susan w

For our 40th anniversary we wish to spend it in Italy, my husband has never been there. We would like to share the time with our family and friends. Has anyone any ideas?

Donna

Susan--we have rented four different villas from The Parker Company over the past 6 years and each has been wonderful, well-equipped and architecturally interesting. They have villas to accommodate from 2 to 20 people. Order the catalog from www.theparkercompany.com<BR>Good Luck.

Betsy

Susan, try www.slowtrav.com and the related message board, www.slow talk.com. These are two non-commercial sites with volumes of info about renting in Italy. <BR><BR>Donna, while the Parker Company has a beautiful catalogue, I've found them to be way more expensive than other companies, sometimes for the very same properties.

Rex

I would not hesitate to recommend the villa at Punto San Vigilio (Lake Garda) which we used for the Fodorites' Italy 2001 trip. Rented through rentvillas.com<BR><BR>I have also had a good experience with www.domani-usa.com and www.regencyintapts.com<BR><BR>And your idea sounds wonderful to me - - it is truly a dream of mine someday, to spend a protracted stay (perhaps a whole summer) at a gorgeous villa - - and have all my siblings and inlaws, children, nieces, nephews, etc - - come over and let me show them around!<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

BOB THE NAVIGATOR

Hello Susan, My Susan and I spent 8 weeks in Europe celebrating our 40th in 1999. We traveled a wide circle, starting in Spain and ending on the Romantic road of Bavaria. If you plan to have a car I would suggest starting in France--perhaps Nice--to take advantage of the car lease plan--much better than rental. Also, a month in one location would get boring for me. Why not pick 2 or 3 locations in Italy.<BR>A base camp in 3 locations will allow you to see most of Italy. I would pick a Lakes location, Tuscany, and the Amalfi coast. I would also pick May or Sep as the best time to go. Let me know if you need more details. Oh yes, do start at slowtrav.com--a great site for any renter. And, I agree that the Parker properties are lovely but much more expensive than others or the same ones from different sources.

bobbing it up

to the top<BR>

xxx

Fodorites trip or Dr. Ego' Ego Trip?<BR><BR>to the top, for Dr. Ego

carlo nocentini

If you are interested I have a part of villa for rent in Florence.7 people maximum.<BR>You can see looking at www.genie.it/utenti/carlo.nocentini

canuck

We had a group of 5 families and rented five different apts. in same villa -Podere Torricella. Very close to Florence. Had a pool and very nice restaurant on site and we rented it directly with owner at tuscany.net. They also had a magnificent property next door that would have several bedrooms if you wanted to stay in one place. Had its own private pool and was a stunning building. It is Villa Il Turco. You can see both properties on the tuscany.net site. It was a lot cheaper to rent from them than the same property from other agencies as you're dealing directly with the owner. <BR>