Experiences
Pietrasanta and surroundings
Riomaggiore is the first town arriving from La Spezia. Caught between two steep terraced hills descending to the sea, this village strikes visitors with its delightfully colored houses built vertically. Here it starts the “Via dell’Amore”, that takes to Manarola, a very suggestive pedestrian street, with beautiful landscapes among the noise of the waves smashed against the cliffs.
Manarola is the calmest of the Cinque Terre, later to be discovered by tourists. A bright and colorful scene, a paradise of vineyards and olives trees, an ancient village with salt-like painted houses which seem to rise from the cliffs of the narrow harbor. It is possible to enjoy the nature with relaxing walks.
Corniglia is the only village of the Cinque Terre that can hardly be reached by the sea. It is located on a hundred of meters high steep promontory, close to a hill with many vineyards from which you can admire all the other four towns of the Cinque Terre.
Lying on majestic cliffs, Vernazza, with its mysterious alleys enclosed among the colorful houses is included in the list of the 100 most beautiful villages in Italy and boats a long maritime tradition, proud of its past sailors and warlords.
Monterosso is the most western town of the Cinque Terre. The village is protected by hills covered with vineyards and olive groves. that he described as “rocky and austere, asylum for fishermen and peasants…”.
Distance from Pietrasanta to the Cinque Terre: approximately 70 km – 44 miles
A train ticket: 15,00 Euro per person (round trip) + Vat
Private tour guide: 210,00 Euro + Vat
Carrara is world-famous for its exceptionally pure, fine-grained white marble. Its marble has been quarried since Roman times and Michelangelo used to come to local quarries to choose blocks of stones for his Masterpieces.
The untamed scenery, the white screen slopes and the gigantic scale of the work undertaken by man are an amazing sight.
Thanks to special off road 4×4 Jeeps, you will be taken up to 1200 mt altitude in unique and magnificent scenery, where strong emotions are mixed with 2000 years of history and culture.
Distance from Versilia to the Carrara Quarries: approximately 35 km – 22 miles
Half day tour: 150,00 Euro per person (Min 2 – Max 8 participants) + Vat
In Versilia, in the heart of the Natural Park of the Apuan Alps, there is a “Hollow Mountain” which holds within the secrets of 5 million year long geological history: this is the Antro del Corchia.
Inside 60 km of galleries pits and pools with a maximum difference in height of 1200 mt and an intricate system of Karst tunnels stretching through 2 cubic meters of rocks make the cave of Mount Corchia Italy’s most imposing underground complex and one of the largest in the world.
Distance from Pietrasanta to the Antro del Corchia: approximately 20 km – 12 miles
For info: www.corchiapark.it
Torre del Lago, home of the Puccini Festival, lies between the Lake of Massaciuccoli and the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The Festival welcomes about 40,000 spectators every year to its open-air theatre, just a few steps from the Villa Mausoleum where Giacomo Puccini lived and worked.
His mortal remains are now in a small chapel inside the Villa.
Torre del Lago is a favourite destination of Opera lovers and tourists who wish to visit the places where the most beloved composer of the 20th Century lived.
Distance from Pietrasanta to Torre del Lago: approximately 20 km – 12 miles.
www.puccinifestival.it
This beach club has been managed by the same family for over 20 years. There are 60 cabanas with 2 sun beds, 2 deck chairs, a folding chair, a table and soft blue beach towels.The beach is accessible from very early morning until late evening.
A lush garden welcomes you in a relaxing area surrounded by tamerisk, rosemary, lavender, hydrangeas and others.
The beach club has a swimming pool with heated sea water whose shape and frame simulates the shore so as to allow bathing even for the less experienced clients.
It is enriched by a Jacuzzi powered by 4 different whirlpools to massage the body naturally.
The pool area offers a beauty corner where, by appointment, you can have any type of beauty treatments.
The family manages directly the beach restaurant: every day the freshest ingredients are chosen to satisfy
guests requests: fresh fish, pasta and home made cakes.
They provide also baby food and appropriate sitting facilities for children of any age.
Distance from Pietrasanta to Marina di Pietrasanta: approximately 5 km – 3 miles
A very nice workshop in Tuscany, where one of the most important wine producers in Italy give us the exclusivity for our photographic lessons.
We will work among their olive groves and vineyards and we’ll study the landscapes lights.
In the evening we’ll analyze our works on pcs and correct RAWs with Photoshop.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CLAUDIO BEDUSCHI
Program: analysis of portfolios and a complete introduction about nature and landscape photography today exposure, light meters and directions of light, lens aperture, hyper focal and sharpness shutter speed and rules photographic composition, shapes and available light processing raws and rumors file formats.
1 day workshop
Cost per person Vat included: 350,00 €
Minimum number of pax: 2
The cost doesn’t includes meals.
Cancellation policy
Payments are not-refundable.
Your participation is guaranteed only when payment has been executed in full.
We reserve the right to change this policy at any time.
If this workshop is cancelled by us you will receive a full refund.
Stay with us and learn how to sculpt the marble that Michelangelo used to make the David with one of the most renown and skilled teacher of the area, living and working in Pietrasanta for over 20 years.
Your teacher has high credentials, in an English speaking nice man, carving stone and marble for all his life and has created a worldwide famous centre for sculpture and marble carving.
Born and apprenticed in Liverpool, England, he is recognized internationally as a master craftsman and an accomplished tutor and has devoted his entire life to marble.
His work can be seen worldwide in the form of Public Monuments, Portrait Busts, Private Commissions and Architectural Restoration.
Period: February – March – April – May – June – September – October
1 WEEK COURSE – the package includes: 4 hours a day tutoring, basic tools, a trestle
Cost for the entire week (Monday to Friday):
1. Beginners: 1.228,00 Euro + Vat 21%
2. Intermediate: 1.567,00 Euro + Vat 21%
3. Advanced: 1.742,00 Euro + Vat 21%
Maximum number of people each session: 2 people at a time
One to one tuition: +25% on above costs.
Terms of payment:
20 % upon confirmation
40% after 30 days from confirmation date – not refundable
40% a week before arrival.
Meditation, Buddhist Psychology and Hatha-Yoga
Live and enjoy the experience of ancient Meditation techniques, where Self-observation, Knowledge and Inspiration melt together in a higher state of wellbeing.
A 2 days full-immersion Retreat focussed on different Meditations, Buddhist Psychology and Hatha-Yoga, will bring you to a genuine experience of Self-transformation.
Period: March – April – May – September – October – November
Starting on Friday, 9 PM, ending on Sunday, 1 PM.
Minimum number of participants: 4 pax
What can be done while staying at Charm Apartment in Pietrasanta?
Here you are with some of the many choices to pick up from and the various places to visit, starting from Pisa, that is only 25 kms from Pietrasanta and easy to reach either by:
• motorway A12, from Versilia exit to Pisa centro or
• by train, from Pietrasanta railway station (4 minutes’walking from the apartment).
Once in Pisa, you will be enchanted by the beauty of The Miracles Square, its Cathedral and its worldwide famous Leaning Tower where millions of people, every year, go to see this unique wonder in the architectural field and to stroll along the city renaissance streets till the Arno river, that crosses Tuscany in its full length.
Your strolling around in Pisa will take you to the spectacular Chiesa della Spina, a jewel of Gothic Art, placed, as if by magic, on one of the banks of the ancient river, that, together with the rest of Pisa monuments, will tell you the story of its rich, ancient past as one of the Sea Republics.
And then… off we go to spend a day and visit Lucca…
A beautifully kept Renaissance city, famous all over the world for its historical monuments and churches and for its walls that, still perfectly preserved, join, in a symbolic embrace the whole town and welcome the thousands and thousands of tourists that travel there to spend a day and breath in the Italian atmosphere.
To reach Lucca in a 30 kms ‘drive, you can use either:
• the A12 Motorway, from Versilia Exit to Lucca Ovest exit or
• the Railway system from Pietrasanta to Lucca centro.
Looking on the other side of the map of Tuscany, you may want to visit Massa,
a lesser known city in Tuscany, but still beautiful and interesting in its historical centre dominated by the imposing Palazzo Ducale, placed in the magnificent Piazza degli Aranci (Oranges Square).
You can reach Massa, easily and fast, either
• by train, from Pietrasanta Train Station to Massa Centrale train station, or
• by car, through the SS1 Aurelia, since the distance is less than 15 minutes’ driving.