Casa Marcella
Like your home, but in Tuscany.
A small family home in the Tuscan countryside, made for slow mornings, simple home-cooked dinners and days spent exploring a lesser known part of Tuscany without rushing from one place to the next.
Casa Marcella is a one-bedroom holiday home in Lano, a tiny village nestled in the countryside of Colle di Val d’Elsa, between Siena and Florence, and just a short drive from San Gimignano.
It is ideal for those who want to spend a few days in the countryside exploring neighboring medieval towns, farms, hot springs, trekking trails, and good local restaurants.
Once the home of Giulia’s grandmother Marcella, it is part of the country house our family has called home for a hundred years.
A Family Home in Tuscany
The house was built in 1926 by Giulia’s great-great-grandfather Tommaso. Her great-grandparents lived here, then her grandparents Marcella and Biagio. Her father grew up here, and today our family still lives in the same country house.
When we began renovating Marcella’s apartment, we wanted it to feel like home.
So we are bringing back together furniture and objects that have always belonged here, mixing them with second-hand finds from the surrounding countryside and a few new pieces that we simply love.
We want Casa Marcella to feel simple, bright and welcoming. It is a home shaped by the people who lived here before us, but ready to be lived in again.
A Real Tuscan Village
Casa Marcella sits at the edge of Lano, a tiny village in the countryside around Colle di Val d’Elsa.
It is not the postcard version of Tuscany, and that is one of the things we love most about it.
People leave for work in the morning, children ride their bikes, neighbours tend their gardens, dogs bark, and at night you might hear owls or deer out in the fields.
There is no bakery around the corner, and no pizza delivery when you are too tired to cook. But in August there are blackberries growing along the road, sunsets are incredible in every season, and on autumn mornings the mist clings to the bare branches of the trees lining the ridge of the hill.
For a few days, you can simply live here.
From Casa Marcella, Colle di Val d’Elsa and Casole d’Elsa are just a few kilometres away, while San Gimignano, Siena, Volterra and many of the places we return to again and again are all within easy reach.
A car is strongly recommended.
Made for Slow Days and Good Food
Casa Marcella has a comfortable double bedroom, a cosy living room, a bathroom, a small garden, and a kitchen put together by people who spend a good part of their lives cooking.
We want the kitchen to feel welcoming and cozy, so that cooking can feel simple and thoroughly enjoyable: a two-zone induction hob and a small oven (or perhaps an air fryer?), a dishwasher, knives that actually cut, mixing bowls, spatulas, one or two good-quality pans, spices in the cupboards and fresh herbs just outside the kitchen.
Basically, even if all you’re doing is frying an egg or throwing together a big salad, we want the experience to feel pleasant, relaxed, and easy.
Outside, the garden will be just as informal, with rosemary and aromatic herbs, hardy flowers and shrubs, bees and butterflies, and a small place to sit while the sun goes down over the fields.
Casa Marcella is a comfortable, thoughtful place to come home to at the end of the day.
Stay Next Door to Juls’ Kitchen
During your stay, we will be your neighbours. You might see us from the window, meet us in the garden, or hear the usual morning rush as we get our daughter ready for school. Casa Marcella is part of the same family home where we live and work, so you will be staying quite literally next door to us.
And if you are coming to Tuscany for one of our cooking classes, you could hardly stay any closer.
Walk out of Casa Marcella, take a few steps, and you will be at the Juls’ Kitchen Studio. Cook with us during the day, then walk back home when the class is over.
Our cooking classes are all about experiencing Tuscany through its food: shopping at the local market, making fresh pasta, cooking with seasonal ingredients and sitting down together around the table.
Curious about cooking with us during your stay? Explore our cooking classes and find the experience that suits your trip.
Meet Your Hosts
We are Giulia and Tommaso, the people behind Juls’ Kitchen, and Casa Marcella is literally part of our home.
Giulia is a cookbook author and cooking teacher who has spent years telling the story of Tuscan food through recipes, books and cooking classes. Tommaso is a photographer and the person behind much of what happens both in front of and behind the scenes at Juls’ Kitchen. We live here with our daughter, Livia, in the same country house where Giulia grew up and where generations of her family lived before us.
Casa Marcella grew naturally from the way we already welcome people into our corner of Tuscany.
For years, guests have come here to cook with us at the Juls’ Kitchen Studio. Now, for the first time, some of them will also be able to stay next door.
We will give you your space, of course, but we will also be nearby if you need a recommendation, directions to a favourite market, or simply an idea for where to go for dinner.
Opening 2027 / Be the First to Know
Casa Marcella will welcome its first guests in 2027, with reservations opening in January 2027.
If you are thinking about a trip to Tuscany, leave us your email and we will let you know as soon as the calendar opens.
We would love Casa Marcella to be part of your next trip to Tuscany.
Follow the Journey
Casa Marcella is still coming together, one piece at a time.
Over the next few months, we’ll be furnishing the rooms, planting the garden and sharing the small decisions and discoveries that go into turning Marcella’s apartment into a home for new guests.
Follow us on Instagram for everyday glimpses behind the scenes, or subscribe to Letters from Tuscany, our newsletter, for stories from our life here, Casa Marcella updates and news about the opening of reservations.
Casa Marcella | Like your home, but in Tuscany.
Colle di Val d’Elsa · Tuscany · Italy