travel52

DH and I are traveling to Italy/France with friends in June 2009 and we are really liking the looks and sounds of La Fonte between Pienza and San Quirco in Tuscany. A reply to an email we sent to La Fonte said they are out until July 29th, so we are exploring other options, as we can't tell by the website if they can accomodate 2 couples in different rooms or have a 2 bedroom that would be comfortable for us.

Bob, you suggest Il Poggiolo as a good value, but I can't find any reviews on it in Trip Advisor or Slow Trav. What am I missing?

Any other ideas for the area around San Quirco/Pienza? Pool, breakfast and that Tuscan magic is what we're looking for...at around 100 euros each.

Thanks !

slangevar

We almost went with La Fonte based on JeanneB's fantastic description, but wound up going with Terre di Nano (http://www.terredinano.com/) instead. It was 10 Euros more a night, but the reviews are amazing and it's only a mile from Montechiello (very near Pienza).

If you click on my name, you'll find a thread about "favorite places in Tuscany," where a poster gives the details on Terre di Nano.

Good luck! La Fonte sure does look wonderful.

travel52

It looks wonderful, thank you ! I will look into this one as well. I would need a ground floor room, so would need to check that out.

Thanks so much. Any other ideas?

taconictraveler

How about an apartment at La Foce in the val d'Orcia, near Pienza and San Quirico? This is my all time favorite in that area, having stayed in three different locations on that estate. Check it out. LA FOCE

travel52

La Foce looks wonderful as well. It appears you need to reserve for a week. We will only be staying 3 days.

slangevar: I see that Terre di Nano is 150 euros during June when we will be there. I was hoping for something closer to 90-100 euros.

Still wondering if anyone has or knows of any reviews for Il Poggiolo that Bob mentioned.

Keep the ideas coming and thank you !

ourjetboat

www.villacicolina.it It has the pool and the feel of Tuscany..but is a bit more upscale than La Fonte

travel52

ourjetboat: It looks wonderful, but the price on trip advisor is around $600. The website didn't list prices. Before I bother to even email them to ask, is it truely that expensive? Again, we're trying to stay close to 100 euros.

Thanks !

ourjetboat

Email them with your budget..see what they say. They negotiated a bit with us..in the 150 range.

slangevar

Hi Travel52,

That's annoying about Terre di Nano's high season prices.

I went through the exact same search as you. We were also hoping for around 80-100 Euros/night (for less than a week), and wound up not going with Il Poggiolo because I couldn't find even one review.

BUT, another agriturismo did make our top 4 - La Cretaiole (www.cretaiole.it). Looks like it's about 60-100 Euros, and it's 2.8 miles outside of Pienza. Sounds fun, too... they have lots of classes, wine tastings and events.

We also considered Terrapille (http://terrapile.it), which is walking distance to Pienza, but they didn't post prices on their site.

Other places that didn't make the cut:

•La Bella Toscana
•Fonte Bertusi (130 euros a night)
•La Crociona (bad review)
•Le Manzinaie (weekly only)
•Montorio (expensive)
•Poggio-Etrusco (expensive)
•San Lorenzo a Linari
•Sant’ Antonio
•Tenuta di Corsana (no views)
•Villa Luisa Toscana (too small)

Good luck!

travel52

Thanks a lot!

slagevar: I checked a couple out. La Cretaiole does not appear to have a pool, which we were hoping to have. I emailed Terrapille and asked about their rates. Just seeing their web pages makes my blood pressure lower !

slangevar

My fingers are crossed about Terrapille! It says a lot that it made my top 4 without posting rates.

kwren

bookmarking! thanks