Privacy notice

Last updated: 14 October 2026

This notice explains how the personal data of visitors to the Podere La Specola website is handled, under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR). Full details on cookies and third-party services are in the cookie policy.

Data controller

Podere La Specola, Via Grevigiana 10, 50063 Figline e Incisa Valdarno (FI), Italy.
Email: poderelaspecola@gmail.com

What data this website collects

This is an informational website designed to collect as little data as possible:

• No profiling or advertising cookies. The site uses no advertising trackers. Your device stores the choices you make on the cookie banner, in the browser’s local storage, and, only if you accept statistics, the Google Analytics cookies.
• Cookieless statistics. Visits are also measured in aggregate, anonymously, from server logs (Netlify Analytics), with no cookies and no personal identifiers. On the Weddings page the same logs also show how far down the page is read (details in the cookie policy).
• Technical logs. Our hosting provider (Netlify, Inc.) keeps technical logs (e.g. IP address, request date and time) required to serve and secure the website. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in keeping the service running and secure, and in understanding, in aggregate, how the site is used. These logs are generated and held by the provider itself, which keeps them for the limited period set by its own operational and security procedures and then deletes them. Podere La Specola consults them only through the provider’s control panel, to check that the site works and to count visits in aggregate (for example, how far the Weddings page is read); they are not used to identify or profile visitors.
• Fonts and libraries. Typefaces, images and JavaScript libraries are all self-hosted on this site, except the Google Analytics script, which loads from Google’s servers only if you accept statistics. The hosting provider adds a performance-monitoring script of its own to every page, also served from this domain: it sets no cookies, and its outbound data transmission is blocked by the site’s security policy.

Embedded third-party services

Some pages embed Google content, which may set third-party cookies:

• Google Maps (map on the Location and Contact pages);
• Google Calendar (availability calendar on the Contact page).

This content is not loaded until you give your consent through the banner: before that moment no data whatsoever reaches Google. The legal basis is therefore consent, which you can withdraw at any time from the cookie policy. Once loaded, the content is governed by Google’s privacy policy.

Statistics with Google Analytics (only with consent)

If you accept statistics on the banner, the site uses Google Analytics 4 to measure visits in aggregate (pages viewed, referral source, country and approximate city, device type and browser) and to improve its content. The service is provided by Google Ireland Limited, acting as data processor on behalf of Podere La Specola. According to Google, Google Analytics 4 uses IP addresses only to derive the approximate location and does not log or store them; Google Signals, ad personalisation and data sharing with Google for its own purposes are turned off; data tied to individual visitors is deleted after 2 months. The legal basis is consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR), which is optional and can be withdrawn at any time from the cookie policy, where the cookies used and their duration are also described. For the data Google receives from sites that use its services, see Google’s page How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

Enquiry form and direct contact

The Contact page has a form for requesting the villas’ availability: name, email, number of guests and an optional message. The form sends its data to this same site, without contacting other services or setting cookies (if you accepted statistics, Google Analytics only counts the visit to the confirmation page and never receives what you typed); submissions are received and stored by the hosting provider (Netlify, Inc., through its Netlify Forms service), which acts as data processor on behalf of Podere La Specola, applies automatic spam filtering and forwards them by email to the controller. Enquiries may also reach us by email, phone or WhatsApp. In every case the details shared (name, contact information, message content) are processed solely to reply to and handle the enquiry, on the legal basis of taking steps prior to entering into a contract, and are never shared with third parties. They are kept for as long as it takes to handle the enquiry and to meet any legal obligations arising from a booking; at the end of that period the copies held on the hosting provider’s system are deleted.

Transfers outside the European Union

Hosting, including the receipt of the enquiry form, is provided by Netlify, Inc. (United States); the embedded content and, if you accept them, the statistics are provided by Google. These transfers take place under the safeguards set out in Chapter V of the GDPR (standard contractual clauses and, for participants, the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework).

Your rights

Under Articles 15–22 of the GDPR you may at any time request access to, rectification, erasure or restriction of the processing of your data and its portability, object to processing, and withdraw any consent given, without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing, by writing to poderelaspecola@gmail.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your data protection authority (in Italy, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali).