Unusual Italian holidays

? Bone up on Tuscan culture at Pieve a Castello, a ninth century convent converted into a luxury 10-room hotel and one-stop-shop for holidays dedicated to shopping, landscape painting, wine, music and history. Small groups. From £1,395pp per week (plus £295 for flights) through ATG Oxford (01865 315678).

? Fergie's planning to build a Tuscan spa so why not devote your summer hol to property-hunting too? Tell Tuscany Now (020 7272 54 69) what kind of second home you want and it will arrange a villa in which to stay, guides, advice on restoration and conversion, even letting. Castel Salsi is the new Provence: two-bed barn conversions around £300,000. From £659pp for a week in a two-person villa outside Siena.

? Combine Italian lessons with other classes ... Italian media, art history ... Euro Academy (020 8297 05 05) has schools in Florence and Siena; £250 for two weeks' tuition (40 hours), plus £335 for half-board with a host family.

? Half an hour north of Bologna, Reading Retreats in Rural Italy (00 39 051 692 9587; www.montefano.com) offers holidays where a good read goes beyond poolside pulp. Guests at Palazzo Montefano have a library of 2,000-odd titles and garden in which to read them. Literary discussion is encouraged in the candlelit salon. From £40pp per night full board.

? Trail ride in south-west Tuscany. One week with Inntravel (01653 629000), ferried by minibus back to the hotel at Rufugio Prategiano each day, from £699pp all inclusive.