My family and I have a reservation at the Agriturismo Malvarina in August. We chose it based on the wonderful reviews on this board. Also, my daughter is a chef, and I'm sure she will love Mama Maria--but I understand that they do not have air conditioning. Will we be miserable without it in August, or is it high enough in the hills to have a cooling breeze?

ttt

We stayed there in late April, and it is fairly high in the hills, but I don't know how it would be in August. Why don't you email them to find out?

Good choice, Catherine! It was hot and humid when we were there in October, but it cooled off nicely at night. There is a nice pool on the property. There were no screens on our windows, so be sure to keep the shutters closed until you turn out the lights. Your daughter will be able to join Maria for a one-day class in the morning, helping with the night's dinner. She may even be the only student in the class! Dinner began at 8:00 pm and we turned off the lights in the dining room as we left about midnight. Mamma and her family and staff gave up and left about 11:00 pm. Please, please report back to us when you return.

Betsy, thank you for your reply. I was only concerned about sleeping. The day doesn't worry me, since we won't be in the room anyway. I'm thinking we might want to take some mosquito coils if there aren't any screens--what do you think?

There was one of those plug-in coil thingies in our room. It think it's called a vape (vah-pay). A layer of repellant on your skin probably wouldn't hurt. We bought some at a pharmacy in Italy that worked well.