Gæstebruger
15. oktober 2023
We spent our 20th anniversary in one of the suites. The hotel is amazing and the staff even better! The upside: 1. The hotel is gorgeous, the grounds around it are beautiful. Our suite was massive and well appointed. 2. The staff and owner were as good as they come. They were very attentive and responsive. We got in late from our flight and missed dinner. They offered some light fare for us, we declined, but had a nice bottle of Chianti we enjoyed outside on one of the patios. Their house Chianti is excellent. 3. An absolute must is the cooking class. I grew up in the restaurant business and I learned a ton, plus the food was excellent. We had a ton of fun and it was just us. Definitely do this if staying there. 4. The little town it is in is very charming. My wife’s picked fresh figs from the trees around the area (we also saw tons of olive trees, prickly pear cactus, and pomegranates), and there is a cute little bodega where we enjoyed a sandwich and beer. 5. We had dinner one night at the hotel. The food was great and it’s a cute little dining room (also used for breakfast). 6. It’s close to a number of wineries and we ended up doing a wine tasting one evening and an olive oil tasting. We ended up ordering a case of wine from Rocca di Castagnoli and 3L of olive oil after a tasting at the olive farm next door. When driving to the vineyard we went through some backroads and on the way back we saw at least a dozen wild boar and a few deer as well. That was cool. The couple of items to consider: 1. You need a car. This worked great for us as we wanted to see several different cities. We drive to Siena and Arezzo, and drive to the train station to get to a Florence. There are some nice and surprising large supermarkets in the main town of Montevarchi about a 15 minute drive. It’s a good midpoint between many main cities in Tuscany and the train station was very convenient. 2. The only real downside were the mosquitoes. This was not the hotels fault obviously but they were everywhere, including our room. We made the mistake of opening a window one night as it was so nice and for the rest of the stay we got bitten each night and it made it difficult to sleep with all the buzzing. Overall, it’s one of the nicer hotels we have stayed in. Our room was well decorated and very unique, almost an apartment rather than a hotel room. If you are planning to visit a lot of places and want a single place to stay while in Tuscany you can’t beat the charm, luxury, and value.
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