Iregeo

Hi Jennifer. I'm loving your trip report! We returned from Rome (we also stayed at the Due Torri), Tuscany, Florence and Venice almost 4 weeks ago and I'm reliving a bit of my trip through you! Only you did way more shopping than me -- lucky! Isn't prosecco great!?! Well, keep going -- I want to relive Venice!

LAU

Jennifer: I also ate at Pancotta in Spring, 2000. Had pasta with anchiovies. House wine and all: I forgot all about it until I read your post.
Is the hotel near Barbarigo the Ala? It's been raved about here by bob the navigator and when we return to Venice, I plan to stay there. Great report.
Louise

hmcardamone

Jennifer - thanks so much for the info on the Hotel Due Torri. Am going to call today for a reservation. Your trip log is wonderful!

ira

Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for your trip report.

Perhaps you would like to put your hotel experiences on the Rants & Raves board.

JenniferW

Thanks everyone for your kind words, doing this trip report helps me get over my after vacation blues.

Volgregg, I bet I ran into you at Hotel Due Torri.

Richardab, Yes the blonde lady helped us at the front desk at Due Torri. So nice...the minute we got there she whipped out a map and told us where everything was. I wish I could remember her name.

I have tried to post on Rants & Raves but the only hotel they have listed on this site is Bellettini, am I looking at the wrong place?

Ok, onto the report...

FLORENCE cont.

The next morning was our "Day in Chianti Tour". Marco was our private driver and he picked us up at our hotel at 9:00am. The company is called Tuscany Tours, their email is [email protected].

He was great, as we drove out of florence he would tell us about some of the history of sites that we passed by. The drive was really nice, very beautiful and scenic. I can't believe how great the weather was. It was nice to see the countryside.

We first stopped off in a little town called Castello de Montefuarldi (not sure if I spelled that right). Very pretty overlooking the olive and wine vineyards. We also took a look at this castle from the outside. It was a very small village and apparently you have to be very rich to live there since it is so expensive.

Then we went to the Greve area and walked thru this big outdoor market. A lot of locals do their shopping here for everything from food to clothes. I bought a cute peasant top for only 7 euro.

Next stop was the Montagliari winery. This was interesting....they took us all through the winery showing us how they make their wine...we walked thru all these different storage areas. They also have an area where they make balsamic vinegarette (I had no idea it took so long to make it!)

We then tasted a few wines....I didn't particularly care for them but my husband liked them. Tried grappa....yuk! But each to his own. I prefer smoother wines with less bite.

Then onto a tomb which was in a hill overlooking the countryside. Marco was great at telling us about the history.

JenniferW

Then we went to another castle and market area and wandered around. Marco would point out bullet holes from wars...very interesting.

He asked what we wanted to do for lunch and we asked him to recommend a place. I don't remember the name (will look it up) but it was this great neighborhood restaurant. Not one person spoke english. I told Marco he was welcome to join us for lunch but he said no he had to make some calls.

So the owner brings us out these two pastas. One was ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta....so light and delicous! And so fresh! The second pasta was a beef pasta which was delicous also. Then we split this beef stew and ordered sides of spinach and beans along with a good bottle of Chianti (which we could not finish, just not used to drinking at lunch).

The meal was wonderful! After that we headed to San Gimingnano (not sure if I spelled that right either). This was interesting....we walked around. The area was quite busy with people. We walked to the very top which had great views and took pictures.

I saw these 2 small plates that can hang on the wall in a pottery store so I bought them. We just wandered all over for a few hours and then met back up with Marco since it was time to start heading back to Florence. It was a day well spent and I'm glad we got to see the countryside.

Cassidy

Thanks again Jennifer for your report.
For those concerned about
LOCANDA BARBARIGO, as I was, I e-mailed them to ask if there is still a problem w/ the A.C. Here's their reply: "Hello,the air-conditioning is working and there are no mosquitos at all.It happened that, suddenly, we passed from a cold temperature
to a warm one.Immediately we called our technician but he was very busy and hecould't come than few days later.We felt so sorry and sad for all our clients but we could't do anything
than wait for him.Anyway now it is OK and we look forward to meet you in June.
Many kind regards
Nives

JenniferW

Cassidy, Don't buy that story...they told us it would be fixed every day. And the place was crawling with mosquitos! Plus the room was never cleaned, it was gross.

Cassidy

REALLY! Venice has been my dream forever and we'd really like to stay in a nice place. This was the only hotel higher than a 2 star with a view of the canal that was available and could afford. We're paying $235 Canadian. We're leaving in 2 weeks. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Jennie

Cassidy:

I have no idea what, exactly, your requirements are (for example, I'm not sure if you mean you specifically want a view of the Grand Canal or if a room on ANY canal will do), but you might check out Albergo Doni. This is a budget hotel, but it came highly recommended to me. It's on a canal very close to San Marco. We have reservations there in late September.

Their website is www.albergodoni.it. They have pictures of the hotel and rooms.

Good Luck!
Jennie

Cassidy

My initial reply didn't show up. Sorry if this comes up twice. Thanks Jennifer. I e-mailed the hotel. We don't need to be on the grand canal. I think at this point it's going to be difficult to find anything else. Do you remember what room you had at Barbarigo? We're suppose to be in the Smeraldina room???

Thanks.

JenniferW

That's the room we had! It looks lovely but it all ends there. We never even got new towels the whole time we were there. The floor mat towel was gray by the end of the trip. I would try Hotel Ala or Alba....it was right across from us and it looked so nice. It will be worth it to pay a little more...we wish we did. I will follow up later after work with more trip report.

IgorVodov

We had the same dilemma before our trip to Venice last fall (between Barbarigo and Ala) and we chose ALA. We were very glad that we made that choice. The rooms were very nice and clean. Definetely, worth the extra money.

Therese

We stayed at Locanda Barbarigo just last month and found it fine. Air conditioning was not an issue, as we had unseasonably cold weather, but certainly the heat worked just fine.

We did, oddly enough, have a bit of a problem with mosquitoes, as it had been warm just a few days earlier, and the mosquitoes were coming inside to get out of the cold.

We found the hotel to be very clean, the bathroom immaculately so and the remainder of the room also well-maintained (my daughter insisted on sliding around on the floor in her stocking feet, and her white socks were cleaner than they'd have been after sliding around on my floors at home).

Hotels in Europe often do not provide new towels every day, at least they didn't used to. Perhaps this has changed recently. Both of the bathrooms we had at Barbarigo had towel warmers, so the towels dry quickly (and are softer than when you first get them, as the starch has worn off).

Most of our stay was in Rosaura, the large (enormous by European standards) room overlooking the canal. Nicely decorated, nice firm beds.

Akin

Hoping to put Cassidy's mind to rest, we stayed in Locanda Barbarigo in the Smeraldina room for 4 nights last month (4-19 thru 4-23-03) and loved it. The room was clean to our standards. We saw the cleaning lady every morning-supplies are kept right next to our room and she would be there right at the end of breakfast. I don't remember any problem with fresh towels. We were in Italy for a month and didn't get fresh towels every day in some hotels. The weather was quite chilly those four days, but the heat in the room was perfect. The owners, Cristiana & Vito, were quite accessible. Cristiana made the coffees for breakfast every morning and Sara served; all spoke excellent English so if anything were wrong, communication would not be a problem. I'm sorry that Jennifer's stay was disappointing, but ours was wonderful. The canal activity was a delight to watch from our room. The breakfast was very good. I was given all the cappuccino I could drink and the apricot croissants were delicious. Good luck Cassidy on this hotel dilemma. Jennifer, I, too, am enjoying your report and plan to do one of my own once I get my notes together.

Cassidy

Thank you all for your opinions and advice. It's greatly appreciated! I did, btw, look into Ala and it's $160 CA more expensive.

JenniferW

FLORENCE cont.

After Marco dropped us off at our hotel we got our luggage and moved to our new room in the Annex (room 55). All I can say is WOW! You would not believe how big this room is....and so nicely decorated! It had a very high ceiling, in a little cubby part there was a painting on the ceiling too. There was also a daybed and the bathroom was nice and big.

I actually took pictures of this room because I was so impressed. We felt like we were at the Waldorf, ha! And it was only $160! After getting ready for dinner we headed out.

We went to Osteria de' Macci (Via de Macci, 77r) it was kind out of the way on a side street in Santa Croce. Very nice restaurant with a warm yellow color on the walls. We sat outside in the back.

We started by spliting an appetizer of polenta w/ beans, mushrooms and meat sauce. Very tasty....we got a bottle of Chianti because they did not have a house wine.

We ordered the Steak Florentine to split along with a side of spinach. This steak was HUGE....between the two of us we could not finish this..... but my husband had fun trying. But it was very good. The meal was 72.50 euro before tip.

After dinner we wandered around....I did notice that the shops definitely close earlier in Florence yet there seemed to be a thriving nightlife there. We stopped for a small gelato and walked around some more before going back to the hotel.

staceyB

Cassidy,

When in June are you plannig to stay at Locanda Barbarigo? How many Euro's per night? We too are planning to be there in June and were quoted 195 Euros - which is about $308 Canadian.
Have you decided whether you will still be staying there?

JoshP

JenniferW:

Please continue with your report......I am heading to Italy in July, for my honeymoon. I'm enjoying reading it! Sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks.

Josh

Cassidy

Stacey - We're actually paying what comes out to $235 CA, but I think they offered us a discount because we're staying 3 nights. We're still a little indecisive as to where we'll end up staying. The Ala looks so nice, but costs way more than we should be spending and we're looking into another place called Fontana, but it's not on a canal. Are you debating Barbarigo as well?