Villa rental in Elba, Italy - Beachside family home with private beach landing on Tuscany's Island of Elba - Property 429313

Watersports at home and nearby: for swimming and sunbathing,just descend the stairs which start in your garden and weave down the hillside to some smooth flat rocks for sunning and some of the clearest, crystal blue water that you will ever swim in (note that this is a steep descent, and small children should always be accompanied by an adult). If you prefer society to privacy, head out your gated drive, and wind down the road a 100 or so meters to a fine public beach where you can rent umbrellas and beach beds, and peddle-boats, and even motor boats for outings. There is an excellent restaurant here where you can lunch in your bathing suit, or return in the evening, a bit more dressed up, to enjoy the fine coastal specialties that make Italian beach holidays so spectacular. For a special treat, you will want to drive 10 minutes to the charming and delicious family-run restaurant, built on the coastal rocks, where you can watch the sun set while you enjoy first, your “aperitivo” and then, another excellent dinner.

Sighteseeing: You will also want to visit the Villa Mulini, Napoleon's home here, set high on the hill overlooking the sea. Though staggeringly impressive as a home, with lovely gardens, and extensive outbuildings to house his 1000 man entourage, it is easy to imagine that he must have been a bit restless on this peaceful island with the mainland and the route to his beloved France so near and yet so far. The Villa has lovely decorative walls and ceilings, painted to imitate draped fabric in the Empire style to which he gave his name. It also holds his collection of books brought from Versailles, his campaign bed from the field, and some other attractive ''Empire Furnishings'.

More sight-seeing: Don’t miss taking the superb drive through the splendid mountains, and forests with chestnuts and pines higher up and the more Mediterranean aloes and flora below, and the sea and faraway coasts always in view. You will want to stop in the port town of Marciana Marina, unpretentious and casual. Stroll along the harbour, where the buildings are mostly from the mid 19th century, and where there is no jarring junk architecture from he 60’s thrown up in a hurry to destroy the flavor. For lunch, you might drive high up into the hills to the small mountain town of Marciano, to find the restaurant Publius, with a spectacular view, and great Tuscan food. They offer specialties like Polpi and Tagliatelle ai Funghi Porcini and excellent local red wines - all in preparation for a hike up the mountain to the Madonna del Monte shrine, 45 minutes by foot, where a small church dedicated to the Madonna shares the heights with the house where Napoleon spent several month with a local woman.