Hotel Il Sole

This hotel doesn’t change with the passing of the years: you get decent but near-soulless accommodations in the medieval heart of Massa Marittima. If you have a car, you also get free parking underneath the hotel, accessible from the street in the lower town that runs behind the hotel. (Warning: In high season you have to be as expert as native Italian drivers at navigating a car into a parking space seemingly smaller than the car itself.) Breakfast is minimalist, and so is the enthusiasm of some of the staff. Wi-Fi is only in the four-seat lobby. But we are loyalists. The Il Sole provides a basic and acceptable product—accommodations in a perfect location--at a reasonable price.

Like the town of Massa Marittima itself, the Hotel Il Sole seems to be a place history has passed by. When it opened a quarter century ago it provided mid-range modern comfort in a historic building right in the medieval center of this charming, unspoiled town. It can still be said to offer the basics at a reasonable price (around €60 a night during our stay). Yes, there is electricity and hot and cold running water, and there is a breakfast service at the same dairy-bar tables and chairs the hotel offered in 1990. There is even Wi-Fi available, at no extra charge, but only in the hotel’s small lobby. Moreover, if you are driving, the hotel offers parking in the garage at the bottom floor of the hotel, which is accessed from the narrow street running behind the hotel (the hotel is on the slope of Massa Marittima’s hill, so the rear of the building is two floors lower than the lobby entrance on Via della Libertà.) And while Massa Marittima’s historic center is a pedestrian zone, you are permitted to drive through the Piazza del Duomo and up Via della Libertà to check in with your luggage. (When you leave, though, you should take your luggage down the elevator to the basement level and load it in your car in the garage.) These are the reasons we tend to return to the Hotel Il Sole on our annual visits to the town--essentially price and location. Regrettably, however, the lack of investment in upgrading guests’ bathrooms and the furnishings (both in guest rooms and public spaces) gives the guest the feeling of being in a Motel 6 or Days Inn rather than in a charming hotel in one of Tuscany’s sweetest hill towns. Maybe the threadbare feeling will help push you out of the hotel to explore the town and the wider Maremma, which is presumably why you came to Massa Marittima in the first place. But regrttably it seems just as likely to be pushing customers to other hotel options further from the town center.

We've stayed at the Il Sole twice. It's not luxurious, but the room was very clean and if you're on the top floor (do try to get a room there) there's a partial view as far as Elba (I'm pretty sure). There's also free parking and a nice continental breakfast, and you can get additional cappuccinos from the bar in the lobby when it's staffed. The best thing about the hotel is its wonderful location just steps from the Piazza Garibaldi - cathedral, civic museum (worth visiting!), and many pleasant restaurants, cafes, and shops. Wifi only in the lobby, but there are nice armchairs there.