Family vacation in Italy, that’s Otium, too

Family vacation in Tuscany is perhaps the ne plus ultra of Otium. Indeed, Otium is a time of creative leisure, where one focus­ses on the really essen­tial things in life. There­fore, this means: Family first! Take time to creatively engage with your own partner or child­ren. Enjoy your time at our holiday home with your family. After all, is there anything more valuable than the happy smile of your child?

Inspiration Tuscany

Are you an artist or a thinker? Then Agritu­rismo Podere Palazzone is the right place for you, being peacefully imbedded in wonderful rolling hills and a lovely Mediter­ra­nean climate. For example, many a guest takes advan­tage of the stay here in Tuscany to finally devote himself to his hobby studies. Many a guest uses the time here to finally devote himself to his hobby studies. In peace and quiet, one can delve into specia­list topics or philo­so­phise about “this and that”. Quite some scripts, audio books, papers, scien­ti­fic treatises, diploma theses and school essays have been written, at least in part, at our place. We are happy to welcome musici­ans. Linge­ring by the pools­ide at night, guitar in hand, may also inspire you, too.

Tuscany is perfect also for inspi­ring painters. Photo­graph­ers find the ideal setting to express themsel­ves artis­ti­cally. What are you looking for? Authen­tic Tuscany landscape, wild and at the same time gentle? Plays of light in the sunset or wafts of mist in the morning light? Or else, colour changes in grain fields, detailed studies of flora and fauna, ancient and medieval archi­tec­ture? Let us know your prefe­ren­ces. Proba­bly we can support you in finding the best motifs and spots.

Thank you

At this point, we want to take the oppor­tu­nity to say a big thank you to all our dear guests and friends, hobby photo­graph­ers and retired profes­sio­nal photo­graph­ers, equip­ped with drones and all kinds of photo­gra­phic techno­logy, who have contri­bu­ted to the design of this website with their beautiful pictures.

Highly regarded by the Romans

Otium was already discus­sed in the earliest philo­so­phi­cal writings of the Romans. Here are a few interes­t­ing notes on that: The Romans unders­tood Otium as a time of creative, hence active, leisure. Something like a creative break, during which you develop fresh ideas and come out full of vigour. This period of time-out enjoyed a very high level of social recogni­tion among the Romans. Although, or, to be precise, because they were actually a busy, hard-working, tightly organi­zed people, always striving for progress. In his “Otium-Ode”, Horace even praises Otium as “the only way that leads to happi­ness”, a time of inner peace that is used to “further develop one’s own wisdom and virtues”.