The Hotel da Vinci is located a few minutes away from Empoli and less than 6 km from the ancient “borgo” of Vinci, the birthplace of the great Genius Leonardo.

The covered and outside parking spaces allow guests to comfortably reach the hotel by car. The hotel offers 65 double rooms, 18 of which are equipped with bath and 3 Superior rooms with Jacuzzi, meeting rooms up to 100 people, Fitness and Relax area, outside parking, garage and the restaurant “Osteria Ripa D’Arno”.

The hotel location is ideal in order to reach both major Tuscan cities (Florence 25 Km) and small towns hiding artistic and natural treasures such as Volterra, San Gimignano, Certaldo, Gambassi Terme, Pienza, and Montalcino. Vinci, together with Cerreto Guidi, Empoli, Capraia, Limite and Montelupo Fiorentino keeps the memory of ancient civilizations, medieval castles and villages, villas dating back to the Florentine Lordship and Renaissance palaces. The Hotel da Vinci is part of this context testifying the Tuscan famous hospitality.

Rooms:
The hotel offers all modern facilities and comforts: 65 double rooms, 18 of which are equipped with bath and 3 Superior rooms; all comforts are available: PC Internet connection, Pay TV on demand, liquid crystal satellite TV, telephone, minibar, PC-size safe, air conditioning and individual climate control.
Warm parquet has been laid in all rooms equipped with big windows and relax sofas. Bathrooms with crystal shower stall and supporting top in elegant satin glass. The Superior rooms are equipped with Jacuzzi. The internal furniture is modern, the acoustic treatment is guaranteed by wooden floors, the exceptional room brightness filters through the big windows.

Facilities within the Property:
The meeting area is located on the first floor with a wide foyer. The “Leonardo” conference main room (about 100 square meters) can take up to 100 people; it is equipped with big glass windows filtering natural light and with advanced audiovisual technologies, soundproofed, liable to be obscured. The main room can be subdivided into two rooms, “Gioconda”; and “Icaro”, up to 60 and 40 people respectively.
The rooms are equipped with amplification, radio microphone, screen (lent form video format), video-headlight maximum resolution, and videoconference facilities. Moreover, “Osteria Ripa “Arno” is a comfortable restaurant where the traditional Tuscan cuisine and the Mediterranean cooking join to a refined and charmed place. The local typical dishes are rendered from a modern point of view by introducing new tastes. Raw materials are strictly selected and cooked with “extra-virgin olive oil”. The “grand” changes according to the season alternation.

Planning a trip to Italy? The top 3 destinations in Italy are Rome, Venice and Florence; for example, in order to make it easy to find an hotel in Rome, you can have a look at our advanced search. Simple as 1-2-3, the same method can be applied to find an Hotel in Florence, or to compare price for different accommodations in Venice, from bed and breakfast to Hotels.

The price of insurance depends ultimately on the risk the insurer is taking on on behalf of the customer. Simply put, this will depend on the chance of the insured event occurring, and the likely cost of the outcome. The way insurers calculate this risk, and quantify the amount of the premium, is through the use of what is known as actuarial science. Using certain probability and statistical mathematical models, the insurance company can predict with a fair degree of accuracy, the approximate cost of future claims.

For example, supposing a someone wishes to insure their $100,000 home against fire. For argument’s sake, lets assume that 1 in a 1000 homes in this area burn down every year. This would mean that just to break even, on the mathematical model, the insurance company would have to charge $100 a year for the premium. What the insurance company will in fact do is charge something more than $100, say $120. This extra $20 will cover the overhead costs of the insurance company’s operation. It will also cover an amount for profit of the insurance company. The only other way the insurance company generates profits is by investing all the policy premiums it is paid. That way, all the premiums earn interest, or investment returns, while they are in the possession of the insurance company. While this method represents a significant income for the insurance company, the majority of insurance company’s funds do actually come from the payment of premiums.

It has been argued that those who pay premiums and do not have to make a claim lose out by effectively wasting their unused premium. In this sense, the insurance industry can not be held to produce any net gain for society, and therefore, the huge profits they generate are unwarranted. Defenders of insurance companies however claim that the peace of mind they offer to all their customers is a significant societal benefit which they provide. Simply knowing that you will be compensated if disaster strikes you is worth something to people, even if the disaster never strikes.

The funds the insurance company holds, from premiums that have not been claimed for payouts, is called its float. Massive profits can be generated from the float alone. While losses are just as possible as gains with all investments, the profits made from insurance company floats, for the five years ending 2003, was $68.4 billion. In the same period, insurance companies paid out $142.3 billion in insurance claims. Some do not believe that the insurance industry will be able to sustain itself for ever on profits generated by the float and so predict large premium rises for the future.

Joseph Kenny is the webmaster of the insurance site www.insure121.com/ where you will find information, news and links to the leading providers of car insurance in the UK.