During the 1990s, Britons were drawn to the Tuscan countryside by sunshine,
the idyllic landscape of rolling hills, braided with vines and topped with
cypress trees — and above all, by the plentiful supply of cheap, tumble-down
properties ripe for restoration. But tastes are changing.
These days, a growing number of Italo-philes are choosing instead to wake up
to a view of burnt-red rooftops and church spires and are looking for
property within walking distance of markets selling delicious local produce,
some of the world’s finest museums and, of course, all those designer
clothes and shoe shops.
In the heart of Florence, on the Via de’Benci, lies the Palazzo Bardi, a
converted renaissance building set around a central courtyard designed by
Filippo Brunelleschi, architect of the city cathedral’s famous dome. The
palazzo, soon to become a second home to at least eight Britons who have
snapped up the conversions, is steeped in history: it was here that the
original owners, the Bardi family, are said to have introduced chamber music
to the world.
The palazzo homes will be ready to be occupied from May onwards. The one flat
that remains on the market is priced at €1.35m (£909,000) and has two
bedrooms, one with en-suite bathroom, a kitchen, a split living/dining room,
an entrance hall with a stone staircase, and a vaulted cellar.
The high level of British interest took Knight Frank, the selling agent, by
surprise. “There has been a dramatic change in the last three years,” says
Bill Thomson, director of Knight Frank’s Italian network. “As the country
market, especially in Chiantishire, has got more sophisticated and
expensive, people are beginning to look around more and considering living
in the centre of town.
“People looking to buy overseas often like to think they are branching out.
But they still want to buy a newspaper, go shopping in the market and feel
that they are part of the community. They don’t always have three weeks in a
row to take a holiday. Florence and other Tuscan cities are year-round
destinations that are easy to reach. You can enjoy them just as much in
November as in June.”
In response to this growing interest, Knight Frank is opening an office on the
ground floor of the palazzo — becoming the first large British agency to set
up in the centre of Florence.
The Palazzo Bardi is one example of the kind of property now on offer in
Tuscan cities and towns: the high-end community where there is no need to
learn the Italian for stopcock or how to manage your own olive grove.
Instead you can fly out whenever you like for an instant fix of culture,
safe in the knowledge that when you are not there your flat is being managed
for you and can be let on your behalf (for a fee) for an average £700 per
week — which will go a small way to recouping some of your £909,000 outlay.
Another upmarket palazzo development is the Palazzo Tornabuoni, which launched
in October. A five-minute walk from the Duomo, the former home of
Ales-sandro Ottaviano de Medici, who later became Pope Leo XI, though for
less than a month, is being restored and transformed into a private
residence club.
Owners buy one of 288 memberships, which start at £127,500 for use of a studio
flat to £307,000 for use of a two- or three-bed flat, with annual management
fees of £4,630 to £11,860 respectively, and additional housekeeping costs.
Members can stay at the club as often as they like, if a flat in their price
band is available, though stays in peak periods are controlled by a rota
system.
“It will be like many clubs, a sort of natural selection,” says Michael Brod,
sales director for the development.
“Buying into the Palazzo Tornabuoni is about buying into not simply the Tuscan
lifestyle, but the Florentine community. It is about becoming immersed in
the city, and gaining access to some of the hidden secrets.”
Tess Blondel, a textile artist and her husband, Jean, a retired lecturer in
political science, both in their sixties, divide their time between a flat
in Notting Hill, London, and a three-bedroom flat that they have restored in
Santo Spirito on the south side of the Arno river, the Florentine equivalent
of the Left Bank in Paris. When they bought the flat in the early 1990s,
there were few other British owners in the area.
“It is just far enough away from the big crowds,” says Tess. “It is one of the
most beautiful parts of the city, yet it has a real village feel. You still
have authentic tratto-rias and vegetable markets. We like going to the local
bars for the gossip.” Because they need to spend more time with elderly
relatives in Britain, they have decided to sell the flat and its gorgeously
quiet terrace garden, and look for a smaller pied-à-terre in Florence.
Buying a flat in one of the smarter, more historically well-known parts of the
city, you can expect to pay as much as you would for a villa in prime Tuscan
countryside. A flat with a view of the Duomo in Florence will cost about
£6,000 per sq m, according to Knight Frank’s Thomson, but for properties
slightly away from the historic centre, particularly to the south, prices
fall to £4,000-£4,700 per sq m.
“It is more expensive than some buyers think,” says Paul Hudson, a director of
The Property Finders, a company that helps Britons looking for a second home
in Italy. “The price per square metre in Italian cities such as Lucca and
Siena will range from £1,500 to £3,000 per sq m, and will vary wildly in a
small area. A flat on the Campo in Siena can easily cost twice as much as
one a mile away just outside the city walls, so you don’t have to be living
in the Tuscan equivalent of Barking and Dagenham to get value.”
British buyers are certainly not confining their attentions to Florence. Other
Tuscan towns such as Lucca and Siena, as well as Pisa, are proving popular.
There has also been growing foreign interest in larger provincial towns that
offer better value for money such as Cortona, Montalcino, and especially
Arezzo, where prices have risen 11% in the past 12 months — against 1.4% in
Florence.
Les Dixon, 55, retired to northwest Tuscany over 10 years ago after making his
fortune in the mobile phones business, and set up a small holiday rental
business based around a farmhouse that he had restored, between Garfagnana
and Bagni di Lucca. But, two years ago, Dixon sold it, buying instead a
two-bedroom flat just inside Lucca’s medieval walls for £192,000 because he
found the benefits of town life increasingly appealing.
“I was originally drawn to Tuscany by the beautiful countryside, good food and
wine, but I found myself travelling half-an-hour’s drive into Lucca more and
more,” he says. “I like the fact that I have a choice of six decent
restaurants within a stroll of my front door, and I can buy whatever I want
within a five-minute walk. I like the buzz; sitting outside a bar, with a
beer and a newspaper on an autumn evening. The only downside is that Lucca
gets very busy in the summer, and living within the walls is rather like
living in Covent Garden.”
Marzia Ghiselli of Your Tuscan Home, a London-based estate agency selling
property in Tuscany, has also noticed a growth in the number of British
buyers wanting to live in Florence or the surrounding towns, and it is a
trend that she has seen arise over the past year, the greatest demand being
for relatively modest properties.
“The majority of inquiries are for smaller apartments in managed residences
that are close or within 10 minutes’ walk of a town,” says Ghiselli.
Those whose main aim is to use the property themselves rather than let it out
make for the periphery of Florence, where there are fewer tourists, or else
for small towns just outside the city along the Arno such as Valdarno,
Reggello and Rignano.
“But people have to choose their town carefully,” says Ghiselli. “Lucca has
always been popular, and there is a good train service from Pisa to Lucca
and the airport. If you are prepared to travel further, you can get an
apartment in Arezzo for half what you would pay in Florence.”
— Palazzo Tornabuoni, 0870 609 8555, www.palazzotornabuoni.com
On the market
A high-tech, two-bed 200sq m flat in a historic building in the centre of
Florence, with a 40sq m terrace overlooking part of the church of Santa
Croce. It is for sale for £1.34m with Pitcher & Flaccomio, 00 39
055 234 3354, www.pitcherflaccomio.com
A 85sq m second-floor two-bedroom flat, in the historic centre of Florence,
has been restored, and has high ceilings and parquet floors. It is for sale
for £325,000 with The Property Finders, 020 7518 0335, www.thepropertyfinders.com
In the centre of Lucca, a corner flat in a converted two-storey palazzo with
three bedrooms, a bathroom and a large reception room. It is on the market
for £343,000 with Your Tuscan Home, 020 8245 5033, www.yourtuscanhome.co.uk
A newly built, 80sq m flat near the historic centre of Lucca has two bedrooms,
terracotta floors, exposed beams and comes fully furnished. It is for sale
for £220,000 with Your Tuscan Home, 020 8245 5033, www.yourtuscanhome.co.uk
