My wife and I just returned from a 3-week trip to Italy, during which we stayed for 5 nights in Tuscany. In planning our trip, we relied heavily on Rick Steves' Italy, 2018, and discovered "agriturismos" as a form of B&B based on some farm activity. We were looking specifically for a place to stay in Tuscany that would give us relatively easy access to the places we wanted to see from a country-side base. We found agriturismos south of Siena, but nothing between Florence and Siena. Our plan was to visit Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Altopascio, San Gimignano, Siena, and Montalcino, so we wanted to stay between Florence and Siena. Looking at some of the agriturismos referenced by Steves south of Siena, we discovered an online association of agriturismos (www.agriturismo.it) and through that association discovered Casalta di Sotto in San Casciano in Val di Pesa, about 15 km south of Florence (Casalta can be contacted through their page on the association's page). We found both the location and the place ideal for us. Casalta is run by Paola and Marina, a couple who also manages the olive-oil production of the farm. Casalta is a large villa that will hold 27 guests. In addition to very generously-sized bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, each guest room has access to a full community kitchen and living room/dining room. Breakfast is covered in the room rate and is served in a lodge building attached to the villa. Our stay at Casalta was wonderful. Paola and Marina were very helpful with directions, places to visit, etc. Both are excellent cooks and their 3-course breakfast was the best we had during our trip. We highly recommend Casalta!
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8141 posts
We like staying outside of San Gimignano, close to Certaldo. We cooked our own food, and Poggibonsi has a couple of great modern large grocery stores. It's also easy to visit all the popular hill towns from there--including Siena and Volterra.
Posted by
33 posts
We stayed at Frances Lodge about a mile outside of Siena and thought it was a great location for exploring Tuscany. Franco gave us his excellent advice and directions to the little towns to explore, and Frances made us custom breakfasts and delicious cakes every morning. They were so warm and welcoming, and the agriturismo was beautiful as well. They only have 6 rooms, and are adults only. We had the white room which was large and had a small private patio overlooking Siena in the distance. We traveled to San Simignano, Cortona, Pienza, Montelcino and Montepulciano easily as day trips.
Posted by
Rural Georgia
2111 posts
We stayed nearby at Castillo di Verrazzano near Greve. I highly recommend staying at an agriturismo as a home base.
Posted by
la rioja
531 posts
We stayed just outside of Empoli at the Agriturismo Martignana Alta. We had a wonderful time. The "farm" was up on a hill with vineyards going down on slope and olive trees down the other. There was a a pool and a small vegetable garden with tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini for us to use. The kids love picking the tomatoes for their salad. Although we had a car, we prefered to go to Empoli and take the train to Florence, Pisa, and Siena. In Empoli we had no problems finding parking and there are no ZTL to worry about.
Posted by
25 posts
We spent 5 enchanting days discovering Chianti from Greve and staying at the delightful http://www.poderecampriano.it/. Greve is a nice little town, good food, and easy car and/or bus connections to Florence and Sienna. We also loved our days driving down the impossibly narrow roads from medieval village to walled hill town. I'd go back in a heartbeat. Elana made a beautiful breakfast each morning and spent lots of time with a map showing us all of our options for the day. The property is beautiful and it fits the bill of just what you are asking for.