Considering also the mild climate, the beauty of the landscape with the close green mountains, the lake district with 260 different species of birds and the sea in the distance, it is not difficult to understand the reason why a roman family decided to build its holidays residence here.
View of the mountains from the lake

At the archaeological site of Massaciuccoli Romana you can admire the rest of a roman villa, the rest of a building with a fabulous mosaic and the job of the archaeologists in the dig. I discovered this site only few months ago and it surprised me: it’s small but nice with many events organized by the people of the archaelogical group.
The attractions of the archaeological site of Massaciuccoli Romana
Venulei Villa Massaciuccoli Romana

The Venulei Villa

The Venulei were one of the most important and rich family of Pisa. They made their economic fortune owning and managing several Furnaces to produce bricks. Moreover, they decided to build in Massaciuccoli, in the first century, their magnificent holiday residence where to laze and rest.
View of the lake from the villa

The Villa was built on the top of the hill overlooking the lake. From the terrace of the church of San Lorenzo, you can admire the rest of the thermarium and other areas of relax and feasting on the terrace below. Unfortunately, we cannot see rests of the residence because the church was built over them.
the mosaic Massaciuccoli Romana

The building with the mosaic.

At the feet of the hills, there is the building with the mosaic. Previously it was considered as a villa, but then it has been considered as lodging house with a small thermal bath and several resting rooms facing the interior gardens.

Here there is the restored mosaic in white and black tiles representing fantasy creatures and several finds and marble sculptures found in the archaeological site.

The archaeological dig.

Ten new rooms were revealed after a deep excavation. The entrance under a brand new huge structure is free and you have the chance to see the archaeologists at work.

Starting from some collections of objects of work and peasant thought in our area, we will build a network of nodes that will explain, in depth, the history of the men who, with those artifacts, have shaped our landscape, cultivated our food, founded our culture.

Looking at our countryside we see a row of grapes, a house, a river, haystacks, vegetable gardens, chicken coops, olive trees. Hundreds of years and thousands of arms have built that landscape, according to a collective and social intelligence, which has taken into account the human need in relation to and relationship with the territory, which those men had to feed. The same story is in a piece of Tuscan bread, but you can’t see it: it feels. Thousands of kitchens and hearts and selections of wheat and yeast have produced it. By eating our territory we learn many things about it, and we become its custodians.

We look at the world as if we were opening a photo album, but what we see, what we live, is the necessary legacy of those who preceded us. In the countryside, where the whole family from the old to the children helped to work the land, at forty they still lived where they were born and one could say “that stone that holds the earth of that step of that bank of that river the I set thirty years ago “and there is a silent and clear conscience of what the accumulation of shared work, stone by stone, can generate over the years. We share a ground even when it happens to those who worked before us.

The deepest values of rural civilization, which for a long time have characterized Italy and our territory, constitute a stimulus for its cultural revival capable of integrating ecological awareness and scientific knowledge with respect for the environment, the landscape and work .

We offer within the grounds of the agriturismo an equestrian programme for adults and children. At the next door farm, La Costanza, there are opportunities to organise many different kinds of events.Cooking classes are available for small to large groups, directly managed by Sandra Lotti. Transform your vacation into an unforgettable experience of taste, flavours and Tuscan cuisine.