A Villa in Bagni di Lucca

Friday proved a momentous day: I signed a preliminary contract of sale to purchase our villa in Bagni di Lucca. This event brings us a step closer to the culmination of our four-year quest to purchase an Italian property, a process that included countless hours of internet searches on Italian property websites and multiple trips across Italy’s regions of Abruzzo, Le Marche, Liguria, and mostly Tuscany.

I suppose I should not be surprised that our journey ended in the place where it started. Our first serious property-hunting trip began in Bagni di Lucca, and we immediately fell in love with the charms of the town that 19th century English visitors dubbed "the Switzerland of Tuscany." So, perhaps it was inevitable that after searching virtually the length and breadth of the peninsula for the right house in the right location, we finally found what we were looking for back here in this quiet corner of Tuscany.

The historic old spa town of Bagni di Lucca sits in the “Val di Lima,” the valley of the river Lima, a beautiful green area in northwest Tuscany about 20 kilometres north of Lucca. Hills and mountains dotted with small towns and villages surround the town, many of which seem almost lost in time.

The town was once famous for its thermal springs and frequented for centuries by writers, poets, artists, noblemen, politicians, saints and popes. During the peak of its popularity in the 19th century, famous names such as poets Byron, Shelley, Browning, writers like Dumas, musicians such as Strauss, Listz, Paganini, Puccini along with other personalities of the day all could be found in Bagni di Lucca at one time or another, taking the waters and planning future activities at leisure. The town was also home to the first licensed casino in Europe and allegedly where Roulette was invented, although today the casino is no longer in operation.

Our villa is tucked away behind a few other houses, directly on the banks of the river Lima and not far from the centre of town. While the house does not need restoration, it does need some modernisation, renovation and redecoration. We are looking forward with great anticipation to completing the sale transaction, hopefully within the next two or three weeks. Then the fun really begins!

The villa:

Our view from the villa looking across the Lima:

On these pages, we will share our new experiences with you as we explore and learn more about Bagni di Lucca and the Val di Lima, and begin our project to renovate our villa and make it our base to pursue la dolce vita.