My family and I just returned from Italy. We stayed at the Villa Pecille in Panzano in Chianti (Tuscany) http://www.tenutedipecille.com/Default.aspx
I can not say enough good things about this place. It was wonderful!! The accomodations were awesome!! Our apartment was called "La Vigna". It consisted of 2 huge bedrooms each with their own full bath including a huge tub. The third bedroom consisted of a sofa bed and bathroom with a shower. This room could also be used as a separate living area and had a door to the private yard. The common living area was also very large and had a full kitchen with a dining area. I felt like I was in a castle every night when I went up to bed. The whole villa was absolutely breathtaking. The vineyard and the olive tree groves were right outside the building. There were hedges of lavender, rosemary and sage growing everwhere and the smells were heavenly. The villa has a pool and a laundry room for its guests along with a meeting room. The owner, Giovanna Manetti and the receptionist Gabriele Becattini were surpurb to work with. They were very accomodating to every request.
The village of Panzano in Chianti was a short walk from the Villa. Dario Cecchini, the famous butcher, has his shop and restaurants in Panzano. There are several good restaurants in the town. We especially liked Oltre il Giardino Trattoria. Stefano Salvadori, the owner of Academia Del Buon Gusto (The School of Good Taste), has a gourmet food shop that is most interesting and he is a warm and inviting person.
I know that I sound like I am on the Panzano "board of tourism", but I would return there every year if I could.
Posted by
gaston, oregon, usa
842 posts
We also just returned from Chianti. Although we did not stay in the town of Panzano, we spent some time there. We had the "MacDario" lunch, and did Dario's $35 EU/ person diner. What fun! He was warm and entertaining, and the4 meals were awesome.
Of all the places that we have done wine tasting in Italy, Stephano's was the best. He rinses out your wine glass with the new wine you are about to taste, and does a great job explaining the wines you are tasting. He even gave us a free bottle of $20 wine; and we did not buy anything from him!
We stayed down the road at Villa Borgo Sichelle. Our spacious self contained apt. only cost $65 EU/nite. We overlooked a fantastic view, and there was a pool and rec room on the property.
We had our best meal at the Osteria alla Piazzo, 1/2 mile down the road from Borgo Sichelle.
Chianti is a great area to explore. We found the people to be warm, helpful, and friendly.
Posted by
OP
NEW IBERIA
39 posts
I agree that Chianti is a wonderful place to visit. Panzano gave us the best of both worlds in a small town atmosphere with all of the amenities that you would need. You can walk through and around the town in a very short period of time. If you want to visit other hill towns, Panzano is in between Sienna to the south and Florence to the north. It is only an hour drive to Florence, which was our final stop. If you drive, it is a good idea to bring a GPS. Not much is well marked in Italy. That goes for Rome and Florence. It is hard to drive and try to find the street names high up on the sides of buildings. The GPS is invaluable. It also worked well in Tuscany.
Posted by
gaston, oregon, usa
842 posts
Yep a GPS and some tranqualizers..........both are needed to drive in the Chianti area!
We rented our car for the two weeks while we were in Italy/Sardinia and I have to admit that the drivers in the back roads of Tuscany/Umbria area were some of the wildest I have ever seen in Italy (not counting Naples and Palermo). And the motorcycle drivers....OMG! I don't know how many times we had them in our lane on a corner, and thought they were going to head-on our car! I had to drive our car like a Formula one driver; foot to the floor, and go like heck around every corner.....or one of those guys would be on my rear. I never could figure out why the bicyclists wanted to be on the same road.
But things changged when we were driving in Sardinia...I finally had time to gawk. What an awesome island.