This review was submitted before 2018 and has not been verified.
4/10 Poor
Sep 23, 2014
Not quite as advertised
We had seen pictures of house, only after the leader of our group had already booked, but we still imagined a lovely estate-type like setting with pool. The home was clean and they did have all the necessary items you would expect in a homestay - the linens, hairdryers, microwaves, even a good espresso machine. It would have been helpful if the washer/dryer had better instructions, especially when it came to problem solving-dryer had stopped w/no explanation –we did eventually figure out the issue. The owners were very helpful in setting up the rooms to accommodate our sleeping group. The pool was very nice and well maintained. We did have a lovely visit with Fortuny one evening for drinks-she's a lovely woman. One of her staff, Anton, was also most helpful when he was on property.
However there were a few glitches in our stay. On our first night the microwave blew a fuse. We found 4 fuse boxes, but none were a match for the microwave which unfortunately, also was connected to the hot water heater. We rang the bell several times to the home of the owner (right next door) for help with no response. We had to wait until the next day to have things fixed. The walk to the Ponte Vecchio is at least 45 minutes, not 20 minutes. The "estate" is on a narrow one way street on the uphill behind a locked gate. There is one remote, which means if you don't have it, you have to get out of car and unlock w/key. Once gate opens it's a 3 point turn to try to get into narrow opening that had a hard left turn drop -not for the feint of heart. You have to have a car to go anywhere unless you wanted to walk 15 minutes to a little town for essentials. Taxi service was almost impossible to get. The separate cottage had a very strong musty smell - if you have allergies you would not have been able to stay there. Individual A/C units in each bedroom were comfortable but no units in the living areas.
Budget-wise it's a decent place, but I don’t think the home is advertised as it really is. Information needs to be updated to reflect an honest description of the home.