Www.slowtrav.com has a really good listing to give you a good start to your research

That budget will be a challenge. Do you plan to have a car?

@jamikins Thanks a lot, will check it now

@bobthenavigator.. yea sure, as I said "We'll be renting a car, so it doesn't matter if it's far from big towns (actually seclusion & a romantic atmosphere is a plus!)"

actually I did find some places that fit our criteria on ownersdirect.co.uk , but I needed more reviewed options just to make sure

You can try booking.com. They have some villas and apartments in villas, and many of them have very recent reviews. Start out with a google search for "booking.com chianti", and then when you get the website, narrow the search to "apartments" or "villas" (and you also might try "honeymoon romance"). I don't know if they have anything in your price range.

Another place where you can read reviews is on this website:

http://www.agriturismo.net/

although I don't know how reviews get posted on their site. On booking.com, the only people who are allowed to post a review are people who booked their stay through booking.com, and then the property owner confirmed that they stayed there. On other sites (including Slow Travel as far as I know, and Tripadvisor), there is no independent mechanism for assuring that someone actually stayed on the property they reviewed).

This is another website where you can see reviews, but these are more apartments than independent villas (same is true of the link I gave above).

http://www.agriturismo.it/en/



I

Thanks @goldenautumn, I always do all my bookings on booking.com but the countryside rentals are a bit trickier to find.
Thanks for your help anyway

We rented a lovely farmhouse in Tuscany through chianti-and-more.com. They were a joy to work with. While there we had private cooking class and met a lovely lady named Orsa. She and her cousin have an agriturismo just outside Siena. I took some ladies on a tour the following year and stayed there. It is borgopersonatina.com/ita. It is not only a great place to stay but she is a wealth of information ( and her husband works for wine consortium.) it was fun to sit around in the evenings and here another side of Italy.... Congratulations on your marriage. You are going to love Italy

Congrats on you marriage.

Some beautiful Chianti Villages are
Radda
Panzano
Castellina

I think that 360E is not realistic for a week. I know of one place in Gaiole that is a very idealic one bedroom "honeymoon" kind of place with a private pool....but it is an amazingly good deal at 1000E a week.

There are two places near Radda that might work. They are both basic but great settings/pools
http://www.casaporciatti.com/ They don't mention it on the web site but they have a one bedroom apartment on the outskirts of Radda. Use the contact and ask about the price for their apartment
The other is Le Selvole (just google Leselvole Radda and you can find various sites). the selvole has beautiful grounds, one big building with various apartments

Your best search site will probably be slowtrav.com

Most of the apartments at this villa Le Torri (link below) are are €475 a week during September. Recommended on slowtrav.com >

REVIEW 1:http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/vr/review.asp?n=5151

REVIEW 2: http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/vr/review.asp?n=4211

REVIEW 3: http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/vr/review.asp?n=4148



Le Torri Villa website: http://www.letorri.com/index.php?discover-le-torri-chianti-tuscany


* * * * *

Wow, I am going to look into this place when I go back next year!

Thanks everyone for the links

@jnjfraz we're actually looking for something a lot more basic than the "honeymoon" type with a private pool.. We already know that's way over our budget

We actually found 2 places on flipkey.com and ownersdirect.com but we're trying to find somewhere that we're sure of.. The reviews on flipkey seemed over-enthusiastic to me so I need to double-check if anyone here has personally found something suitable.

Sorry that's ownersdirect.co.uk

>>>>We actually found 2 places

It would help if you linked the specific apartments here.

This one on VBRO is actually €330/week
http://www.vrbo.com/488600ha?unitId=1243527

This one is for €346
http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/italy/IT4220.htm

This one's for €350
http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/italy/IT3908.htm

And this one is for €317
http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/italy/IT5190.htm

The problem is, I can't find reviews for the ones on ownersdirect.. The owner of the one on VBRO has very good reviews, and I found some others on Flipkey that only seem to have over-enthusiastic reviews

Which of these would you go for?

Get a good map of Tucsany and do some reading.
Tuscany is quite large, and is really 5 distinct geographic areas to me. First, you decide what you want to see and do in Tuscany and only then start to look at rentals. The ones you have listed are in the less popular areas of Tuscany and therefore less expensive. It is called supply and demand and it works in Italy too.

I will add that the only location I would consider among those above would be the Volterra one. But, you are still an hour to mainline Chianti or Siena. You really need a good map.

@bobthenavigator, well yea we do know it is vast, and that's why we're renting a car and the location of the rental is what's going to determine the places we'll see, not the other way around..
It may sound weird, but that's all we can get with our budget, and we really just want to spend some quality time in the Tuscan countryside that's all..
If the rental happened to be close enough to one of the more popular cities, we'll go see it on a day trip.. Otherwise, we don't really care that much about sightseeing in Tuscany on this particular trip.

Thanks for the tip bob!
and of course we have a map

Sorry, I thought you preferred Chianti.

What's wrong with over enthusiastic reviews? I have left many such reviews, and raved about certain properties

The links from owners direct have little info, scarce photos and no reviews, I'd be wary.

How's the trip going? Did you see Doppio's post above? That place looks great. Just a bit over your budget, but great place and location.

I can appreciate your need to have a budget. We travel on a tight budget as well. In 2010, we stayed for a week in an apartment in the hilltop village of Montefioralle which is on the edge of Greve in Chianti. I am sorry, but cannot find the link, but the name was La Loggetta and from memory it was 350 euro a week. We found it a good base for exploring Chianti.

Our second week in Tuscany was in a much less visited part- the Lunigiana region. It was a studio apartment in a restored water-mill. Very picturesque. It was a few minutes from the town of Fivizzano which had everything we needed. We did a day trip to Cinque terre, across to the Garfagna area and other lovely drives. There are a host of lovely villages to visit. We really enjoyed our week there, but then we are more inclined to stay in less visited areas I suppose. It is just that most people think of Tuscany as Chianti, Florence etc. And there is nothing wrong with that because they are fabulous. But you did indicate some flexibility so I thought I would throw it into the mix. Here is the link

http://www.dimora-la-cascata.co.uk/Dimora%20la%20Cascata%20guest%20comments.htm

I reviewed both on Slow Trav [ review numbers 4899 and 4897 ] and they are also on trip advisor I think.

As far as Owners Direct goes, I did not look at your specific links, but we have used this agency for booking in France and had no problems.

I hope you can find somewhere in your budget and have a memorable honeymoon.

Have a look at http://www.fattoria-pagnana.it/?lang=en

This place is in the Chianti Fiorentino rather than Chianti Classico area but since you have a car this should not pose any problems for visiting Siena, San Gimignano etc. To visit Florence you could park for free near the station of Rignano and take the train therefore avoiding parking charges in Florence as well as the feared ZTL traffic cameras.

The price for two should be within your budget. Also I know the owners so I am sure you will get special honeymoon treatment. My email address is available on this site if you are interested.

A plus is that nearby you can find many factory outlets - Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana etc etc with some excellent prices!

We stayed at this agriturismo near Greve in Chianti. For the four of us, it was a dreamy sweet place, relaxed, pretty, small, rustic yet with everything we needed. The owner Cecilia makes it the special find that it is:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g580240-d309971-Reviews-Podere_Torre-Greve_in_Chianti_Tuscany.html

I am linking you to TripAdvisor because we stayed there a few years ago, and I wanted to see what the recent feedback was (enthusiastic!). Three sets of friends have stayed there since we did, including a mom and her college age daughter and a 30 something couple on a low-key honeymoon. All of them rated it is one of their favorite stays on their respective Italy trips.

It must be just up the hill from the apartment that 'rhon' mentions, above, as we could walk to the tiny village of Montefioralle for dinner.

annabelle2 - mabe a nice place but out of price range!

Yes, it is over the budget (450-500 Euro for the B&B room two of us had), but still could be a possibility if something else cheaper does not pan out. Definitely well worth it, but I do know about being on a budget, believe me!

Thanks a lot guys I really appreciate your help

SalmaSh - have you decided on anything yet? How's it coming along?