The last weeks of the year are always a time of great excitement and a little bit of dread. Despite your religious tendencies, the idea of meeting with loved ones and indulge in some culinary excesses sounds tempting but there's always the mandatory happiness, the pressure to spend and consume like there's no tomorrow. In the last few years, our episodes ahead of Christmas have told you about traditional festivities, weird festivals and the food that must be on every Tuscan holiday table. This year we've decided to do things a bit differently, focussing on a very special event that takes place in one of this region's most wonderful villas, just a few miles from Lucca. Since the last couple of years, the new owners of this prestigious palace have embarked on an extensive renovation campaign, opened the villa to the public and organised for the last two weekends before Christmas an event that turns the place into a winter wonderland. That is why this week What's Up Tuscany will bring you to Marlia to tell you everything there is to know about the amazing Villa Reale and how, twice every year, it becomes a place of endless wonder for kids and adults alike. If you listen to the full episode you will learn about the ancient origins of the place, how it was the sister of a very notorious emperor to turn it into something really special and how, not too many years ago, it became a veritable hotspot for international celebrities and famous artists. In the following chapter we will go through the many additions to this sizable estate that in the centuries have transformed its massive garden into a place full of art, exotic plants and intricate geometries that can be found in very few other places. Then we will go into the event that on the weekend of December 16-17 will transform the stables into Santa's Workshop, the many clever games for children that have been built out of reclaimed wood, the amazing lighting of the garden and how spending a day into this incredible palace can leave a lasting impression in both yourself and your children. The last part of the episode is again dedicated to our usual travel tips: this time I will give you two very different but equally valid options to have lunch or dinner very close to the Royal Villa. One is a Michelin-starred restaurant that cares a lot about tradition, the other a quirky trattoria that is just next door and offers great food, excellent service, a rustic atmosphere at a very reasonable price. Whatever you might think about this time of the year, spending some time in this incredible place will definitely put a smile on your face. Given everything we're going through in these crazy times, maybe that's the most we can hope for. Email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/larno.it Twitter: @arno_it / @WhatsupTuscany LINKS TO SOURCES https://villarealedimarlia.it/conosci/la-storia/ https://villarealedimarlia.it/eventi/magico-natale/ https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/henric-and-marina-groenberg-restoring-history/ https://passionegourmet.it/2021/07/08/butterfly-marlia/ https://www.labottegasullafraga.it/ BACKGROUND MUSIC Pipe Choir - Bom Bom Breakthrough (Instrumental) Wayne John Bradley - Pick You Up EzaOne - Supernova WUFO - Hyde Park Incompetech - Leopard Print Elevator Wayne John Bradley - Blues Rock Original Instrumental All released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choir-bom-bom-breakthrough-creative-commons-instrumental https://soundcloud.com/ayneohnradley/pick-you-up-slow-poprock-style-instrumental-creative-commons https://soundcloud.com/argofox/ezaone-supernova https://soundcloud.com/argofox/wufo-hyde-park https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500077br...