I've done a search on the site but can't find a single mention of this place, which surprises me, as it seems to be a quintessential RS lodging: family-owned, simple, clean, good value for money, not fancy, but with something that gives it that special something (in this case, the lovingly tended garden).
I was headed to Orvieto earlier this month and thought I was going solo and without a rental car (in the end, my husband joined me, and rented a car, but that's not germane to this discussion). I wanted something that I could access easy enough by public transportation, but which also wasn't right in the city. I envisioned sitting in the garden of an agriturismo in the afternoons with a book and a glass of rosé (or Orvieto white!) after going to Orvieto in the mornings, etc. etc.
Most agriturismos weren't an option for me as they required a car. And most lodging was up on the hilltop - they looked like nice places, but not the garden I was dreaming of.
Through booking.com or TripAdvisor or something, I found Podere Sette Piagge, and it seemed to check my boxes. So I made a reservation and went and stayed there for four nights. All the glowing reports I read in the TripAdvisor reviews about the hospitality of Francesca and her father Alberto, who run the hotel, turned out to be true. Alberto picked me up when I arrived on the train from Florence. In just a few minutes on the strada della stazione heading up to Orvieto, we turned left onto their property -- which is literally just off that busy road but feels miles away. The land and house are set a bit above - views up to the rock of Orvieto above, a lovely flat garden around a pool, and an upper garden with fig trees and olive trees and fruit trees and all of Alberto's vegetables. As it was early May, the roses along the parking wall and climbing a trellis near the pool were in full glorious bloom -- Francesca told me that white hydrangeas blossom around the edge later in the summer. There was a terrace with a grapevine-festooned arbor where breakfast is taken once it gets warm enough (ringed with lemon trees in pots!), and over to the side there was a little pavilion that hosted a dining table (roses were climbing around it too). The care given to the garden made it a real haven of peace.
There is a one-track road behind the agriturismo that you can take up to Orvieto. It is STEEP! But if I, out-of-shape, generally lazy, could make it up there, I think most people could. It took about 15 minutes to get up to just about where the funicular arrives - so then you could take the bus to the Duomo etc., but I just continued up corso Cavour. At nighttime, you would need a lantern - it's perfectly safe, but dark.
The room was spacious and simply furnished, but most of all, spic-and-span clean. It had one of those tiny showers, and two people using the shower consecutively could use all the hot water in the tank. The beds and bedding were good enough for a good night's sleep, although I think the sheets had a certain amount of polyester in them, which I don't love, but I could live with. There was a tv in the room, and a bit of WIFI, although the first night the signal was non-existent. The bathroom itself had plenty of space.
There was no fridge in the room, but one in the hallway that could be shared between the rooms, so we put a few items in there. There was no tea- or coffee-making facility in the room.
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