Is this ALL THERE IS?
 

Hi, I am getting a bit concerned as my requests for nice B&B or farmhouses are coming back saying all is full.

We are 4 in family and looking for an interesting place under E. 100 or just above. We will spend one night at: Assisi, one in San Gimignano area and two outside Florence in Pistoia or Prato.

One Fodorite from a posting of 2001 suggested, http://www.bed-and-breakfast-in-italy.com/ and it is a wonderful site. Contacted many and most say all booked up. Ok, maybe I am late but did not find this for Venice or Rome and I know Tuscany is VERY POPULAR with rentals for weeks on end.

Also tried venere.com and selection very small and expensive. We are traveling with kids so cannot make this trip expensive, plus dollar is weak vs. Euro. Tuscany dates of our whole trip are: 16-20th August '08.

1. Do you know of other sites like ones mentioned above, or is this all there are for B&B or farmhouse, no hotels?

2. Do you have B&B or farmhouse suggestions. To boot, I am trying to find a pool for kids too!

I appreciate any help. THANKS!

From a recent post on travel URL's:

ITALY
www.italiantourism.com www.initaly.com www.itwg.com www.wel.it
www.dolcevita.com www.slowtravel.com www.venere.it [hotels]
www.ticketeria.it/Default-eng.asp Galleries and exhibits
www.itwg.com/
www.exploreitaly.net/
http://goitaly.about.com/?once=true
ITALY - VILLA RENTALS/FOOD AND GENERAL
http://archive.salon.com/directory/t...ly/index2.html
www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/
www.villeinitalia.com/
www.discoveritaly.com/
www.sicilyvillas.com/
www.classictuscanhomes.com/index.html
www.italianvillas.com/
www.initaly.com/
www.travel-italy.com/
www.italycookingschools.com/
www.deliciousitaly.com/Siciliahotels.htm
http://turismo.regione.veneto.it
Remain on the Italian page (the English page will bring you back to the Italian again). Here's your cheat sheet on how to pull up a list of "Alberghi".
Under "cerca un albergo nel commune di" (= searching for a hotel in the city of) put in "Venezia" or "Roma" or whatever city you're seeking; under "scegli categoria" (select the category) the number of stars your hotel should have (two or three, etc), then hit "cerca" (=search). You'll find a list of hotels in alphabetical order -it's important to know that all those with "Mestre" as part of the address are situated on the mainland and not on the island of Venice.
After you have selected a hotel, you'll find the address in the upper and the rate in the lower part. The rest is informing you how many rooms the particular hotel has, what languages are spoken, etc. "Singole" means single "doppie" means double-room, "senza bagno" without bathroom, "con bagno" with bathroom. The rates given are minimum-maximum, depending on the season and the location and size of the room.

SITES FOR SPECIFIC REGIONS:

TUSCANY:
www.tuscany.net www.knowital.com www.commune.siena.it
www.chiantinet.it www.sangimignano.com www.firenze.net
www.appartamentialpoggiolo.it in Monteppulciano
ROME:
www.roma2000.it
www.twenj.net
www.romaonlineguide.com
www.scalareale.org Rome tours
VENICE:
www.veniceinfo.it
www.doge.it
www.veniceforvisitors.com
OTHER REGIONS:
www.bellaumbria.net
www.cinqueterre.it
www.amalfi.it
www.positanonline.co
www.bellagiolakecomo.com
www.orta.net
www.weekendafirenze.com
http://turismo.regione.veneto.it


Here's a link to the Fodor's posting:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35105985

In Assisi DH and I stayed (with another couple) in a family suite at the Hotel Subasio. It's almost next to St Francis' cathedral and we found it to be a really great place to stay. There was one bedroom (kingsize) and a livig room with two twin sofa beds. Only one bath. We took it and found it to be that best we had experienced in Italy.

You'll love Assisi!!

Good luck.

A lot of these types of accomodations won't book short stays. You might be better off looking to consolidate your days in one or two places. We stayed at a place called St. Anthony's Guesthouse in Assisi many years ago that might suit - very simple and they served breakfast and a simple dinner. Very well located - but certainly no pool. Ive also recommended Castello di Gargonza in Tuscany before - its in your range, a good base for day tripping and I believe now has a pool in addition to being beautifully situated.

Good luck!

One question: Are you looking for a quad room for at/about 100 euros, or two rooms at/about 100 euros each?

I think you're running up against a few basic problems: You're going when most of Europe also goes on vacation. You're going to some of the most popular places in Italy. You're only planning on one night in Assisi/SanG which a hotel keeper may prefer not to book in August (and may even have minimum-night requirements in August). You're a little late for the countryside.

Try Venere.com again. First click on Florence hotels, and then look for "Surroundings of Florence" and click on that. Then, from the left side of the page fill in your dates, select Hotel (more results than B&B but perhaps no pools) and your price range. When I did this for 18-20 August 2008, there were many results in the at/about 100-euro range per room. If you stayed in/near Certaldo or Castelfiorentino, you could use the train to reach Florence. The same train line in the other direction would take you to stations close to SanG and Siena.

As jjkbrook explained, many places in Tuscany rent weekly, especially farm housesm but also B&B's You will find a few that will rent for a minimum of three nights. Also, small towns like San G can't accomodate as many people as places like Rome/Venice so there is less selection to start with. San G and Florence are so close together that you should consider three nights in a nearby town instead of moving so much.

August is considered high season in Tuscany, but low/mid season in the major cities. Everyone tries to escape the cities in August for the countryside or beach. That's why you are finding decent/low prices in the cities.

You might consider some of the campgrounds in the area. Many have bungalows for rent at very low prices. While they may not rent for less than a week, it still may be a bargain. I think the one outside of Florence (Michaelangelo) has some good reviews.
http://www.camping.it/toscana/

Hello ciaodeb,

Not sure if this would appeal to you?
In Sept.2004 we stayed in Monticchiello--between Montpulciano and Pienza .It is a lovely small walled town. It was 480 euros for the week , however they may rent it for a few days. Not sure ?They own more than one apartment.OUr apartment was for 4 .

It was a great base for travelling around. Website is www.LeMaribelle.it

Other than the above , I can only offer suggestions for the place we are staying in Umbria (Nocera Umbra) just a little further north than Asissi. We will be there on Aug. 9 to 16th. There are several old small farm houses.
These people have young children and also offer cooking classes , and oh yes ---they have a pool, bicycles ,soccer nets and there is horse riding nearby.


You can look up www.serrediparrano.com
Birgit, the owner has been extremely helpful

Google for the local tourist offices. If anyone knows "all there is", it's them. They'll even know about those small private-owned places that don't appear in the big portals.

August 15 is Ferragosto, a HUGE holiday in Italy. Every Italian and his uncle head out of the cities and into the country. This year, it's on Friday, so all those Italians have booked/will book for at least two nights, August 15 and 16. Obviously, no one is going to accept a one-night booking for August 16.

Consider booking something in Prato/Pistoia, which are, relatively speaking, cities, for August 16 and 17, then heading into the country for August 18 and 19. Even then, one-night bookings are going to be pretty darned hard to get.

We are set with Assisi and Siena, now for the two nights ourside Florence, thinking of PRATO. We thought it best to be outside Florence vs. in this big city. What do you think? Wanted farmhouse or B&B where kids can use a pool in in Florence it mostly is hotels. In chat with B&B Casonova, a farmhouse w/ pool in Postoia, but they tell me they will know in APRIL if they could accommodate us!!

For JEAN-- it is one room, we want.

I appreciate all sites from bettyk, but really want to zone in with ones like I wrote in my opening question.

Any further comments are welcome! THANKS!

Strange !
Did they reply personally or did some computer say they were full? Sometimes they hold out for longer bookings.

Bobthenavigator: both situtions hold for the negative replies. For all reasons folks have cited above, I am having a hard time and am getting burnt out from being a hobbit over my computer for past week looking for places to stay!

Try the Chianti area rather than Prato direction. There are many places with pools in your price range listed on http://www.greve-in-chianti.com but as the other posters have said - ferragosto is the big holiday in Italy. It's also one of the most pleasant days to be in the country because there's almost no traffic - everyone is at home preparing the big dinner.

Always remember that there are a multitude of beds available that do not use email, advertising or such. Often they are simply marked with a 'room for rent' sign. This tactic may elude tax payments. My Polish neighbors travel regularly and they stay with locals. Then the 'locals' visit here. Wehave stayed in rooms over pubs that never are known publically.
Can you recruit other travellers and then share multi-night bookings?