Villa Gioma is a stone farmhouse on the summit of a private hill west of Lucca, restored in its entirety in 2023 and reserved for one party at a time.
Within its 4,300 square feet are six bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, a kitchen designed for long dinners and a loggia that looks down the valley toward the city. Outside, 3.2 acres of olive trees and lawn descend to a saltwater infinity pool set on its own panoramic terrace. The villa accommodates up to twelve guests and is let exclusively as a whole, with the contacts of chefs, drivers and local professionals for whatever the stay requires.
4,300
sq ft
12
guests
6
en-suite bedrooms
2023
fully remodeled
Completely remodeled in 2023
The rhythm of a day
Mornings begin on the terrace, where the light reaches the valley before it reaches the house and Lucca appears below, still quiet. The hours that follow belong to the pool and the shade of the pergola, to a late breakfast, to books left open on the loungers. Lunch is served in the loggia, beneath the original beams, and tends to last. The afternoon offers a choice: the walls of Lucca, the beaches of Versilia twenty-five minutes away, Pisa, or nothing at all. In the evening the wood-fired oven is lit, a chef can take over the kitchen if you wish, and dinner is laid out for the whole table as the lights of the city come on at the far end of the valley and the sun sets over a distant line of sea. Every room, every terrace and every hour of it is yours alone.
Outside
The loggia
A table for fourteen under the beams of the loggia, with Lucca lighting up at the bottom of the valley. There is a sound system, and there is the right kind of light, which at eight in the evening does the rest.
The pool
Thirty-nine feet by sixteen, an infinity edge over the hillside, saltwater and a small waterfall, set on its own panoramic point of the estate. Open all year round, unheated, with fourteen sun loungers around it, enough even when there are many of you.
The oven and the barbecue
On the patio you have a wood-fired pizza oven, a barbecue grill and a pergola set up for aperitivo, with the panoramic view over the city of Lucca. If you like, a pizzaiolo comes to light it for you.
Inside
The bedrooms
Six bedrooms with private bathrooms, king beds that split into twins on request, and the original beams overhead. Four upstairs, one under the roof, one on the ground floor with a sofa bed that converts into a bed, which also works as a study.
The kitchen
A large island, a wine fridge, two coffee makers (Italian moka and American drip), dishwasher, microwave, kettle and toaster, and a twelve-foot table where all fourteen of you fit.
The living room
Two sofas in front of the stone fireplace, two armchairs, a flat-screen TV with streaming, and behind a door the laundry room with washer, dryer and an ice maker. The things you notice after three days, and that make the difference.
Surroundings
Lucca, six miles away
Lucca announces itself with its walls: two and a half miles of Renaissance ramparts, never tested by a siege, that today are walked or cycled in the shade of the plane trees. Inside, the city keeps its Roman plan and an older rhythm: the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, whose houses follow the ellipse of the ancient arena, the Guinigi tower with holm oaks growing on top, the cathedral of San Martino, the shops of Via Fillungo. It is the city of Puccini and of a hundred churches, of buccellato and tordelli, of the antiques market and the summer concerts in Piazza Napoleone. From the villa it is twenty minutes: you go in for a coffee in the morning and come back in the evening, when its lights come on at the far end of the valley.
The beaches of Versilia are 25 minutes away, Pisa 14 miles, Forte dei Marmi 19. Florence and the Cinque Terre are day trips, and in the evening you come back to the hills.
