my husband and I recently returned from a visit to Italy where we basically stayed in Tuscany. we had read rick's book prior to leaving and got a lot of good guidance from his reviews. one of the best parts of our trip was the day we spent in siena accompanied by our tour guide antonella. she made the sights come alive, gave us lots of history and interesting anecdotes and overall made the visit wonderful! additionally (although perhaps most importantly) she was extremely sensitive and aware of the varying ages of our group, we had the grandchildren under 6 years old and the grandparents over 60..she was able to engage all of us and kept us moving along at a pace everyone was able to deal with. antonella really made the experience for us, and I would absolutely recommend her for any tour opportunities; she, as every other Italian we came across, was delightful, spoke fluent English, and made us feel welcomed and special.
we stayed the week at cre'atiole with Isabella and her husband carlo, this was another wonderful experience, their villa is lovely, our individual apartment with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms was perfect for all 6 of us, the property is lovely in the midst of the Italian countryside, their caring and involvement with their guests is evident in everything they do, we felt absolutely at home and taken great care of. couldn't have had a more wonderful holiday! thank you all. lynne and gary