We had an absolutely wonderful vacation at Villa Tripoli. The villa is what everyone hopes an Italian vacation villa will be. The house has all the Italian architectural charm for which one could wish, but also modern utilities. We were delighted to have 5 full bathrooms and modern kitchen appliances. The house is roomy and extremely comfortable. The surrounding countryside is truly lovely.
We stayed for 5 weeks and we wish we could have stayed longer. Various family members and friends came and went, and each one arrived with the same initial comment: "Wow! This place is amazing!" There are so many wonderful places to see and things to do in the areas near the villa. We loved Orvieto, Todi, Speleto, Bolsena, Pitigliono, and the smaller, less-touristy hill towns. Susan's "Notes on Villa Tripoli" proved invaluable with recommendations for restaurants, activities, and shopping. We especially liked the family restaurant in Porano, Trattoria and Pizzeria da Claudio, where we dined often and always enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere and the good food. We also liked the Trattoria del Conte on the road to Lake Bolsena. We also had catering done by Simona for several dinners, and those dinners were just terrific.
Emanuela, the House Manager when Susan was away, was terrific. She is so friendly and did everything she could to make us feel welcome and comfortable. She is a Certified Tour Guide, and she gave us a great tour of Orvieto and also of Bolsena. She also arranged for other colleagues to give us tours of Palazzo Farnese, Villa Lante, Todi, and Montefalco. All the guides were wonderful.
I realize that I am running out of superlatives as I am writing, but I just can't say enough about this very special place. Thank you, Susan and Emanuela! We hope we can be back soon.