We were a group of ten friends staying in Florence to celebrate a birthday. A warm welcome awaited us. The villa itself is sizable, though for a little extra we hired the cottage too. All the rooms are tastefully, ornately and traditional appointed while all the bathrooms (most are ensuite) are wonderfully modern. The grounds are extensive (you occasionally see the gardeners during the morning) affording you a privacy hard to find elsewhere in Florence. The lanai has a large table to seat all and a separate lounging area. The pool became a favourite fixture for our group - it's large enough and deep in parts and is scrupulously clean without that horrible whiff of chlorine! Getting into town requires a little planning if you are to use buses - simple enough when you master the time tables. If you are fit, and blessed with good weather, it's not that far to walk into town. However, the nearby huge supermarket and the excellence restaurant in Gavinana gives you more than enough reason to stay closer to home. The wifi was intermittent during our trip but the temporary road works nearby surely was playing a part in that. As hosts, Ginevre and her mother Mrs Fortuny, and their welcome host Cristina, were all wonderfully welcoming and responsive to any requests we had. We also hired Ingrid on their recommendation to cook our three course meal which was sensational. What puts this location ahead of other potential destinations in Florence is that its extensive, comfortable and private. Within hours of arriving, it feels less of a house and more of a home. It is large enough so even a group of ten adults didn't feel they were living on top of each other. I take away very happy memories of our stay in this beautiful Tuscan Villa.

We had seen pictures of house, only after the leader of our group had already booked, but we still imagined a lovely estate-type like setting with pool. The home was clean and they did have all the necessary items you would expect in a homestay - the linens, hairdryers, microwaves, even a good espresso machine. It would have been helpful if the washer/dryer had better instructions, especially when it came to problem solving-dryer had stopped w/no explanation –we did eventually figure out the issue. The owners were very helpful in setting up the rooms to accommodate our sleeping group. The pool was very nice and well maintained. We did have a lovely visit with Fortuny one evening for drinks-she's a lovely woman. One of her staff, Anton, was also most helpful when he was on property. However there were a few glitches in our stay. On our first night the microwave blew a fuse. We found 4 fuse boxes, but none were a match for the microwave which unfortunately, also was connected to the hot water heater. We rang the bell several times to the home of the owner (right next door) for help with no response. We had to wait until the next day to have things fixed. The walk to the Ponte Vecchio is at least 45 minutes, not 20 minutes. The "estate" is on a narrow one way street on the uphill behind a locked gate. There is one remote, which means if you don't have it, you have to get out of car and unlock w/key. Once gate opens it's a 3 point turn to try to get into narrow opening that had a hard left turn drop -not for the feint of heart. You have to have a car to go anywhere unless you wanted to walk 15 minutes to a little town for essentials. Taxi service was almost impossible to get. The separate cottage had a very strong musty smell - if you have allergies you would not have been able to stay there. Individual A/C units in each bedroom were comfortable but no units in the living areas. Budget-wise it's a decent place, but I don’t think the home is advertised as it really is. Information needs to be updated to reflect an honest description of the home.

We couldn't have been happier with our choice of villas. It's location was perfect. We enjoyed that it was in a residential area away from the touristy part of Florence. It was an easy walk to several restaurants and shopping. Other than leaving Florence for day trips we never needed a car. And the lady who owns the villa lives next door and was absolutely delightful and very much added to our overall experience. Fortuny and her entire staff were helpful and accessible. If going back to Florence we would definitely stay there again.