedral and beautifully preserved Piazza del Campo where the thrilling Palio horse race is held twice a year, is also a mere 40 minute drive away.

And the picturesque, hilltop town of San Gimignano is within an hour, with its narrow streets and magnificent medieval towers.  For food lovers, local farms selling delicious cheese and some of Tuscany’s best wine are on your doorstep, and there are open-air markets in one village or another almost every day of the week. A visit  to others famous vineyards in the vicinity.