Agriturismo Il Villino

We stayed at Il Villino for five nights in July. Let me preface our review with some background. We booked Il Villino through a travel agent (our first and last time to use a travel agent), who did not adequately explain what we should expect from staying in agriturismo lodging in Italy. The travel agent described it as a "villa." Therefore, when we arrived after spending seven VERY HOT days in Venice and Florence and discovered that not only was the apartment smaller than we expected and NOT a villa, it had no AC, we were very disappointed. We even looked at trying to find another place to stay, but it was too late. Had our expectations been more in line with reality, perhaps we would not have been so disappointed. The good: The location is excellent, between Florence and Sienna in the Chianti region, a great takeoff point to visit many of the quaint hill towns in Tuscany and tour vineyards, etc. The apartment was clean, the farm was quiet. The pool was clean and our children enjoyed it. The wifi worked pretty well for most of our stay. To consider before booking: We were a family of four and the apartment was very cramped. The bathroom is small, even by Italy standards. This may be a characteristic of agriturismo lodging that everyone else knows, but you must supply all disposables (toilet paper, napkins, trash bags, etc) and take your own trash to the town for disposal. There is no washing machine on site (something our travel agent said they had), although there is a nice laundromat in town.

We stayed at this peaceful wine farm with family for a week in August. The location is good - Siena, Florence and some lovely medeival villages within easy driving distance. The swimming pool is lovely, but beware there are many wasps keen for water on the really hot days and we discovered a rather large nest close to the accommodation. The rooms are very dated and need a really good clean. The wiring for the electricity and the fridge was very exposed and rather dangerous, particularly as we had three small boys in our group. There is absolutely no basic provisions provided (eg tea, coffee, soap). There is a good CoOp in the local village. The hosts were friendly and welcoming.