All you have to do is slide the key in the lock, and it's home sweet home. When she realized her summer house in Siena was standing empty most of the time, American-born Contessa Simonetta Brandolini d'Adda decided to rent it. She was so successful that her friends began asking her to do the same for their villas in Tuscany, Umbria, Amalfi, Rome, and the Veneto. Most are filled with objets , sculpture, and fine paintings, and many have swimming pools, book-lined libraries, and stables. Set on 50 acres in Tuscany with a billiard room, seven bedrooms, and a chapel, the 1830 Villa Pisana is Brandolini's showpiece.
Most villas come with a chef, maid, and gardener.
Larger ones may also have a butler, housekeeper, caretaker, and laundress. After years of hunting for houses in Italy and France to rent for herself, New Yorker Laura Blair chose to use her experience to help others find the perfect place in Tuscany, in the south of France, and on the Amalfi coast. Blair and associate Pamela Murdock also offer such exotica as an open-air house in Bali and a great camp in the Adirondacks. Humbler but still homey is a two-bedroom house on the rolling plains near Lucca. Housekeeping is included at most villas.