I love reading your posts, you always seem to have such good advice. I wondered if you would help me out. My husband and I are spending a week in Tuscany (Sep/Oct). The first 4 days we will be staying in the Chianti region (Locanda le Piazze)but would like to move south to Umbria or Southern Tuscany for 2 days. So far I have considered Il Falconiere (Cortona), Villa Pambuffetti (Montefalco), Il Chiostro di Pienza (Pienza) or possibly Eremo delle Grazie (Spoleto). It is our 10th wedding anniversary so we are looking at nicer/charming hotels.

Any thoughts?

Maybe this is one of those times when Bob will provide not only his advice but a little rationale to go along with it.

Until Bob shows up (maybe he's sleeping in), just type his name <Bob the Navigator> into the text search box and all his previous posts will magically appear on the left hand side of your screen.

I'm guessing he's going to tell you to try to book into Locanda Amoroso in Sinalunga.

Hmmm ! Sorry to be so tardy, but I was not sleeping in. On Sunday mornings we sing in the church choir, and I spent much of the PM on the beautiful beach on Amelia Island.
Since you are spending 4 nites in Chianti you will have easy access to most of Tuscany including south Tuscany. So, my idea is to send you to Umbria. Cortona is too isolated for my tastes, but you did have a good option with Villa Pambufetti.Let me add 2 others. We like the Palazzo Bocci in Spello--a nice 4 star with a great ristorante across the street in a charming village. Another option has come to my attention recently from someone on this forum. I have never seen it personally, but the web site looks good and the location is hard to beat. If you fly out of Rome after this stay then Chiusi has a car drop for Autoeurope, and a direct train to Rome.
It is called Villa Il Patriarca and can be seen at www.roadtoitaly.com The other poster raved about it.Good Luck!

Hi cheri and Bob

I was the one who RAVED about Villa Il Patriarca! We were just there about 2 weeks ago. It is a hidden gem in Chiusi. 2 minutes from the A1 Autostrada. While I might not have traveled as extensively as Bob, I do know what's good!! It is within all the major and minor hill towns of Tuscany and Umbria. A FANTASTIC restaurant just got a Michelin star!
The director owner Loris will take excellent care of you I promise
Tell them Lewis from USA sent you, you won't be disappointed! Ask for room 243, 4 poster canopy bed, surround sound dvd/cd player and the A/C was wonderful. I can't say enough good things about this place. They treated us like royalty. (The pool still might not be ready) but they do have a pool at the Agriturismo Sorbele (sp) about 15 kms away that you can use or there is a public pool in Sartaeno. ENJOY!!

thanks for the help! I will start checking into availablity a.s.a.p. Thanks Bob for all the great advice you give to everyone.

You are most welcome !

Yes, Cheri, I have stayed at il Patriarca as well, it is a great villa with top notch restaurant service. the match wines with each course. it is where you go to be pampered. actually, ask for the suite, you can get packages with meals included. it is a great base for exploring tuscany, orvieto, cortona. Pampuffetti is great too, but in a completely different corner, the food is much simpler and hardly no choice. Lorri