2 girls traveling around Italy
Review Submitted: June 6, 2009
Date of Stay: May 2009
We are 2 girls traveling around Italy staying in various villas. We stayed at this villa May 27-31 2009
I will start with the good:
Kristy & Massimo provide excellent information for exploring the area. Maps and business cards for restaurants are provide as well as other information about Florence/Tuscany region.
It is close to the airport and bus stops (approximate 10-15 minutes from the main station and centre of Florence). There is a great pizza place below the build which is perfect after a long hot day of exploring. The wine is good and cheap. We had a 0.79 bottle of wine and a 5euro pizza for dinner one night....great for the budget. The grocery store is very close. The use of the phone was a plus
The not so good:
Maintenance: broken oven, shower hose coming apart, the toilet ran continuously (unless you flushed it hard, according to Kristy....I don't know how you would do this). If you are unfamiliar with washing machines in Italy they take an extremely long time (4 plus hours) at the settings that are suggested. There are notes all over the place with instructions on them, therefore it is easy to follow how things are to be done. However the washing machine notes states it should take 115 minutes to complete a cycle (this didn't happen for us)
We did laundry by hand and used the drying rack on the terrace. I would suggest doing that, it will save you time.
The building was very noisy when we were there. I would suggest bringing earplugs if you want to get any sleep. (maybe it was just a bad time when we were there?) The entrance to the building was left open a few times and there is no lights on after dark. A bit scary for 2 girls. Shortly after arriving there we dropped something on the floor and had to sweep....There was a great amount of dirt on the floor that was absolutely not from us! Bathroom not very clean (hair on the floor upon arrival)
Maybe our standards are too high. The other villas we have stayed at meet and exceeded our expectations.
I would only recommend this to someone that is trying to travel on a tight budget. Absolutely NOT for girls traveling...The area at night is not the best, in our experience.
With the use of the phone Kristy and Enzo are always available which should give you peace of mind. Also Kristy was extremely helpful prior to our arrival with suggestions for travel.
We had an excellent time traveling around. The tuscany region is AWESOME!
Owner's Response: We were disappointed to hear that this guest did not have the total enjoyable experience that all of our other guests have had. This is our private home while we are in Italy, so it is always clean and is well-maintained. We have our guests look at the apartment upon arrival to ensure everything is satisfactory, as we did with this guest as well. Appliances do break from time to time. The oven broke during the stay prior to this guest, and it required waiting for a vacant day to replace. All items in the bathroom and the new washing machine function properly and are good condition. The washing machine runs the normal 1 hour unless other settings are pushed.
While my husband is Italian, I am American living in a busy city in America where I never walk alone. I have always felt comfortable walking to the store and bus at the apartment. We are fortunate to have quiet and respectful neighbors and feel our apartment provides an excellent home for our guests - many whom have said upon their departure that they felt just like they were at their own home.
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marks the location of the property in Florence Area
