Best spring escapes: discover Tuscany's great outdoors with pilates holidays

Everyone knows that there’s nothing better than exercising in open air to keep fit and refresh your mind! Spring is here, and it’s definitely time to plan a retreat like Flavours pilates holidays that will give you the chance to practice pilates and fitness lessons outdoors. Where? Let’s discover the beautiful parks and gardens in Tuscany! Villas, gardens and historical buildings surrounded by green are ideal destinations to make your pilates exercises and release from daily routine.

If you are in Florence, begin with a walk in the beautiful Boboli Garden, a 45,000 meters² (11 acres) outdoor museum just behind Pitti Palace, lay out by Medici’s family in 16th century. Enjoy the view of a typical Italian style garden, as well as the collection of sculptures.

Not far from there, you can find the Giardino Bardini, wonderful example of Renaissance garden where you can take advantage of quietness to concentrate more on your exercises. Don’t miss the Rose Garden as well, a place of extraordinary beauty, where there are many types of roses and other plants. Finish your training in Villa Peyron Garden, composed parks, olive groves and terraces descending the hillside with a wide view of Florence. In the north of Tuscany, you should stop in Villa reale di Marlia, a baroque garden designed for Napoleon’s sister, which include a pool, a Grotto of Pan, a park, a nymphaeum and an amphitheatre where Paganini used play….can you hear the sound of a violin?  

And moving to the Lunigiana area, just relax in Villa Pescigola, the beautiful Italian style garden which hosts in this period the famous festival of daffodils and tulips. Around Siena, in the suggestive Val d’Orcia scenario Villa la Foce worth a visit: located near an Etruscan settlement, the garden is divided into three distinct sections on different levels, and was created between 1927 and 1939 in several stages, without any loss of compositional unity. 

If you are more interested in being fully immersed in nature, Tuscany counts numerous National and Regional parks and protected areas, such as the Parco Foreste Casentinesi, between Florence and Arezzo;
The Tuscan Archipelago and the Maremma area near Grosseto; the park of Apuane Alps around Lucca; and many others reserves by Tuscan lakes and mountains.

...a little curiosity: if you still have some energy, have fun in the Parco Collodi, in Pistoia. As the name says, the park is dedicated to the author of Pinocchio, and it’s actually a thematic area with sculptures and reproduction of the famous tale; thanks to the perfect mix between art and nature, you will see that it’s not just a place for children.

Now concentrate, take a deep breath and start your lessons in our pilates holidays!

photo credit: Flip Florence via photopin cc