Getting there
Fly to Florence if you can, Pisa if you'd rather not pay for it.
Four airports will get you to the weekend. They are not equally good, so here they are in the order we'd actually book them.
Timing
When to arrive, when to leave
The weekend runs Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. Bookending it properly is the difference between a trip and a scramble.
Arrive Thursday if you can
Dinner is Friday evening and the estate is nearly an hour from the airport. Landing Thursday gives you a day to shake off the flight and see something of Florence before the weekend starts properly. Landing Friday morning works, but you'll be running on fumes by dinner. Your room at the villa starts Friday either way, so a Thursday arrival means a night in the city first.
Don't fly out Sunday
Lunch runs into the middle of the afternoon and nobody wants to spend it watching the clock, and then there's an hour back to the airport on top of that. Monday departures are kinder. Sunday evening flights out of Florence are thin anyway.
Tell us when you land
We're coordinating transfers from Florence airport on the Friday, and from the estate back on the Sunday and Monday. Send us your flight numbers once they're booked and we'll group people into cars. This is the single most useful thing you can do for us.
Book flights before hotels
Airfare moves around far more than anything else, and October is shoulder season, not a crush. Lock the flight in when you see a fare you like. Your room is already sorted, so there's nothing else to wait for.
Paperwork
Sort your documents now
This is the one part of the trip that can't be fixed at the last minute. Ten minutes today saves a genuine disaster in 2027.
Check your passport now, not in 2027
For Italy your passport needs to have been issued within the last ten years, and to stay valid for at least three months after you leave. Renewals take longer than anyone plans for. Check the expiry date today and put a reminder in your calendar.
ETIAS will probably apply
Europe is rolling out ETIAS, an online travel authorisation for visitors who don't need a visa. That includes US, UK, Canadian and Australian passport holders. It should be in force well before October 2027. It's a short online form and a small fee, not a visa. We'll put a direct link here once the timing is certain, but check the official EU site closer to the date.
Travelling with kids
Children need their own passports, and those expire faster than adult ones. Five years in most countries, not ten. Worth checking early if yours are coming.
On the ground
Trains, and why not to rent a car
Trains beat driving
Italy's high-speed rail is excellent, and Florence is on the main line. Trenitalia and Italo both run the Milan–Bologna–Florence–Rome route, city centre to city centre, no security queue. Book a few weeks ahead for the cheap fares.
Don't rent a car for the weekend
Everything happens on the estate, and there's a party on Saturday that runs past midnight. We're arranging transfers so nobody has to drive, and there's free parking on site if you do end up with a car. Worth knowing: Florence's historic centre is a restricted traffic zone, the ZTL, enforced by cameras that post fines to your rental company months later. In the city a car is a liability, not an asset.
The train into Florence
Pontassieve station is fifteen minutes from the estate and runs direct into Florence Santa Maria Novella. If you want a day in the city mid-trip, that's the civilised way to do it. No parking, no ZTL, no stress.
When a car does make sense
If you're heading into the Tuscan countryside on your own afterwards, a car is the right call. Pick it up on your way out of Florence, not on arrival, and get an International Driving Permit before you leave home if you're licensed outside the EU.