We are beginning to look for a villa that 5 couples can enjoy in the Tuscany area. I am new to this Forum AND to Italy. I don't know the areas well at all, but am learning some as I read the postings here. My question is...where is a great place for a first time trip to Italy? We want to be able to take some car trips around the area. We plan to get to Rome and Florence in some manner (flying in or train after arrival). Oh, it is just so confusing. There are so many regions and houses and areas. I have found one farmhouse that looks appealing. It is called Il Rifugio near Cortona. IS this a good area for us for our first trip to Italy?
Anybody have some recommendations to help me get started? Have you stayed at an awesome place? Thank you, thank you!!
I have had a wonderful stay at Fattoria Bacio - it IS exactly how it appears, and overlooks San Gimignano! It is close enough to tour many other Tuscan towns and cities. We did wandered off in the mornings and cooled off in the pool in the late afternoon before heading out to another town for dinner, or cooking ourselves. Fattoria Bacio is near Certaldo, which also has the absolute BEST chocolate cornetti (croissants) I've had anywhere, EVER.
Twice, I have also stayed at the owner's b&b/hotel in Florence. The room with the fresco ceiling is amazing, and has one of the most gorgeous bathrooms (with a terrace!) anywhere. Of course there are no pics of that one on their website
Welcome to Slow Travel, SciTchr - and my sympathies (?) and good wishes as you begin your planning. It really is overwhelming at first, but the rewards are great.
In 2005 I was the "newbie" charged with finding a place for 18 of us to spend a week in Tuscany. We finally settled on this complex near Siena, which we decided was a great central location for daytrips in several directions. My review of the property is here. Since our stay they have completed a gorgeous in ground pool/spa to replace the above ground unit that was there when we visited, and I would love to go back.
There is a great essay on the main Slow Travel pages about things to consider when planning a trip for a group - it is certainly worth reading. One thing I did when we started putting our trip together (we were all friends who sing together and who had traveled on several performance tours before we decided to share this vacation) was to get everyone to provide input on several basic criteria - location, cost, amenities, ratio of bathrooms to travelers, proximity to services, pool, etc. I then set up a spreadsheet to capture that information for what ended up to be about 10 properties - and picked the one that seemed to meet the highest percentage.
You asked about Cortona - on a recent thread about where to stay in Tuscany, one poster noted Cortona is further from the majority of the sites most visitors want to see, and I agree. Interestingly, I still have Il Rifugio bookmarked, having found it during my extensive web searches, and being very taken with it (even though it was too small for us). But we felt Cortona was not as central a location for day-tripping.
If you use the find button above and enter keywords such as "where to stay in Tuscany" you will find many threads that might be of interest; a recent one is here.
Happy planning - and let us know what you finally decide.
Judy
Posts: 1661 | Location: Berkeley, CA | Registered: 22 March 2005
Have you found our main site yet? I strongly suggest you head to our Italy site and begin with the Planning section. The "Where to Stay" pages will be helpful. Be sure to read the pages on vacation Rentals in Italy--What to ExpectWe have collected hundreds of reviews of properties from readers like yourself, in the Rental Reviews section, arranged by region. I'm sure you'll find some houses that would interest you.
Feel free to return to this thread and post the links to the places you're researching, and I'm sure people will chime in with feedback.
SciTchr, first, let me welcome you to Slow Travel Talk. You're embarking on quite an endeavor, so first, let me start by pointing out some artilces and items on the website that may be of interest to you.
Planning and Executing a Large Group Trip to Europe - this comes to mind only b/c you said you were 5 couples and I immediately thought of disparity in bedrooms/bathrooms in villa rentals. For example, 2 rooms have en suite bathrooms, who gets those rooms? Who gets the king size beds vs the queen - well you get my meaning.
In our FAQ section we have these previous discussions:
HI All, Wow, you guys are prompt with your replies!! I really appreciate the leads. I have been looking at different parts of your GREAT website. It is pretty amazing. I will be going through your links one by one and reading the suggestions. Oh my...
Amaronemmm...Fatoria Bacio looks interesting.Bigger than we need, but also cheaper than Il Rifugio. Are all of the bedrooms pretty much the same?
Tour Mama...I love the looks of Rifugio as well. Thanks for the location comments. This is what I need to learn. They ALL sound so nice when reading about them.
Kim...Your comments on disparity I agree with. I was wondering about how to divy up the rooms that I saw at Il Rifugio. Some are better than others.
Thanks everybody and please keep the recommendations of specific villas coming and of areas that make touring easy. I will get busy reading!
Hello - I must jump in to say that I think that the Cortona area is perfect for a base. You can hop on the train and be in Florence in just over an hour - you can use the train for much of your exploring (and not worry about trying to park). Other towns are easily reached by car on larger roads. I think that it is a perfect base - it least it was for us.
In 2005 we went to Italy w/ two other couples and rented a beautiful villa in Umbria... here is the link to that villa Le Mandorelle ...this villa would suit your needs and we loved it. The only disadvantage to this villa (and most villas) is that it was located about 20 minutes from any store or town village ... so one had to drive a distance to get to anything.
... ALSO ... from our experience...five couples sharing one living space will be "interesting at best" ... we found that to be the case with just three couples.
I would recommend that instead of renting one villa w/ 5 couples ... why don't you stay right in or very near the heart of a Tuscany hilltown and rent a couple of apartments right next to each other? This would give all of you a bit more of your own space ... and would allow for easy walking access to a town center.
When we stayed at LeMandorelle ... we loved it... but because we spent most of our days visiting the area by car ... we did not spend much time actually enjoying the villa and just relaxing. We never once used the pool ... of course we were there in September... and the evenings were too cool for swimming.
When are you going to Italy??? Summer, Spring, Fall or Winter??? Which year?
Good luck with your search ... and you will find Slow Travel to be a wonderful resource ... the people who frequent this site are very knowledgeable and very generous with their help!
karen
Posts: 182 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 26 January 2005
karenb1...We are planning to go in Spring '09 or Fall '09. Is it too late to plan for Spring? After reading these responses I am ever so much more confused. I am realizing how little I know.I am going to look into the apartment idea. Even splitting into 2 couples per apt. might be a good idea. Yikes - so much to consider.
Well - that is a great question (if all the rooms at Fattoria Bacio are the same size). There are several different buildings there, and I would assume that since they are all unique, that the rooms do vary slightly. The "little" house (they called it) we were in was more than ample. We weren't exactly spending much time in the room, but the patio overlooking the hills. Alternatively, you could rent a couple different rentals there, as they are very close together. (1min or less walk).
AND, welcome to slowtravel!! (It is AMAZING!), and have fun planning
Spring of 2009 is coming right up... am guessing that you do not even have plane reservations yet... are all 5 couples planning to fly into Italy on the same plane? If you are... I would start getting this settled first.
I have only been to Italy in the Fall ... and will again be going in just a few weeks (late Sept. to mid Oct.) ... we will be staying at Al Poggiolo this next trip for a week... then we will go to Rome for a few days and on to Amalfi Coast for 5 days.
One day, I hope to go in the Spring... May or very early June ... for a different experience.
Anyway... I guess that if you are going in Spring 2009 ... you better get a move on... if you choose Fall 2009, you will probably have more options ... good places book up fast.
Find out for sure that all 5 couples are committed... then get started ... you really need to do this soon...
If money is no object ... then I am sure all is possible... but if any of you are on a budget of sorts ... GET GOING NOW!
Good luck,
karen
Posts: 182 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 26 January 2005
GMTA.
