Poggio al Sole is a charming location for its interesting position, far from the city, but close to the most interesting places in the region.
From the road, at night, you can see the lights of Florence, a glittering spray of precious gems set by an eccentric artist in "the most moving landscape in the world", as a well-known anthropologist once said.
Poggio al sole is the ideal location for a totally relaxing holiday, but also as starting point for the many destinations that the area offers.
Florence alone, which is just a few kilometres away, and can be reached by bus, offers a great art-and-culture-centred holiday: the other main Tuscan cities are not further than 50/60 minutes by bus or car.
The Fiesole area is full of beautiful villas dating back to the Renaissance period, and now summer residences to well-off families who chose them because of the climate (much cooler than in the city) and the proximity to Florence.

Sitting between the hills of Saint Francis and Saint Apollinaire, Fiesole is one of the most famous sites around Florence, and the sights seen from up there once had a famous writer exclaim: " … what you see here is unique in the world. Nowhere else is nature so penetrating, graceful, and fair. The god who made all this was a fine artist, a goldsmith, a medal engraver, a sculptor… This landscape has the beauty of an ancient medal and a precious painting. It's a perfectly blended work of art."
The whole area is perfect for interesting day trips, from which art is never separated from nature. The Castle of Vincigliata, very close to Poggio al Sole, dates back to at least the 12th century; it was restored in the 1800s by an English Lord, John Temple Leader, and nowadays belongs to an artist, but with its imposing medieval size, it seems on guard of the hills around. Right behind the village, a pleasant hike to Maiano (2 and ½ hour walk) takes you along the very stone pits that Michelangelo went to when, as a young artist, he worked with his stonecutter friends, passing by Monte Ceceri, where Leonardo da Vinci made his experiments with flying.
For those who love hiking, the hills around Poggio al Sole offer several signposted paths for pleasant walks that take to fascinating sites: the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Senario, the sanctuary of Madonna del Sasso, dating from the 12th Century, and numerous other places full of history, where the most attentive visitor shall read lively traces of a millenary past.
Fiesole is only 6.7 kilometers away. Land of the hardworking Etruscans, it was built long before Florence, and it must be enjoyed piece by piece, both for the Etruscan and Roman remains, all well kept, and for the several monuments of the area, such as the Cathedral of San Romolo, the patron saint, the Church and Convent of San Domenico, founded in the 1400s, and the Badia (Abbey) Fiesolana, which has an elegant cloister of early Renaissance architecture, and where Cosimo de' Medici had an apartment built to collect the rare codes nowadays stored in the Biblioteca Laurenziana. In this library, in 1753, the Accademy of the Georgophiles was started, the first one in the Europe to have an agrarian nature.
Several art and culture exhibits take place during the whole year, but especially from May to September. The Estate Fiesolana offers art shows, ballet and theatre shows, and open air films attracting large numbers of people, from Florence and its environs, who come to Piazza Mino also to enjoy the cool air of our hills.