My family and I spent a week in Tuscany, June '05 in a villa in a little village called Palazonne.
Needless to say, we had a great time. We're planning another trip in '07. We probably want to stay near or in Lucca since one of our fellow travelers has family there. I'm going on a motorcyle trip through Tuscany in Oct. '06 and I want to spend some time "scouting" a few villas in the area. We'll probably have about 10-12 people in the group, stay a week to 10 days. Anyone have any good villa suggestions? Folks will want to see Pisa, Firenze, Bologna (me-the Ducati factory) and someone suggested Venice for a day. Thanks

Hi - have you checked the listings and reviews right on our Slow Travel Website (see the link on the right hand column - or go to this page.

Motherjudy is right, and on that page you'll find my review for Al Bastini, which I can't recommend highly enough. A bit of an update too, I believe since the 2003 heatwave, I believe the ownder has added a/c.

If you rented from http://www.tuscanhouse.com for the Palazonne villa (they have a lot of listings in that area), they also have listings for Lucca.

Have you sent us a review of the villa?
http://www.slowtrav.com/reviews/

My husband and I stayed at Villa Agnese this past Oct. It is located right across from the Wall and was very convenient. Lovely rooms and breakfast was great. All of the employees were wonderfully helpful and friendly.

Thanks for the help. Pauline, I did post a review of Bellamora on the site right after we got back.
I'll check out the areas you suggested. I remember reading a review about a villa near Tuscany where the owners had cooked supper on the day of arrival and had done some preliminary grocery shopping for their guests. I lost the reference, but it was posted here somewhere. Merry Christmas to all! Thanks..