Castel Bigozzi or Villa Fontelunga...??
 

My wife and I will be honeymooning in Sept. We have tentatively booked for 6 nights a room at Castel Bigozzi, located in Monteriggioni. However, a travel agent would like us to consider Villa Fontelunga in Arezzo. <BR> <BR>Can anyone give us some editorial comments on either/both or these properties mentioned? <BR> <BR>Grazie! <BR> <BR>Matt and Amy

I think I answered a very similar post as this the other day...the best place we stayed over 3 weeks was Castel Bigozzi. Wonderful room, fabulous views and super bath with a jacuzzi. It is not located in Monteriggioni, although it is only about 7 minutes away. It is located next to a tiny town named Strove. One of the best restaurants we ate at was just down the road at Abbadia Isola. We were only at CB two nights, but had I known how lovely it was, we'd have tried to stay longer (actually we would have stayed another night but it was booked). I'm thinking it would be an ideal spot to daytrip all over Chianti country and much of Tuscany (It is very well located!)Do a search here on the name Castel Bigozzi, and my post will pop up -- I've got a travelogue posted on Virtual Tourist with pictures. It was an extraordinary place and I can't imagine you wouldn't find it as fabulous as we did. (And in September, I'm assuming their pool will still be open -- what a pretty setting that was in! They were just getting it ready when we were there in May.)

hmm. search function is acting up -- here is the link:http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/.136035/167/?s=N <BR>Have you been to the CastelBigozzi website at chiantiturismo.it? The rooms are as pictured. This place was only pulled together a year or so ago, and everything is high quality. <BR>

Diane- <BR> <BR>Thank you for the quick response. Yes, my new wife, Amy, posted the same question but we couldn't find the post/responses (we also tried searching on CB....). We did go to the website and it does look great. Just wanted some confirmation. Our plan is to stay 6 nights and do some day trips as well as relax and unwind. What trips would you recommend (other than Siena and SG which we will of course avail ourselves of)? Can you recommend any wine /olive tasting tours? We're so looking forward to our longest vacation since college!!!

From there you can also visit Montepulciano, Montalcino and Pienza. (We visited them earlier in our trip from Chiusi, but it is not far at all from Strove.)All are must-sees! (and you can taste and buy some wonderful wine and cheese in those spots) But you'll probably only get to do quality time in two places a day -- for one thing, everyone closes down for a LOOOOOONG lunch, 12:30-3PM and that means you should plan to be driving and eating lunch then. And the roads are so pretty you'll be stopping often to take photos. You can probably also drive to the West to visit Volterra (we didn't get to do that, but next time!)and areas around there. Get as detailed a Michelin map as possible. <BR>We never quite connected with a winery for touring (we saw several as we were driving), but did our tasting at enotecas in the towns. In Montalcino, the fanciest place has rooms and tables in the fortress area. I picked up a bottle of truffle flavored olive oil in a Montalcino grocery store. Turned out to be one of the best things we brought back. We use it sparingly...it tastes just magnificent, even just on a breadcrust. sigh. Bob the Nav has a favorite town around there too, with natural springs--Bagno Vignoli??? something like that--we saw signs while we were driving, and if Bob says it's a cool place, I'd believe it! We tried to go to Colle val d'elsa for dinner one night and got hopelessly lost (I think we turned too soon and got stuck in a fairly ugly suburban area from which it was impossible to find the centro!) But I've heard that is a lovely place too. I hope you get to spend at least one lovely late afternoon or early evening sitting on the patio overlooking the gorgeous fields and rolling hills.