La Terazza - Historic Home and Garden in the Centro of Medieval Cetona

In September, my wife and I stayed for almost two weeks at La Tarazza, Cetona. Although our flight was late arriving into Roma Fiumicino Airport, the Property Manager, was still waiting for us when we arrived and took care of getting our luggage up to the house. When we took our coffee up to the garden next morning to take in the views, we knew we had made a good choice of place to stay. Cetona was clean, quiet and had all the local amenities, including two great restaurants (Nilo’s and Osteria Merio). Our home-away-from-home was very clean and had all the amenities (with exception of microwave, which taught you to do things the “old way” again). While English was not spoken by too many, everyone was willing to converse with you and try to help, which is half the fun for us. The Saturday morning market was a great place to pick up your fruits and vegetables, but don’t touch the fruit, they will select for you, depending on whether you want to eat it that day or in a few days!

There are several day hikes from the town and maps are available from the town Tourist Office. If you want to rent bikes, there is a shop in Chuisi (15mins drive) called “Bruscino Noleggio Biciclette Chuisi”. Mountain bikes cost 12Eu/day, but not much selection. A couple of great rides right out of town. “Sentiero Della Bonifica” runs through beautiful countryside up to Arezzo (~40miles one way).

Location is perfectly situated between Rome and Florence, with the A1 Autostrada running north/south only 10mins away. This is a toll road, so don’t lose your ticket or you’ll be paying the full 50Eu! There are so many beautiful towns and villages to explore in and around Tuscany and wine country. This time of year, the sunflowers start to die and are being harvested with many fields ploughed over. The contrast of soil colours in just 100 yards, was amazing to see and makes for great photographic opportunities. June/July are the months to see them in full bloom across the rolling hills. Montepulciano, Montalcino, Montefalco wine areas are 40-50 mins. Away. Avignonesi, near Cortona, is one of the better vineyards and does a great tour. You need to book ahead.

Overall, we had a wonderful time, and the Property Manager was like a tour guide to us, helping is make arrangements for renting bikes over the phone, since our Italian was limited.

We recently stayed at La Terrazza and had a wonderful stay. Quaint town with two nice restaurants, our favorite Osteria Merlo. Most of our trips were within a one hour car drive. We saw Perugia, Assissi, San Gimignano, Volterra and Orvieto. A car is a must. La Terrazza was a wonderful comfortable place to come home to. Great views and very clean. On the weekend the piazza was loaded with kids playing and older folks sipping their expresso.

Vacationing at La Terazza was a dream come true for me and my two best friends. We flew into Rome and rented a car and had an easy drive to Cetona. After doing the "tourist stops" in Rome, it was very unique and lovely to spend a week in Cetona. We felt like we were really experiencing a true Italian experience. The villa is perfect with every convenience that your home would have. The owner was very helpful in giving us all the details that we needed. It was very clean, well maintained, and exceeded our expectations in every way. We really used the wifi to connect with friends at home and to download all of our beautiful picures of where we were staying! We even had fresh basil and tomatoes from the garden in the back to make some very memorable meals and eat together on the upstairs terrace. Many laughs and joy were shared as we drank wine that we bought down the street at the local shops. I was worried about gaining weight after eating and drinking so well but we walked everywhere. We felt very safe and the pace of life is so relaxing. We drove to many little towns in Tuscany and even went to Florence one day. It was a very easy drive back "home". I can't wait to come back!

I just returned from a week stay with my wife and 2 teenage children. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The house is well equipped and as charming as the pictures suggest. I especially enjoyed mornings on the terrace. As one guest wrote in the guestbook, sit more drive less! The owner and local property manager are incredible.

Cetona is an located in one of the most picturesque portions of Tuscany. The views in every direction are magical. The local shops are quite nice and we managed to communicate speaking very little Italian. The 2 local restaurants are both very nice, we preferred Osteria del Merlo.

Be prepared for some hill climbing. The road up to La Terazza is a very steep cobblestone lane straight out of a travel brochure. Not too hard for a reasonably fit person, but I doubt a wheelchair would work. The spiral stairs look intimidating, but they were old hat by day 3.

Molto Buono!

We just spent a week at La Terazza and had a great time. This well restored home had everything we needed for a comfortable stay for our family of 4. Really enjoyed the upper deck and garden with views of the scenery over the rooftops. Found the owner to be extremely responsive to all our questions by email and very informative about the region. On his suggestion we drove the loop from Cetona to Radicofani to Montichiello and back. Was one of our best days in Tuscany. Also, go see the village of Castiglione di Lago. Wonderful medieval hilltop town with fantastic lake views from a restored castle. Would definitely recommend La Terazza for anyone looking for a unique home in a beautiful (and not touristy) historic Tuscan town.