Help! Need advice on places in Tuscany.
 

It is my fiance and my first time traveling to Italy and we've spent way too much time looking at different sites and researching different accomodations in Tuscany. We finally have it down to 4 choices (which was very difficult for us). Has anyone stayed at any of these places? We want this to be a romantic and special trip.
1) Relais Della Rovere
2) Villa Sassolini
3) Hotel Villa Casalecchi
4) Borgo Casa al Vento

Ooops. I forgot one more....
La Spinosa

I hate to complicate things and I don't know anything about your other choices, but I just happened to be looking at this place in Tuscany just this evening and was thinking it looked like a really great place to stay. You might want to check it out.

Borgo di Vagli (<u>www.tuscany-goldcrown.com/</u>)

I did have a tour of some of the rooms and the Villa Casalecchi last fall and was not really impressed.

I can highly recommend Villa Vignamaggio though. We spent almost a week there and really enjoyed it. It is where they filmed &quot;Much ado about nothing&quot;.
It is a lovely Villa with beautiful grounds and the girls in the reception are were very helpful and friendly.
This is their web site:
www.vignamaggio.com/uk_agriturismo.

Of course, location is always the key. I like the location for Della Rovere as a good base. However, I would spend time at slowtrav.com and read their reviews by area and keep an open mind.

Thank you all. Villa Vignamaggio and Gold Crown both look beautiful. Although, I think I like the Italian charm of the Villa a bit more. I am totally overwhelmed. Does anyone know any of these other places on my list. It would really help me in narrowing down my choices. Not to mention someone told me that &quot;Hotel L'Ultimo Mulino is also nice. We are leaving the country August 2nd!! I need to make a decision!

Having done this at least 50 times, I have learned that you start with location and then choose accommodations. There are dozens of wonderful places, but you must decide the area of Tuscany you will want for your agenda. It is a big place. If you shop at a site like tuscany.net it will drive you crazy without a location in mind. You seem to be focused on Chianti--is there a reason?

No, there is no real good reason other then it seems close to Siena (which everyone raves about) and I thought it might be one of the nicer places to visit. Also, we are staying in Florence for 4 days so I didn't want something too close to the city.

still really need some advice... anyone?

I recently stayed at Loc Lamandria (www.lamandria.it) They have self-contained apartments for rent. It is as private as you want to be. The owners live in a house seperately, and you are secluded from them (although they are lovely English retired couple)They have a gorgeous infinity swimming pool which overlooks the valley and mountains above... at night the fireflies put on a spectacular show. I found it very romantic...

It sounds beautiful but I was told that in August you need a/c because it is so terribly hot. I also get pretty bad allergies in August so it might not be such a bad idea.

hmmmm... at lamandria, at night we actually needed sweaters! And we used the blankets that were provided. My allergies did not bother me as much as back home, but I guess that depends how bad your are. I know when we stayed in Rome it was VERY hot at nite and a/c would have been greatly appreciated, but Tuscany was fine at night.