Spend the weekend in a pope’s palace

While many of us yearn for a week or two in a minimalist villa, free from the clutter of everyday life, that’s not everyone’s idea of a great time. An increasing number of holidaymakers want to hang out in historic homes that are full of previous owners’ personal belongings – whether that’s a library of rare books or a chapel decorated with Renaissance frescoes – hence the growth of villa companies offering buildings replete with history. Whereas, for those who love plants, a new gallery in South Africa will make a trip to the Cape extra appealing, presenting paintings of some of our planet’s most beautiful plants. And for those who fancy doing some exercise in aid of a great cause, there’s an appeal to help the Prince of Wales’s beloved Tusk Trust rangers to fund their vital work protecting the forests and animal.

For years, according to the villa specialist The Thinking Traveller, most visitors wanted to rent a holiday house that was reasonably modern and hassle-free. Somewhere with lots of calming white space. In the past year, though, says Antoine Levy, the company’s sales and marketing director, the interest in historic houses has soared by 150 per cent – whether that’s four-bedroom baroque hunting lodges such as Villa Armerina (£3,757 per week in July, sleeping 7), fortresses like Forte San Giorgio (£47,507 sleeping 21) or aristocratic estates such as Rocca delle Tre Contrade (£80,120 sleeping 24).

That trend is being seen not just in Italy, says Marina Gratsos of Carpe Diem, which is entrusted by the owners of fine villas all over Europe to find suitable clients with whom to share their homes when they’re not there. More guests than ever, she says, “especially American ones, want to leave behind the stress and problems of daily life. And houses that offer culture and beauty, giving guests a sense of being part of a continuing story of European history, are the perfect antidote.”

An added appeal, she says, is that historic houses are often part of a local community, and have been for hundreds of years, so they are ideal places to get to know the culture. “One guest’s little son played with the gardener’s son and the father said it was the best experience he could ever had given his Beverly Hills bubble-enclosed child – his words.”

Others want to be part of the stories that come with the house. One of the private island estates she offers, for instance, which was once home to an Ottoman sultan and his harem, has a private taverna where “yachts owned by the Onassis or Rothschild families would stop in the 1930s and 40s and the taverna would host wonderful parties, with stars like Garbo and von Karajan”. To some holidaymakers, adding their names to the guest book is part of the appeal.