My DH & I will be in Tuscany for 5 days next month and are looking for accomodations in Chianti. We're flying into Milan, renting a car & heading south. We're thinking Chianti will be the best centrally located area - not far from Florence, San Gimignano, or Montepulciano. Any suggests on where to stay? We're not sure if we're going to make reservations in advance b/c we want to be spontaneous on this leg of our trip, but want some overall idea of where to go. Thanks!

where have you looked so far to find a place? Have you searched the internet, tripadvisor.com, venere.com or this site?

It seems tuscany.net is a good resource & have looked there. I'm wondering if anyone can personally recommend a good place.

Hi Angela,

For June in Chianti, I would definitely have advance res. Most of the lodging choices are small establishments and you don't want to spend all day driving and searching from one place to another. Especially in Chianti where the roads are windy and take longer than you think to drive from point to point.

I can highly recommend the Residence San Sano which is in the tiny, tiny village of San Sano. About 20 minutes north of Siena on the Chianti Hwy. You can see it on www.chinatinet.com.

Buon viaggio!

Thanks for the tips Dayle! I will definitely check it out!

I highly recommend staying at:

http://www.hotelsanleonino.com/ing/arriva_ing.php

The Belvedere San Leonino which is just south outside Castellina in Chianti.

It is a beautiful inn surrounded by vineyards and rolling hills. They have a pool and lovely gardens in which to relax.

Our rooms were spacious, very reasonable and clean. Large bathrooms too.

You can eat there is you choose, by signing up in the morning. We did this once and were not disappointed.

It is very easy to locate and you won't be sorry you stayed there.

Eurogals:
Were the rooms at The Belvedere San Leonino air conditioned? My husband and I will be travelling to Italy in August.
Thanks.

It would be a good idea to make a reservation. You don't say whether you want a pool or not. There's plenty of useful Chianti info, including places to stay, on www.greve-in-chianti.com

Friends of ours stayed in the Squarcialupi in Castellini and loved it. We stopped by and found them extremely friendly and accommodating. I think you'll find them on the Tuscany.net site.

A few links for accomodations in Chianti:

http://www.tuscanweb.com/property/?ID=4204

http://www.tuscanweb.com/property/?ID=3950

http://www.tuscanweb.com/property/?ID=4405

http://www.tuscanweb.com/property/?ID=4146

http://www.tuscanweb.com/property/?ID=4420

http://www.tuscanweb.com/property/?ID=4260

Hope it helps!

Everyone's advice is much appreciated. We've definitely decided to make a reservation somewhere (still researching), to have a base for 5 days & then take day trips everywhere. After doing some research on mapquest, I didn't realize even Pisa is only about 1.5 hours from the Chianti region - we could even do a day trip to the sea. That brings another question - does anyone know of any good coastal towns (besides Cinque Terre) - not too touristy, but more romantic in Tuscany? I've been to the Italian Riviera & loved it (esp. Varazze - so awesome!), but am not familiar with the Tuscan coast.

Eurogal - The hotel you listed looks awesome; it's listed as a hotel, but seems more like a villa? It also seems like it's away from a city, which is what we're looking for. We want something secluded & quiet to relax.

We stayed at a wonderful agritourismo (privately owned farmhouse) right outside of Radda in Chianti. It's called Canvalle. Do a google search - here is one website: http://www.canvalle.chiantionline.com/CASA/interno.htm If you go, LeLe the owner is absolutly wonderful! Enjoy!

Sorry for the delay in answering your questions on the air-conditioning.

I was there is May and actually don't recall if there is AC or not. The website doesn't indicate that there is any, so I doubt if there will be any. It is high enough to catch a nice breeze and the swimming pool is great.

We stayed at the Villa Casalecchi, Castellina in Chianti (Siena) 3 weeks ago. It was wonderful, however, it was part of a hiking tour so I'm not sure of the price. It's in a vineyard, very peaceful, has great food and the staff is very pleasant. They also have a pool and a beautiful rose garden. We loved it.