I need an upscale villa for 18 people in Tuscany (preferably near Florence or Siena) for the last week of August '07. Prefer to have a full cook/maid staff. Has anyone had any personal experience?

I can recommend two great companies that work with a small group of selected villas. They often sell out months in advance, but they can work with you to help find something perfect.
James Fantaci www.purplefete.com
or Marjorie Shaw who runs www.insidersitaly.com

They are really the top experts...I know because i live in italy and know they have many happy customers.

Now for my biased advice: I own a large luxury villa outside of Pienza that is launching this June. We could sleep 18 people and have full services.
Give us a look...

www.la-bandita.com

if you are looking for upscale i would try abercrombie and kent.
i have a fractional ownership of two villas each that i can rent for a week or two but each only sleeps 10..... should you ever be intersted in looking into it....the fractional ownership membership is fantastic and the services are unparalled, houskeepr/cook incredible, concierge fantastic
http://www.castellodicasole.com/sitepages/pid55.php

Check out www.slowtrav.com they have a ton of rental reviews etc.

Check out Villa Il Crocicchio, in Regello.
There is a web site.

Hello jvoigtm, I was thinking of your villa when I read gapeach's question as I visited your website the other day and your villa looks lovely. I hope you can get photos of the interior up before long..that would be most interesting to people thinking of renting from you.

No personal experience, but have a look at www.villeinitalia.com. There are a number of villas there for 18 or more persons.

Hi Loveitaly
thanks for the feedback...we are desperate to get photos up on the website as well. It is going to take until May to get everything looking pretty for photos. Right now it is getting worse before it gets better with electricans creating a mess everywhere and diggers in the garden! Thanks for the support!

Ciao jvoigtm e prego!!

I understand, and work does not go as fast in Italy as one would hope does it? I truly did love your villa and think that anyone that had a rental car and that wanted a peaceful time in Italy would be well pleased with your villa. Who knows, maybe one of the days I will be popping in with a friend.

looks lovely but i would tone this down a bit...it's definitely over the top and would turn me off if i were a potential customer:

>>>>
What does an international music executive do when he’s sick of his big time New York job?
>>>>

having rented in italy for the last 10 years......i can tell you that if a descerning american customer is looking for a luxury spot.....jvoigtm is just the kind of guy i would have wanted to rent from.....the music exec line may be corny.....but at least we know he is well travelled and knows what some of us are looking for......so
id keep the line
and xapeach1 should consider it

Thanks, everyone I really do appreciate the feedback...and you can imagine that I need all the support I can get at this point! We're 3 months away from our first guests arriving in June, we have press in travel magazines running in May in the US and the UK, and so, I really need to finish all the renovation work!

I realize I probably can't please everyone, so we're just trying to make a place that my wife and I would enjoy ourselves, a small place with personality, a bit of contemporary design, and a host who understands what you're looking for and can take care of you.

Wish me luck! And I'd love to meet all you Italy lovers!

www.la-bandita.com

Jvoigtm: I am intrigued, but really can't make much of your photos. I now have 20 confirmed for our trip Aug 25-Sept 1 and would like to stay in the region you are in...however, I would really like for information.
My husband and I have invited 9 other couples to join us to celebrate my 40th birthday. 50% of the crowd has never been to the Tuscan region and they are in for a treat.
We would need maid and chef service daily, prefer a swimming pool, day trips to Siena, Florence, Cortona, etc. My husband is a wine collector and is arranging a lunch and dinner at area wineries. BUT...I have to get a place and soon. Finding one to sleep 14 was easy...now I have 20.
We also need 9 rooms with full/queen/King beds with private baths; one room can have 2 beds. I am interested in your property, but leary. My budget for the week is $15,000 USD for 20 people

Dear Xgapeach
Your friends are definitely in for a treat! But I can imagine at this point that it is a challenge to find a villa for 20 in August. As for my place, we have 8 full rooms with queen size beds that sleep 16 people comfortably. In addition, two of the rooms have an extra twin bed in it, and the suite has a sitting room with a pull out double size sofa. So...while we could fit 20, it is not really comfortable for 10 adult couples without squeezing.

I might suggest you try to find two houses that are close to each other and divide up. I know of very few places in southern Tuscany that are able to comfortably 20 since these are all old farm buildings (and no new construction, thank god!). You could check with La Foce they have a group of very nice farm houses--none of them sleep 20 but maybe you could take 2 of them. They often are sold out for the high season though. They are located a 10 min drive from my place, so perhaps a combination might work. There are several smaller (and more simple) B&Bs located around me in the Val D'orcia that are only 5 mins away if you were open to dividing up a bit and having, for instance, La Bandita just be the main base where everyone hangs out at the pool, meets up for Dinner, etc.

I'm sure you would prefer to have everyone all together, but... I would love to find a way to welcome you at La Bandita. I designed the property to be best suited for big parties like yours. We're in a beautiful and private spot, near great little villages, Siena, Cortona and Florence are all easy day trips. If your husband is a wine lover, we're smack in the middle of the best wine in Tuscany between Montalcino and Montepulciano (and not far also from the supertuscan estates south of Bolgheri). I have a small wine export business and I am friends with some small high end wine markers who have stunningly beautiful vineyards.

We a big pool, hot tub, daily maid service, yoga teacher and professional chef at your disposal. Plus I would be there available every day to make sure everything goes smoothly (handheld GPPS device for day trips, setting up your restaurant reservations, etc).

I can understand hesitating since we don't have finished photos yet, but as you can imagine, things are very messy up until the last minute at a renovation site and so we won't have a professional photo shoot until May. If you want, please send me an email to [email protected] and I can send you some floor plans and other photos.

Your week is also one of the only ones that I still have completely free, so the timing could work out.

Send me an email, and even if you choose not to stay at La Bandita, maybe I can help you find another place.

I think it's not easy to find a large accomodation for a big group, anyway I suggest you this huge villa where we stayed confortably in 16 people. Check this out www.villaluciano.com
Villa Luciano is self catering but there is available a full cook/maid staff.
We tried pizza, it was superb!