Introduction
In property, many places are described as “the new Tuscany”. It’s shorthand for somewhere really special that, once discovered, will become hugely popular, with massive demand for property and rentals.
The same undoubtedly holds true of the original. Tuscany is beautiful – its weather, the countryside and architecture, its stunning churches and museums and the irresistible food and wine. It’s the sort of place that people visit once and fall in love with, and want to come back year after year to keep the love affair going.
Le Fontanelle apartments give you the chance to own your very own piece of Tuscany at a great price. With a bank valuation confirming an 18% discount to market value, and our own research showing an average discount of 25% to market value, deals like this just don’t come along very often in Tuscany.
The region is a tourist favourite, with the nearby medieval “town of towers” San Gimignano welcoming 3 million visitors through its gates every year. The traveller’s bible, Lonely Planet Italy, confirms the area’s popularity:
“In high summer, San Gimignano in Tuscany can be as unpromising for accommodation as that Christmas Eve in Bethlehem”
The demand for high quality rental properties with excellent amenities is strong throughout the long high season. Properties like Le Fontanelle which have a communal pool, parking, garden or terrace space and 6 hectares of wooded area surrounding the development offering shade and seclusion will be much sought after. The added bonus is that in addition to good rental yields, you have the opportunity to use the apartment to treat yourself to a relaxing Tuscan holiday. It’s a perfect lifestyle investment.
The developers have much experience - since 1959 they have specialised in sympathetic renovations of existing and historic buildings. Le Fontanelle consists of a converted farmhouse, barn and stables, restored using local materials in the typical Tuscan style.
Deals like Le Fontanelle just don’t come along that often in Tuscany – when people find something to buy there, they tend to hold on to them for years, so property of this quality doesn’t come up for sale that frequently. So seize your chance – and enjoy La Toscana!
Warm regards,
Alise and Jonty Crossick
Tuscany is a world-famous visitor destination. In the Middle Ages the ancient pilgrim’s tour from Paris to Rome, the Via Francigena, passed through the region. Later, its great cities, Florence and Siena became essential stops on the Grand Tour, thanks to the beauty of their architecture and world renowned collections of great works of art.
Nowadays it pulls in visitors from all over the world, attracted by the idyllic countryside, the sublime food and wine, the weather and the ambience of the place, and often, these visitors come back year after year. Thanks to various travel programmes and idyllic travel books and memoirs, owning a little place in Tuscany has become a dream for many.
Each year there are an estimated 10 million visitors to the Tuscany region1. Furthermore, 3 million people visit San Gimignano, the UNESCO World Heritage Site2 each year.
These numbers are impressive, and official figures show that they are still increasing - in the first quarter of 2006 visitor numbers rose by 7.6%.
Looking into these statistics further, the number of foreign visitors increased by 8.4% and the number of visitors from Italy grew by 6.8%3.
Italy has a strong internal tourist market – of all the holidays taken by Italians, 84.5% of trips were taken in Italy itself, with Tuscany being the second most popular destination amongst Italians (4).
It is still a hugely popular destination amongst other Europeans, with Germans topping the league in 2006:
“Germany was confirmed as the greatest source of tourism, both in terms of trips, as well as spending, and the prospects for 2007 appear to be positive as well. France and the US are right behind Germany in their numbers of reservations and incoming spending. In 2006 tourist flow at the borders (41.8 million) exceeded that of airport arrivals (21.8 million)”(5). 3 million people visit San Gimignano each year.
This shows that there are many visitors from mainland Europe, as well as an ever-increasing number of Americans returning to Italy following the slowdown in the aftermath of the events of September 11th 2001.
On our research trips, we heard Australian, English and American accents, as well as French, German and Scandinavian languages being spoken – this was at the beginning of the tourist season, in April.
- eventi.intoscana.it/english/mediacenter.htm
- whc.unesco.org/en/list/550
- econ-pol.unisi.it/EdATS/osservatorio.htm
- istat.it/dati/catalogo/20050912_00/italyinfigures2005.pdf
- press.enit.it/press/default.asp?lang=en&sel=news&cana=varie