Creative courses at Casa Berti
Casa Berti is the perfect setting for learning something new whilst relaxing in the Italian countryside. With our dedicated studio space now up and running we can offer courses ...
Read MoreWelcome to Casa Berti
A private hill-top estate with expansive views, two houses, a yoga/art studio, gardens, olive groves and woodland.
Casa Berti – the villa
The 17th Century manor house is set on a hilltop spur in fifteen acres of gardens, olives groves and woodland, and offers sweeping views to the East and West. The villa comprises four luxuriously appointed, air-conditioned double bedroom with en-suite bath/shower rooms, a family suite (double bedroom and twin bedroom sharing master bath/shower room), drawing room with open log-fire, tv and baby grand piano, cloakroom, billiards/dining room (for 16), pantry, kitchen, library and a consecrated private chapel.
Casa Rosina – the farmhouse
The traditional farmhouse (30 metres from the villa)sleeps six. It has been recently refurbished to provide a double bedroom with en-suite bath/shower room, a further double bedroom which shares a shower room with a twin bedroom. While independent, it is close enough to the main house to allow a total group of sixteen people. With its own garden, kitchen, open fireplace and study it can supplement the main house or provide a romantic getaway in its own right.
The Studio
This large and light space (11 x 5 metres) is used for courses ranging from sculpture and painting to yoga and Tai Chi. Newly fitted air conditioning units provide heat in the winter and cool in the summer. We provide yoga mats, bolsters, bricks belts and so on for 15 practioners. The studio is also equipped for analogue and digital sound and vision.
The Gardens
A terracotta tiled terrace lined with lemon trees leads to a wisteria-covered pergola with a travertine table which provides outdoor dining for up to 16 guests. A few steps away lies the swimming pool, salt-cleaned and surrounded by Gaze-Burvill sunloungers, fixed umbrellas and terra cotta tiles. Set in the well-tended gardens sits a gazebo furnished with day beds and a table. a willow-shrouded pond stocked with gold fish and terrapins, a badminton court and a gravel boules pitch. The traditional wood-fired pizza oven is located up a few steps next to the farm house. The pathway between the two houses is floor-lit automatically at sundown.
Gallery
Some views of Casa Berti, Casa Rosina and the gardens
Previous art retreats
Portrait & Figure Sculpture in Clay
with Jason Arkles | March 2017
View gallery
Painting Under the Tuscan Sun
with Lori McNee | October 2017
View gallery
Portrait & Figure Drawing
with Kathryn Engberg | September 2017
View gallery
The Inner Portrait
with Henrik Udalen | May 2017
View gallery
Up & Coming Art Retreats
Catalyst Art Retreat
29 April – 5 May 2018
Live the life of an artist at our immersive artist retreat. Visual artists, illustrators, textile artists, photographers, digital artists, crafters, makers, writers, musicians, and performers are all welcome! Spring in Tuscany is lovely with lots of wildflowers. It’s also the time of year when the Luccese villas are open for garden tours.
Catalyst Art Retreat
19 – 25 August 2018
Live the life of an artist at our immersive artist retreat in Tuscany. Imagine swimming in marble-bouldered rivers (Seravezza), cooling dips and beers at the Casa Berti pool, and long warm evenings dining beneath a pergola with one of the best views in the world. Visual artists, illustrators, textile artists, photographers, digital artists, crafters, makers, writers, musicians, and performers are all welcome!
Catalyst Art Retreat
2 – 8 September 2018
Catalyst brings a little bit of Japan to Italy! Shibori means to tie, fold, and bind cloth before dyeing using indigo dyes. We’ll demonstrate how to create an indigo vat using pre-reduced indigo crystals and share several fold, tie, and resist techniques. Participants will create their own dyed cloths. We’ll also introduce complementary techniques like shifu, Japanese thread spinning with a drop spindle. There’s ample time for you to experiment and do your own thing. The week will culminate in an outdoor exhibition of your creations at the beach in Viareggio.
Animal Sculpture in Wax and Clay
with Dido Crosby | 8 – 15 September 2018
(session 1)
Portrait and figure sculpture in clay with Jason Arkles | 22 – 29 September 2018
(session 1)
Plein air
with Lori McNee | 7 – 13 October 2018
(session 1)
Plein air
with Lori McNee | 14 – 20 October 2018
(session 2)
Painting Flowers in Acrylics
with Carmelo Blandino | 21 – 27 October 2018
(session 2)
Floorplans
Estate map, Casa Berti, Casa Rosina and Studio
The Estate
Casa Berti ground floor
Casa Berti upper ground floor
Casa Berti first floor
Casa Rosina ground floor
Casa Rosina first floor
Studio
Our accommodation
The Estate
- Sixteen acres of olive terraces, gardens and woodland, cultivated by Etruscans, Romans and now locals.
- Extensive woodland walks
- A natural spring produces mineral-rich water (prized by locals) all year round.
- Swimming pool
- Badminton
- Boules
- Archery
- Croquet
- private masseuse available by appointment
Casa Berti
- Sleeps 10 – air conditioed
- 3 double bedrooms with en-suite bath/shower rooms
- 1 family suite (double bedroom and a twin bedroom sharing a master bath/shower room)
- Drawing room with open log-fire, TV and baby grand piano
- Dining room for 16/ billiards, snooker, pool and darts
- Library
- Tuscan kitchen with range cooker
- Consecrated private chapel
- catering by arrangement
Casa Rosina
- Sleeps 6
- 2 double bedrooms (1 with own bathroom)
- 2 single/dble bedrooms
- 3 Bathrooms
- Drawing room with open log fire
- 50″ Smart TV, blu-ray
- Kitchen/dining room for 10
The Studio
- 11 x 5 metres
- Air-conditioned
- Ceiling north light and East facing large window aperture
- Yoga equipment
- Exercise equipment
- DJ equipped with twin Technics 1200s, Allen & Heath mixer and active speakers
Keep informed
What's going on at Casa Berti
News
Coming up at Casa Berti
View of Casa Berti
Casa Berti is perched on a sunlit spur surrounded by fifteen acres of gardens, olives groves and woodland. See the sweeping views to the East and West and take ...
Read MoreLa raccolta
Every November we invite close friends and family to help Giuliano harvest, cold press and label several hundred bottles of the finest grade olive oil. ‘Extra virgin olive oil’ must ...
Read MoreOur Limoncello
Margherita, our house keeper, makes a finely balanced Limoncello with the Casa Berti lemons which grow on the terrace.
Read MoreOur Products
Casa Berti extra virgin olive oil
We maintain an olive grove of around 900 trees of three types which produces the finest quality Lucchese extravirgin olive oil. Each November family and friends gather to harvest and press the olives and bottle the oil. A limited quantity is available to buy.
Acqua minerale
a mountain spring on our land provides mineral-rich fresh drinking water all year round.
Vino da Tavola
A tradition at Casa Berti is that each year we visit the best local vineyards, some of which can be seen stretching down the valley from our terrace. Our friends and neighbours allow us to choose some of their best wine and bottle it so that our friends and family can enjoy it, too.
Limoncello
Our lemon trees are nurtured all year round by Margherita, the housekeeper at Casa Berti. When the fruit is ripe the kitchen is filled with the citrus smell as she steeps the peel in alcohol for several weeks in order to make a rich, full bodied after dinner liquor to be enjoyed by friends and family.
Location
How to get to us
Nearest airport
Pisa airport is 40 minutes away and is a hub for Tuscany. British airways, Easyjet and Ryanair all provide daily flights from the UK.
Nearest train and bus stations
Ponte a Moriano is 10 minutes away from the villa. Trains run regularly from Pisa and Lucca.
A regular bus service runs between Pisa and Lucca, Lucca and Ponte a Moriano and (twice a day) from Ponte a Moriano to Gugliano (2 mins walk from home)
Driving directions
Casa Berti is marked on google maps. The journey is more direct and free if the SS12 is taken, although journey time is the same (45 mins).
Nearest Ferry
Livorno (to Barcelona, Sardinia and Corsica) is 60 minutes away. Piombino (to Elba) is 90 minutes away.
Driving
Directions From Pisa
Step 1: Pisa Airport to Lucca
Follow the green signs for the autostrade A11/12: LIVORNO, GENOVA.
Turn north (right) towards Genova on the A12
After nearly 10 kilometres the autostrada divides.
Take the right fork, A11, signed PISA NORD, FIRENZE. Keep on the A11, direction FIRENZE, LUCCA, heading east towards the mountains.
The LUCCA EST* exit is about 16 kilometres. Current autostrada charges are about €2.40.
Follow signs to Centro.
[*There are two Lucca exits, Est and Ovest. In our view ‘Est is Best’, but either will do.]
Step 2: Lucca to Ponte Moriano
At the ring road, circling the city walls, turn left (clockwise); follow signs to ABETONE on theSS.12.
Keep following the ABETONE directions. These will lead you round Lucca, and then away from the city heading north-east up the valley of the Serchio.
The small town of Ponte a Moriano is about 8 kilometres up the SS.12, just past the big supermarket, ‘Esselunga’.
Step 3: Ponte Moriano to Gugliano
At the complex roundabout by Esselunga, continue straight on to Ponte a Moriano. [Do NOT take the by-pass.]
Just past the main square turn left over the bridge across the Serchio. At the far side turn right.
Then take the left fork towards MASTIANO and GUGLIANO, passing under the by-pass.
After nearly 2 kilometres there is an unmarked divide. You can go either way, but on the first attempt the left or lower road is easier. It sign posts MASTIANO at junctions, and takes you through this long straggly village. (The alternative road is narrow and twisting, but also arrives at Mastiano.)
After MASTIANO go on up hill to GUGLIANO, keeping left at the AQUILEA fork.
In GUGLIANO the road forks at a small war memorial. Keep left, towards the Church.
At the Church turn hard left, and follow the zigzag track up through the olives, turning right at the first fork.
Casa Berti, is the big house directly above the Church.
The driveway to the house turns sharp left, rising steeply to a car park under the big oak trees.
Activities
Lucca, Pisa, and Lunigiana holiday guide
Things to do
Nature
The Migliarino San Rossore Massaciuccoli Regional Park, outside Pisa, is protected area of coastal macchia scrubland that is ideal for walking, horse riding, and cycling. The hiking is more strenuous—and the views more dramatic—in and around the Garfagnana Valley, north of Lucca. Hot springs bubble to the surface to create natural spas at Monsummano Terme, Montecatini Terme, and Bagni di Lucca. Sands at Viareggio are well served by a lively town, and have a shallow shelf that is ideal for little ones to paddle.