At present, they are a must for those who decide to spend their holidays in Tuscany . What are we talking about? The Tuscan farmhouses , of course! Which are the accommodations of choice of celebrities looking for privacy, successful managers needing some relaxation and families wanting to experience something different from the usual hotels, aparthotels and B&Bs.
Actually, in the past centuries the Tuscan farmhouses were only peasants` houses.

Most of them built between the 16th and 19th centuries, the Tuscan farmhouses were the sharecropper (or half tenant) and his large and lively family`s houses. The whole family tended cattle and worked lands that were not its property with tools supplied by the landlord, who in return received half of the crop at harvest. Hence the Italian name of this system, "mezzadria", which means "working on halves".

That is why today farmhouses in Tuscany are still called "case contadine" (peasant`s houses), "rustici" or "casolari".

Whether in the countryside, at the sea or in the mountains, the Tuscan farmhouses are always two-or-more-storey buildings with large rooms full of light, characteristic porches and, sometimes, a pigeonry.

They often have reddish walls and on the main façade is a number that, in the past, identified the landlord.
Hectares of olive groves, vineyards and cereal fields stretch around them.

Thanks mainly to foreign tourists, who rediscovered them in the second half of the last century, many Tuscan farmhouses have been converted into accommodation facilities provided with all modern comforts. The ideal solution for those looking for privacy, relaxation and contact with nature.