My husband and I are traveling to Tuscany & Umbria for 10 days at the end of June/July. I was able to purchase a great package through Luxury Link for 5 nights at the Castello di Velona in Montalcino. We're now trying to find a great location in Umbria or some other area in Tuscany to spend our last 5 nights. (Castello di Velonia is already booked so we can't buy another package).

We have been to Tuscany previously and stayed at Locanda dell'Amorosa 3 years ago. We were only there for 4 nights so we'd like to go back and see more. We felt that Locanda dell'Amorosa was lovely hotel & great location for exploring. I've considered staying there again but wondered if there might be a better choice. I've also contacted Il Falconiere. I'm hoping one of the many experts on this forum can offer some other suggestions.


Criteria..
Great location hopefully with a view. We'd prefer to stay out of major cities such a Perugia, Siena, Spoleto etc.

Accommodations-prefer something similar in quality to accommodations listed above.

We're also looking for suggestions for sightseeing & photography. We're particularly looking for small and charming villages that are not over-run with tourists. We did the major cities on our last trip (Siena, San Gimignano, Assisi..we're hoping for other suggestions).

Any thoughts?

Since you are evidently interested in high-end properties, you might look into

http://www.oscano.com/
(a castle near Perugia)

or

http://www.ortoangeli.com/
(in tiny and picturesque Bevagna)

I have no idea whether either offers a
view, but the Web sites should tell you whether they do or not.

Small Umbrian towns that you might consider visiting include Spello, Trevi, Bevagna itself, Montefalco.

Can't recommend any accomodations since we stayed at a friend's villa in Trevi. It was magnificent.
As for smaller hill towns, Trevi, Gubbio, Bevagna and Spello are wonderful and do not see many tourists and probably no tour groups. Deruta is a great place for pottery, especially Fornace San Lorenzo, Via El Frate, 11.Sergio and Monica will charm you and they do wonderful work.
Cortona is also a nice place to spend a few hours.
Have a great trip.

In October of 2003, my husband and I stayed at the four star Abbazia San Pietro in Valle in the Valnerina area of Umbria. It is just north of Ferentillo and perched halfway up a mountain giving you a spectacular view of the opposite mountain, the fortified ghost town with its walls and towers across from the Abbazia and the River Nera below. It is truly an unbelievably gorgeous location. The hotel is in the converted abbey with some very charming rooms. Ours had a fireplace we could stand in. Great buffet breakfast served in the old refrectory. It was pretty reasonable and the owners are very friendly and helpful. Great for exploring Norcia, Cascia, Lago di Piediluco (beautiful)the waterfall at Marmore and the Spoleto/Assisi corridor. The have a website you can easily find on Google.

Right over the border from Umbria (in southern Tuscany): La Frateria di Padre Eligio in Cetona.
It is a convent founded by St. Francis in 1212 and is incredibly beautiful. The views of the hills and countryside from the rooms are fabulous. In addition, their restaurant 'Mondo X' is worth going there alone. Everything is organic, grown and made on the premises. They have tasting menus and wines to die for. It is also close to many towns woth exploring in both Tuscany and Umbria.

La Frateria di Padre Eligio has a website: lafrateria.it
Just click past the main page and scroll down for the english button. It has also been reviewed in Karen Brown's Italy guide.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I love the towns you've mentioned and have highlighted them on our map! They're on the list..I can't wait until June!

I think we may have found a place to stay, the only concern I have is regarding the bedding. The accommodations we're considering are at Villa Sassolini (www.villasassolini.com). I was ready to book however, they told me the bedding is all double beds, she said there's no king or queen beds in Italy. Now I know that's wrong because we've stayed in other places that have king beds. Apparently their double beds are larger in the size than in the USA? So does anyone have experience with this? Are they really as large as a queen bed? I looked on their website and they don't look all that large. I know we'd both be miserable if we had to sleep in a double bed. Pictures can be deceiving so I figured I'd ask.