HI, my wife and I are going to Italy at the end of april. I have heard about people staying at farms in Tuscany....does anyone have any experience with this. I was hoping someone could give me a recommendation. My wife and I are pretty laid back and enjoy meeting locals when we travel. It seems like a nicer option than staying in the typical hotel. Also....should we rent a car while we are there or take trains. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!! Thanks.
1
clairect
Agriturismo in Tuscany have become highly developed and professional. You can find a 5 star agriturismo and the family-run options as well. There are so many that perhaps it would be easier if you decided to start with an area or a town you want to visit. Each town has a tourist board that publishes the info on the agroturismo around it. These are called APT (associazione provinciale turismo - or something similar)
You can find them on the tourism office pages of the towns you want to visit. Or there are guide books exclusively dedicated to agriturismo in italy.
2
sonichaggis
We stayed here: Podere Montese in Tuscany, right outside of San Gimignano. The proximity to San Gimignano was good and we also found this a good base location. It was up a hill surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of vinyards and they made their own wine and olive oil (which you could purchase). The room and grounds were very nice.
This site is a good search engine for this sort of thing and you can also see photos of each site and make reservations. As #1 says, agroturismos are quite popular and run the gamut. As for the one we stayed in, it was very laid back and the family who ran it were nice enough. However, aside from the owners, everyone else staying there were non-Italian tourists so you weren't exactly "meeting locals" too much. But it was nicer than a hotel certainly.
We rented a car for the Tuscany part of our trip. There are so many cute little towns and vinyards that are fun to explore so we really enjoyed having a car. We also did a day trip to Siena.
Have fun!
4
kevistry
We always stay in the country near major cities, the trick is to find a place that is near a countryside bus route so you don't need a scooter or worse, a car. Often, a food market on route is useful.
Exceptions: For Roma you'd need to be to far away from the centro to be in the country, and since there are so many urban hotels, stay in the city.
Also, some country, extraurban buses don't run late (say, past 8 or 9pm), so that limits you from late nights in the City.
The benefits of agriturismo near a city are enormous; you sleep in quiet, cool areas, surrounded by giardini, and get very large rooms (sometimes two floors), with your own cucina, a pool few use. If you stay for a week, the money saved from stying in the city goes towards shopping, and the savings can be substantial. Also, the agriturismo people are willing to negotiate (and discount) much more than the city hotels, because if they have 3 or 4 suites and it appears to them that one or two may be vacant, they lose a lot of income.
5
civitel
You will need a car.
You can look for agriturismi in Agriturismo.it, Agriturismo.com, and Agriturismo.net.
One I really like is Podere Vignali: it's a beautiful quiet place.
And of course Il Passo degli Ulivi.
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Casina di Rosa - Vacation House in Tuscany
Behind the Tower - Pisa apartment
Casa Gigliola :: vacation apartment rental Siena
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