My family is planning a reunion in the summer of 2009 and i've been voted to find a "villa in tuscany." there seem to be so many websites devoted to this, and i feel a little overwhelmed. Can anyone suggest any villas they have had great experiences at? we're looking to stay outside of Florence and need the house to fit anywhere from 6 to 10 people (not sure exactly how many nieces and nephews are going to make the trip.) my mom will be celebrating her 80th birthdya, she's never been to Italy and she really wants to do this adventure with family. it would be great if the house had a pool and is not far from an fun town. A villa suggestion or pointing me in the right direction would be great. thanks

We stayed for 3 weeks at Tenuta Lupinari (www.lupinari.com) in 2005. We are headed back there for another vacation next month. I think their website says it all. Wonderful family, location, etc.

I spent hours and hours before the 2005 vacation doing research. Good luck.

We stayed 7 years ago at Iesolana near Arezzo. (www.tuscany.net/iesolana/)
They have several different apartments so you could book more than one if you needed to. We took the 3 bedroom apartment for our family of 6 and it was great. There is a pool - it is about 1/2 hour from Florence either by car or driving to the nearby small town and train in. We did two 1/2 trips into Florence which worked well for our family.

Check out www.slowtrav.com. Reviews of villas as well as villa renting agencies. Plus lots of other good information.

You might extend your search to Umbria also. Villas there are a little cheaper.

I assume you will be renting at least 2 cars. Most villas, especially the big ones, are not accessible by public transportation. Pools are pretty common.

we rented from rentvillas and found the two places (one in tuscany and one in umbria) very true to their description. They also have a range of prices.
The two places are actually no longer with that website. I'll list them here in case someone else is interested.

Mulino Del Doccio Tuscany
HTTP://WWW.TRAVELITALY.COM/VILLAS/DI...?VILLA_ID=3504

Labro Umbria

http://www.ownerdirect.com/labro/pro...rent/35488.htm



I have rented houses/villas in several different countries and have found the trick is to really look (and relook) at the pictures and description. I have had good luck with VBRO too. But you have to imagine yourself there.. do you need a porch? one thing we were surprised at in Tuscany is the small village near the Mulino (which we loved because of the house and the owner) was not very attractive because it had been bombed during the war. The cities in Tuscany are superb (and weren't wiped out in the war) but the small towns in Umbria are were spared the bombing so are splendid.

Near Florence, but not totally private. www.letorri.com.

Read about Tuscany and decide where you would like to be before you look at any rentals. It is larger than you think and location is crucial. Start at slowtrav.com

I rented this one a number of years ago. It is nice for a big family. It is out of town and in the country near Volterra.

http://farmhouse-rental-tuscany.org/index.htm

I've rented from Italy farm Holidays.
http://www.italyfarmholidays.com/

And I've rented an apartment at Montorio.
http://www.montorio.com/

Montorio is a property at the edge of Montepulciano. You can rent the entire property (up to 14 people).
Rates are reasonable and the property is wonderful.

Both were easy to arrange and we were very pleased with both of our choices.

Not in Tuscany but very close. I stayed in a villa in Umbria that was on the east side of Lake Trasimeno. It slept 6 but could probably sleep more on the couches. It had a pool, two bath, 3 bedrooms and well-equiped. The URL is
www.ourhouseinumbria.com

It is in the country, on 38 acres of land, including an olive grove.
At the bottom of the hill is the town of Passignano sul Trasimeno, which has the train station. You will need a car to stay at this place.

The owners are American and the caretaker lives nearby.

Hi amy; Location is very important to your itinerary, but you must consider air conditioning in the summer months. We rented thru doorwaysltd.com You can go to that site and click on air conditioning and see if anything works for your family. We rented villalachiusa.com and the first nights rent included a wonderfull dinner cooked by Alberto. He is also available for other nights at about 300+euros. He was great and the owner is close by and wonderfull. To sightsee all day, then to be able to return to the villa and have dinner/wine waiting was special. LaChiusa is near Lucca and about one hour from Florence. There are any number of reliable companies renting villa's. It can be overwhelming. Doorways people were accessable and we liked dealing with them. ENJOY Iris

Hi we stayed at Villa Aquilea outside Lucca. I couldn't recommend it highly enaough. As my friend said, it has a wonderful website and this was a case where it surpassed the website. Jim is an incredible host.

www.villaaquilea.com

We had 10 people - 3 families with 4 teens. The kids didn't even want to leave. Our only regret was that we didn't stay longer so we could both sightsee and spend lots of time savouring the villa. The pool is great and lots of room in the villa to have fun together or break away for to sit and contemplate.

I was also tasked with finding family-friendly accommodations for a family reunion in 2009 in Italy (that has now moved to the states!). I used slowtrav.com and www.ciaobambino.com. Both were good resources - Ciao Bambino also has ratings by age-appropriateness which is really helpful when you have small children in the group.

Just an fyi that if you are going in summer I found that alot of these places only rent Saturday - Saturday.