Tuscan Agriturismos

Karin,
Try http://www.lacrociona.com/eng_index.asp

I've stayed in agriturismos twice on RS tours. They are not like farms with hay and cows and stuff. They are more like rural motels/hotels with large noisy dining rooms and poor breakfasts. Town is too far away for walking. You can walk around in the country. As you can guess, I don't recommend agriturismos in Tuscany. You'd be better off staying in that small town and walking out into the country.

Karin, as agriturismos are required to maintain active farm activity to some degree, walking distance to a small town can be quite the limiting criterion. I'm sure you could find some...ferreting this out from the info available is the trick. While driving around around Tuscany in 2007 I noted the location of agriturismos I had considered and was quite shocked to find some were miles from town on very poor dirt roads. This fact is, shall we say, downplayed. I would start with the "Italian Agriturismos" section of the RS "Graffiti Wall." Combined with some Google Earth sleuthing, you should be able to make a good choice.

The agriturismos we stayed at were the opposite of noisy, and if the breakfasts were bad I had only myself to blame.

Agriturismo San Gallo is 2 km (1.25 mile) outside Montepulciano. That's the closest I know of to a town. At that distance you can have drinks with dinner in town and hike home pretty easily, without worry of having a designated driver.

The place has good reviews at TripAdviser.

Karin:

Our favorite is Il Palagio - www.infochianti.com. It is just 1.5 km outside of the great hill town of Panzano. Panzano is exactly between Florence and Siena. The villa is beautifully maintained. The pool is wonderful. The young woman (Monia) who operates the villa speaks English and is very helpful. The village has some great restaurants, two nice wine bars (Enoteca Baldi is my favorite) and Italy's most famous butcher (Dario Cecchini - his shop is wonderful and do not miss his restaurant). Have fun.

Karin: An agriturismo we've stayed at twice, Cretaiole (which can be read about liberally on this website, and for good reason), is within walking distance of Pienza, a lovely renaissance town in Val d'Orcia. The Moricciani family owns quite a bit of acreage adjoining the property, and there are two separate paths you can take through their land that lead into Pienza. You could not ask for a prettier setting. I think Cretaiole is just what you are looking for.

And by the way, I don't know where Swan stayed but Swan's experience at agriturismos is nothing like ours. Cretaiole has rooms with their own kitchen areas - no dining room. Can't recommend highly enough!

The only drawback I've found to Cretaiole is that they only rent by the full week, Saturday-to-Saturday.

I'm seeing the term "agriturismo" used more and more often for places that are basically just rural inns or B&Bs. We stayed in one near Arezzo that had no semblance of any agricultural activity whatsoever. They vary vastly from one to the other, so don't assume anything either negative or positive from a place calling itselfa an "agriturismo".

There are several rules governing whether or not places can call themselves an agriturismo but, like Arkansas, some laws in Italy may not be enforced as well as others. The rules say an agriturismo must derive most of its income from farming, but, unlike the idea people often get, that doesn't necessarily mean you're living with a farm family in their house. Often the owner of the farmland doesn't even live on-site. Some of agriturismos have in-house restaurants, daily maid service, just basically a country hotel. Others have no visible staff. You only see the owner once, when you check in, to get your keys and pay the bill. It's important to research and look for reviews here and at places like TripAdvisor to avoid surprises.

Karin,
I stayed in a great place in Tuscany. I suppose you could walk to town, but we still drove the car. There is a train station too, so easy to get to Florence or any other city. Check out their website. www.lafornella.com The owner is American and married to an Italian dentist. They have their own vineyard there. Good luck, and enjoy your trip! BTW..the pictures are exactly how everything looks!!