The allure of Tuscany has been so strong for so long that you might think nothing short of a major earthquake could shake the region's foreign real estate market. But for Italy, the 2008 financial crisis was an earthquake of sorts, and the region is only now showing signs of recovery.

Those signs include an increase in transactions of 11.8% in Tuscany's regional capital, Florence, for the second quarter of 2015, compared to the same quarter a year earlier, according to English-language business website Italy24. That compares to 8.2% for Italy as a whole.

The recovery has not yet shown up in the prices of properties, only in the sheer volume of transactions. Prices throughout Italy peaked in 2007, then fell 30% after the 2008 banking collapse and have remained flat or lower since. Moreover, the relative weakness of the euro against some other currencies has added another 10% to the price fall for foreigners, creating buying opportunities, of a sort.

Opportunities of a sort, because Tuscany is a peculiarity within the Italian real estate market, as much as Silicon Valley is in California or Hong Kong in China.

In the case of Tuscany, buyers are mainly well-heeled foreigners in the market for a second home in a place that has astonishing natural beauty, a rich cultural heritage and a balmy climate. Preferably, it will be a tastefully renovated home with all modern amenities, including a private swimming pool and a mature olive grove. A vineyard is a nice amenity, especially if it comes complete with a reference to someone who will handle the harvest.

Even after the price collapse, a property that includes most or all of the above goes for $2.2 million to $5.7 million in the regions that are most popular with foreign buyers, according to the New York Times. Only the province of Arezzo is notably less expensive, at about $1.1 million to $4.5 million.

Of course, even in Tuscany not every buyer is a rock star or a tech tycoon. Browse through some of the listings in international real estate websites like ToscanaHouses, Great Estate Immobiliare or Homes and Villas Abroad, and you'll find substantial country villas subdivided into modern condo units, centuries-old townhouses with updated interiors and modest villas in small towns. There also are country estates, rambling medieval farmhouses and, quite literally, Renaissance palaces for sale. All have been renovated or updated for sale to foreigners – most often British, although Americans are a significant part of the expat scene. (Russians were, but they disappeared when their nation imposed restrictions on moving money overseas.)

Buyers may also be thinking in terms of investment income. Some realtors, such as ToscanaHouses.com, offer packages that include management of properties that are bought to be rented out for part or all of the year.

A few recent listings illustrate the range of properties available. (Prices in U.S. dollars, converted from euros at the September 2015 exchange rate of one euro to $1.12.)

• A luxury apartment of more than 2,700 square feet, in a 15th century grand palazzo in the center of Sarteano. For the equivalent of $217,000, it is described as renovated but in need of a complete upgrade.
• A renovated farmhouse in move-in condition, on about three acres of land, in a medieval town near Siena, with four bedrooms and an underground cellar, where you can presumably crush your own olives into olive oil. It is priced at about $1.23 million.
• Top of the line, no renovation needed: A 15th century villa on a hillside in Florence, set in its own gardens, complete with fountains, ponds and an olive grove. It has 11 rooms and 10 bathrooms, plus a spa in the basement. It even has broadband and air-conditioning. It is priced at $7.6 million.

But real estate listings are designed to whet your appetite. Realistically, your research should include talking to members of the expat community, in person or online. On sites like ExpatForum.com, American and British transplants in Tuscany talk to each other, and to potential buyers, about the day-to-day pleasures and troubles of life there. Not the least of their laments is that Tuscany is not the real Italy anymore.

There are no restrictions on foreigners buying real estate in Italy. Although mortgages are available to foreign buyers, the process is said to be onerous. The luxury real estate market in Tuscany is mostly an all-cash process. (For more, see How To Finance Foreign Real Estate and Do You Get U.S. Tax Deductions On Real Estate Abroad?)

Buyers should expect to pay between 10% and 12% in closing costs. If the property is going to be a second home, that includes a 9% property registration tax.

The business end, from the negotiations through the final transaction and paperwork, is handled by a notary in Italy. Foreign buyers who aren't bilingual should hire a translator, too.

The novel Under the Tuscan Sun didn't make Tuscany hot. It's been hot since Etruscan times – at least. But that did not make the region entirely immune from the financial troubles that have faced Italy, and the rest of the world, since the 2008 financial crisis. Foreign buyers appear to be returning at last. But for now, prices are expected to stay flat.

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