About Us

About Us

About Invitation to Tuscany

Hi, I'm Dan Wrightson and I own "Invitation to Tuscany". We’ve been exploring Tuscany, Italy and finding villas here for over four decades and know the area intimately. We're a small family company and we like to visit every property and meet every owner and customer so we can help find you your ideal holiday home.

dan-sketching-pistoia
Dan sketching a narrow view of San Giovanni FuorCivitas in Pistoia

Moving to Tuscany in 1974

My mother Susan and my father had explored Italy while he was studying at the British School in Rome. During their travels she met the love of her life – Tuscany. My mother was studying art history and philosophy and Tuscany is a region overflowing with both. Since then, she had dreamed of putting down roots here, so when I was five years old, she convinced my step-father Alan, my seven-year-old sister Sally and me to set off in a battered VW van, and we left Leeds for the medieval village of Monteguidi.

timignano-1974
The tumbledown farmhouse of Timignano in 1974

By 1976 the tumbledown house was just about habitable for other humans, and we were keen to visit England for a few weeks. An ad in the Times and a few letters later (still no phone at home!) we had our first customer who would stay in our house while we drove back to the UK for a month. Taking a break from filming Doctor Who, Tom Baker thought it was just the place to recover and relax and was our very first paying guest. He stayed for a month and went home and told his friends about our place. By next year we had cobbled together an apartment we could move into when renting the main house, and soon our Tuscan neighbours were asking us to help them let out their homes; by 1982, my mother was running a fully-fledged villa company.

sally-daniel
Me and my sister in Tuscany, Christmas 1974

BBC Article: The Children uprooted to live the 1970s Good Life

Hand Drawn Brochures

In the early days the logistics of running a villa rental company were complicated. With no electricity and no phone we had a giant hand drawn calendar chart on which we would mark the bookings with different colours. Much was done via snail-mail with the occasional trip up to the village, 2km away, where there was a public phone. International calls would slightly panic the lady in the "Sali e Tabacchi" shop that hosted the phone, and she would circle us with hands flapping at increasing speed the longer the calls went on, frantic that the international call would perhaps melt the wires of the precious phone.

Invitation-to-Tuscany-Brochure-1982
Our 1982 brochure with my sister Sally's beautiful drawing of Timignano

Taking photos and printing brochures was also much more complicated, so my sister and I were enlisted to draw the houses, first as black and white ink sketches and later, much later, as ink and watercolour sketches. Every year we would prepare next year's brochure with hand drawings of all the properties, and some of the villages and towns too. The brochures were beautiful and it was very sad when we finally stopped producing them in 2014.

2012-invitation-to-tuscany-brochure
The 2012 Invitation to Tuscany brochure, one of my favourites.

Intimate Local Knowledge

Growing up in such an impressive landscape, it’s no surprise I developed a passion for Italian art and architecture. As a teenager, I studied art and philosophy in Florence, then went on to read architecture in the UK at Cambridge University.

You’ll see my love of art and architecture reflected in the homes we choose – from elegant Florentine apartments with Baroque facades to frescoed Chianti villas. For me, it’s the details that set a place a part, not matter how grand or modest its size.

Over the years, I’ve done drawings of many of our homes, too, which you’ll see throughout the website and in our brochures. The habit of visiting and drawing the houses (I never sketched from photos, I didn't like it and the drawings were always much more flat and lifeless) meant that we developed a habit of visiting every house we listed, and spending a long time observing and absorbing the nature of each place. It's a habit we have kept - I still like to sketch houses when I can, but even when I don't we visit every house we list, and then return regularly.

Daniel painting in Torri near Siena
Dan Wrightson painting in the medieval cloister in Torri, near Siena

We’re still very much a family company. My mother retired in 2005, when I took over, while my sister Sally manages the books. My wife Sam and our two children help me scout out properties. Plus we have a small team of long-serving staff who help in our offices in London and Tuscany, and a handful of agents around the world who know our villas inside and out.

Our listings vary from charming small houses in village centres to luxurious Tuscan estates amid the vineyards. Regardless of the size or luxury of any property I have a rule – if my family feels uncomfortable there, I won’t list it. We want people to relax in our villas, not panic if they spill a bit of olive oil on the table.

Why Book with us

Our holiday homes might be beautiful, but they’re also excellent value for money. We have such strong connections to the region and long-lasting relationships with our owners that we get the best deals for our customers. And because we’re members of the Association of British Travel Organisers to Italy (ABTOI) you know you can trust that we’ll take care of any problems that might arise.

After you’ve booked, we don’t just send you on your way. From the moment you reserve your villa right until you return home, you’ll have access to our concierge service. Our knowledgeable staff can help with anything from finding train times, arranging airport transfers and babysitters to suggesting local cafés, sunset spots and Italian cooking classes.

Whether you’re travelling as a couple or having a family gathering of 65 people, give us a call. We’d love you to have a taste of the good life too.

Contact Us