My family, made up of 7 adults, one grandchild and a babysitter, spent 10 days at this beautiful Tuscan villa in July. The villa is a 10 minute drive from Lucca in the Tuscan hills. It is an hour from Florence, and a half hour from the beach, and other wonderful . day trips, including Cinque Terre, which were all great day trips that we took. The villa itself is a large, gracious and beautifully built 16th century home. The bedrooms are large with many of them ensuite. Two of the bedrooms are in a house at the far side of the property, which we did not use. The layout worked well for our group. Cristine who managed the property was a pleasure to deal with. as was Stephanie, who came every day to help clean the house and help with the garbage etc. While the villa has a beautiful view of the countryside, it backs on to a courtyard with other houses. This did not, however, detract from the countryside setting of the villa. It is beautifully decorated, with comfortable furniture, inside and outside of the house. and the bathrooms are newly renovated. The beds are comfortable with high end linen and plenty of closet space in each room. There are many super markets nearby that have fresh fish, meat, and produce, as well as a delicious bakeries and a pharmacy for all of your needs. The only disappointment, based on the description of the house, is that the kitchen has not been newly renovated. Given our disappointment, the managers of the property did purchase new kitchen gadgets, as well as a clothes dryer for the property. The kitchen is functional but not a newly upgraded kitchen with high end appliances as we had expected and the only reason we have given the villa a four star as opposed to 5 star rating. The managers did everything they could to make our stay comfortable, and were very responsive to our needs, including immediately buying a new pool umbrella to replace the broken one. I would highly recommend the villa for a large family holidaya group of friends.
