Dear fodorites,My husband and I have traveled to Italy several times and absolutely love it.Another holiday is in the planning stages, more special since it will be after almost 2 years (our daughter is now 9 months old and we haven't traveled to Europe in a long time). I will enumerate the facts first and then seek your advice. Here goes -(thanks in advance for your time) <BR> <BR> * In all probability, we will be 2 families, ours and my brother's (wife + a 2 year old * We are planning to be there in early-mid Sept. 2001. <BR> * We want to visit Rome + Tuscany. We have done Rome several times and have visited Florence and Seina in Tuscany. This my brother's family's first visit to Europe. <BR> * Location wise, I think the area around Seina / Chianti is best since a trip to Florence will definately be on the cards <BR> <BR>* We will be driving. <BR>* We have about 7-10 days. <BR>* The plan is to rent a villa (agritourismo) but still be close to some towns (since we are with kids and my I'm not sure how my <BR>daughter will take to long durations in cars -we don't drive here in HongKong). <BR>* Villa quality ideally, clean, typical Tuscan style yet special (a bit luxurious is fine, we don't when we will be together like this again!). Great to have views, open gardens for kids to play. No dogs. 2 bathrooms and washing machine are a must. <BR>* Budget - can be up to US$2500-3000 a week. <BR>* Both my husband and brother love wine. We all love Italian food. <BR>* I love shopping in Italy (my sister in law is learning ceramics in pottery class these days...., I would love to shop for linens, <BR>visit designer outlets.. <BR> <BR>I have been doing research and have come up with too many choices, many look good which is scary. I would love to hear which property you recommend first-hand and suggestions for a great (spacious sized rooms + good location) hotel in Rome. Any other <BR>suggestions would be great. <BR> <BR>Many thanks <BR>Deepa Sobti

Hi Deepa, <BR>Like yourself I've been doing research on an Italy trip in Tuscany. While I have yet to go, I can recommend the following website www.travelreview.com. It has a large listing of various types of property directories in the region. My favourite is Tuscany.net. Also try out venere.it and click on countryside for Tuscany. <BR> Based upon what I have seen I think you can do fairly well for your price range. Personally, we've narrowed it down to La Suvera or Pallazzao Mannaioni (sp?) Once you've found a place, you can do a search on this board to see if there is any feedback. <BR> <BR>Have a great time, Nancy

I know the typo is silly, but anyone?

I guess not too many people rent a house or villa, and that must be why you're not getting answers yet. But someone wvwntually will answer. Just keep topping....

There are lots of threads on this topic, so if you do a search, you may find some info that you are not getting directly. <BR>Try typing in some key words (such as Villas, Tuscany, Rentals) into the <BR>text search box, and then wait a couple of mins(search can be slow) <BR>A company that has dreamy looking places to rent is the Parker Company <BR>(www.theparkercompany.com- I think) <BR>As far as hotels in Rome, <BR>The site www.venere.it has some great places that have been mentioned in threads here. <BR>You are looking for "triples" as far as rooms go, I guess. <BR>Some hotels to look at ; <BR>Due Torre <BR>Albergo del Senato <BR>Torre Argentina <BR>Tizano <BR>Santa Chiara <BR>Cesari <BR>Hotel Regno <BR>These are all in the Campo di Fiori / Piazza Navona area, as compared to the Spanish Step area. <BR>They are hotels I corresponded with, when I was looking for a suite for 4 for the time we are in rome before we get into our apartment. <BR>there is lots of info our there. <BR>Good luck and have fun!

Thanks Nancy and Nancy for the replies. The suggestions for the triples at Rome are very helpful.As far as I can tell the 'La Suvera' is a more hotel type place and not a villa-rental in the sense of renting an independent place (with kitchen etc.). Could not find Pallazo Mannioni by doing a search on the web. Do you have their website details? Many thanks.

Hi Deepa, <BR>I was in Tuscany last October and it was great. If you are in HK now which is where I am from, you would appreciate the peacefullness of the place. I want to move there at some point. I found my villa on the website of agritourismo(it has this word in the address). It is a website organized by the some tourist board(i think) where the owners post the properties themselves. You are not going through a middle-man who would say anything and collect a fat commission. I would go directly to that site and start emailing the owners. It was most useful. It has all the info from rates to specialities of the region. Some villa come with maid service. Exact address I don't have at this point. All the pictures of the interior and surrounding of the villa were there. I stayed at the highest place of Chianti de Castalina. IT WAS GOOD. There were two guest apts there, in the middle is the owner's castle . My neighor was an Aussie Judge from HK. But the driving up of the hills was about 20 minutes and you can't really speed(yes you can but it's a long and winding road). I love the scenery and the fresh air but it's a long drive especially if you have alot of alcohol in the system and it's dark and there is hardly any road sign. You may want to stay near the town of Siena if you like to shop. I came across a gallery that sells ceramic, as you walk inside there is the studio and you can watch the artists do their work. I do ceramics myself and I like watching other people do that. I can't remember that town at this point, I had too much chianti, if you like wine you are in heaven. That wine goes with all kind of food and it tastes alot better there and cost a fraction of what is here(I live in one of the most expensive places on earth.) I didn't have a bad bottle ever. I went at the time during harvest where the vineyards are closed. Otherwise i would have visited them. <BR>Chianti classico is a must. <BR> <BR>