The idea of renting a villa in the European countryside for summer has been popular since the 18th century and these days there is a multitude of specialist agents on hand to guide prospective tenants into the right house.
The concept of renting a luxury "villa", perhaps the Caribbean retreat owned by Mick Jagger or the Lake Como summerhouse of a notable aristocratic family, sounds impossibly glamorous but it's not impossible at all.
Occasionally I browse the websites of high-end villa agents for a bit of daydreaming, fantasising about staying in the Tuscan countryside, the sort of place where Somerset Maugham or E.M Forster might have set a novel.
Even a quick click through these alluring sites brings up the most extraordinary offerings. For instance, dreaming of Italy, I've been recently looking at the brochures of a couple of agencies that specialise in the Italian market (see www.merrioncharles.com and www.italianvillavacations.com.au) and I've found everything from an adorable little palazzo on Ortigia in Sicily for $2700 a week (sleeps six) to a magnificent 11-bedroom villa in Lucca for $23,850 a week (sleeps 12-26.)
There's an imposing villa overlooking the Bay of Naples with one of the best gardens in Europe, a whitewashed villa on Capri, and traditional cone shaped house in Puglia that sleeps 12 ($7150). There are country villas, mountain villas, coastal villas and urban villas. One of Tuscany's most famous houses, La Foce, which has a magnificent garden by English architect Cecil Pinsent, is also available for $31,780 a week, sleeping 14-19.
If you do your sums, La Foce could work out at a touch more than $1590 a week for each guest. Compared to the prices of luxury hotels in Europe, that's not a bad deal. You have the run of the elegant villa, its pool and gardens, without having to share with strangers.
In a villa you can live like a local, shopping at nearby markets and taking part in community events. Or you can factor in dedicated staff, private chefs and drivers if you wish. Villas are perfect for multigenerational travel and significant events, such as big birthdays and celebrations.
I've stayed in rooms in a few villas over the years, more recently sharing the gorgeous six-bedroom Villa Muri Anti at the Villas at Monteverdi in Castiglioncello del Trinoro, Tuscany, ($30,190 a week) with some journalists, but I've never rented an entire house with family or friends. Not that I haven't wanted to – it's just that it's been so hard to herd the cats.
But last year, on a meander around Italy, I made up for it. I stayed in the mother of all villas, in beautiful Venice, on the quiet island of Guidecca, only 10 minutes by vaporetto from San Marco, which has a sort of rural air.
Built in the 16th century, the lavishly restored Villa F has its own 1.2-hectare garden, full of fruit trees, vegetables and rambling vines, and a three-section swimming pool with a fountain that spouts at the touch of a button. It's magic.
There are 11 apartments, one that featured in the Angelina Jolie/Johnny Depp movie The Tourist, and a butler and housekeeper on tap. Included was use of the facilities at the adjoining Bauer Palladio, a Palladian villa turned into a luxury hotel, which has its own 1.2-hectare garden, and spa.
Oh, the whole villa would have cost us $95,250 a night if we had to pay (we were photographing it for a magazine.) One can rent individual rooms, starting at $2065, but by chance we had the whole place to ourselves for the three nights. It sleeps 38. We didn't have 36 friends on hand to share it, sadly.
What's it like to stay in a $95,250-a-night villa? A little bit intimidating, to be honest. In another life I was most definitely a peasant, because having a butler follow me around, even though he was marvellously discreet, was unnerving.
It was the (accidental) accommodation experience of a lifetime, but in future I'd prefer something more modest: a rustic farmhouse, perhaps, or a whitewashed house in the Aeolian Islands. If you're planning for next European summer, great value rentals can be found in destinations such as Malta, Turkey, Portugal, Montenegro and the north, rather than the south, of France.
See you up at the villa.
The writer was a guest of Villa F and the Villas at Monteverdi.
