Villas in Tuscany & Umbria Since 1998

Overall impression: Good. Very cozy house, clean and a lovely garden with view. Also comfortable with dishwashing machine en laundrymachine. Swimmingpool was excellent. Friendly owner, unfortunately he didn't speak a word English but with 'hands and feet' we could communicate. His sons speaks good English.
Highlights: Visiting cities around Siena and Siena itself. But also enjoying the garden and view from the rental house and the swimmingpool!
Unpleasant surprises:None.
Kim ( Netherlands)

Overall impression: The accommodation and the family who owned it were wonderful.
Highlights: Florence, Monteriggiano, San Gimignano, the great food, the fantastic ( and cheap) local  wine, the friendly people and the sun in any order you like. I would also recommend the local bar/ restaurant in Taverne D'Arbia called Locale Guildo, wonderful Tuscan food and wine at a great prices and run by the warm and friendly husband and wife team  Sandro ( the larger than life chef ) and Brenda.
Unpleasant surprises: None
Martin (UK)

Overall impression: Details about the accomodation were accurate. Quercialaia wasn't particularly roomy but it was comfortable, well stocked, and the mod cons were very welcome (fantastic SMEG fridge, dishwasher, air con in bedroom etc). The views over the hills are splendid and it was just great to feel
part of a local community. People couldn't have been more welcoming and we quite taken aback to be given home-grown produce and a number of home-cooked dishes by la nonna. Claudio was very attentive though as his English was no better than our Italian we were pleased to be greeted by his son Jacopo, whose English is very good, upon our arrival. We were a little confused in the first instance by the fact that the property isn't actually known as Quercialaia in the hamlet, but the directions were spot on and we found the
place without any problems. Parking was a bit tight. Claudio went out of his way to make sure we had a parking space at all times but with a larger car (we had a KA) it might have been more problematic. The piazza was full of locals' cars and there are obviously parking issues as Claudio had to ask us to move our car on more than one occasion. Despite the roadworks getting into Siena from Taverne d'Arbia is really easy (15-20 mins). The village itself is really convenient with loads of shops, a supermarket (Coop), a
couple of decent restaurants and a pertrol station. But the real bonus is that the property is excellently situated for all of the hill towns and historic sites in the countryside south of the city -- the road network is
really good.
Highlights: We had two memorable weeks.We had two memorable weeks and though this was our third visit to Tuscany we feel that we have still only seen a fraction of what the region has to offer. We have a professional interest in medieval art and culture and we visited a host of places, all of which were within an hour's drive. The larger towns (Montalcino, Montepulciano, Cortona, Pienza) demanded repeat visits but were a little busy (San Gimignano was absolutely heaving) so we kept to the smaller ones which were quieter and just as interesting (fantastic museums and architecture in Buonconvento, Asciano, San Quirico, Lucignano). The only parking problems we encountered were in Siena, and once we had learned to park outside the walls and walk into the city centre things were just fine. Perhaps the highlights of our stay were eating out in Siena, walking in the wooded hills to the east of Siena (we walked for hours and met not a soul), the frescoes and altarpieces (we are medieval art historians -- we thought we'd died and gone to heaven!!), and listening to the monks singing the daily office in the C12 abbey of Sant'Antimo. Thanks
to all at To Tuscany for helping us have such a wonderful holiday.
Unpleasant surprises: Scorpions in the bathroom! Seriously, the only issue we thought you might want to look at is the way in which the swimming pool is described. It's a fantastic pool and we had our fair share of swims but it is a little misleading to say that the family uses the pool only occasionally . It was used every day and for lengthy periods at the weekend. May it that was to do with the fact that we stayed during the world cup and for the Palio when there was a lot of socialising but we didn't feel uncomfortable going down
to swim with local family groups and teenagers. Typical English reserve perhaps and it would undoubtedly have been easier if we spoek better Italian. It wasn't a problem and we swam as much as we wanted but perhaps it would be fairer to say that the pool is more of a communal space for Claudio's family. [Our comment - we have checked this with the owner and have been assured that it is not the normal situation and that they will make sure it will not happen again, his son with friends may use the pool mostly on the weekends]

Just a brief email to say how much we enjoyed our recent holiday to Tuscany booked through yourself, I know my partner has replied to your questionnaire but I also wanted to add my thanks.  Quercialaia was a delightful place and we loved the location.  We found your company extremely helpful in making all of the arrangements and providing up with lots of information and look forward to arranging to travel to Italy again.  Do you just have the two properties for 2 people, Quercialaia and Il Rattoppo and do you have any properties in any other parts of Italy?
Kind regards
Rachel Offerman

A charming house, quiet and with a lovely view. We were impressed.
What did you like the most about the accommodation and location?
The friendliness of the locals - the proximity to Siena - the quietness.

Ken Moffat (April 2004)