Wish material for Italy

Isn't that a lovely place? What a nice few days break that would be. So glad you rediscovered the name and shared it with us. Thank you! It's going into my bookmarks for Italy.

Hi Nance, that is exactly how I thought if it, as a short break in a special place.

When I first found it, I probably wrote it down but did not otherwise know how to keep track of it. (Now I would take a screenshot of the website and move it to my travel folder).

Then when I tried to find it again, I desvcribed it in searches as a "castle hotel" which brought up all the wrong sites. And I wrongly recalled it as situated north of Lucca, instead of south. I even combed the satellite views of the area north of Lucca, hoping to recognize the aerial view. No luck.

But for some reason today it occurred to me to search "walled village hotels" and that brought up the articles on the alberghi diffusi. Then searching that term, plus Tuscany, yielded the website for Castello di Gargonza and I recognized the name, at least the first three letters.

Who knows if we will ever go, but it looks like a great place to stay with a group.

I will also check out the places on the ecobnb website,, as some look very inviting.

We stayed at an albergo difuso in Santo Stefano di Sassanio, Abruzzo, a few years ago. What an extraordinary experience! Very special and memorable. They packed us a picnic in a lovely basket to take along when we left. Not sure I would spend more than a night-or-two, though.