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Six nights in Italian villa, with car and flights, for $1,147

Escape to Italy’s scenic Tuscany region, sleep in a Renaissance villa for six nights and tool around the countryside in your own car by day for as little as $1,147 per person. Did I mention the price includes roundtrip airfare from Los Angeles?

OK, so you’ll need to go in winter to get these prices, but Tuscany can still be pleasant then, with average daytime highs in the high 40s or low 50s, and rolling green hills. And for the best deal, you’ll need to sleep four to a room. Very social, no? Take the family. (Or take fewer people and pay more per person.)

Deal: The “Tuscan Villa Vacation” gives you six nights at the restored Villa Belvedere Campoli, which dates to the 16th century, in the village of Mercatale Val di Pesa. The villa gets generally good user reviews on TripAdvisor.com. You also get a manual-shift car (or for $100 more, an automatic) for the week, including taxes and collision damage waiver, and round-trip economy airfare between Los Angeles and Florence, Italy. Tips and meals are extra.

When I tested the package online for departures Dec. 3, 2009, and March 18, 2010, the total for each was $4,586 for four people, or $1,146.50 per person, including taxes. Various airlines are used, depending on the date.

Downsides: Not prime season. The package is good for travel Dec. 1 to March 31, except for most of the holiday period, Dec. 18 through Jan. 6. It’s nonrefundable (although you can buy travel protection to cover costs), and you won’t earn frequent-flier miles. Package prices vary by availability and date.

Upsides: It’s Italy, and it’s pretty cheap.

Contact: Dooley Vacations, (877) 331-9301.

—Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

Photo: The Tuscan countryside, between winter storm fronts. Credit: Susan Spano/Los Angeles Times

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14, 2009 at 9:14 am by Jane Engle and is filed under California, Deals, Europe, Global, Hotels, Italy, Los Angeles, News, Tips & Advice, San Francisco, Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

One Comment on “Six nights in Italian villa, with car and flights, for $1,147”

Jim Hobbs Says:
September 2nd, 2009 at 4:18 am
Providing you can get hold of good deal on flights a trip to Italy neednt be expensive. Before we went th year we compared prices of most Agriturismos and Villas and they average €35 per person per night, car hire is under €250 per week. I’d recommend the Le Marche region and Villa San Raffaello, superb accomodation and a fantastic location on the edge of a National Park and views over the lovely town of sarnano other agriturismi for the area can be found at http://www.agriturismo-marche.it/