The Villa Torre di Hesperides is no longer lovely. It may have been as lovely as the pictures depict at some point in time, but sadly no more. We vacationed there the last week of September 2022, and the house was run down including the grounds (Villa is in need of a lot of tender love and care). We had electricity and plumbing issues (also spotty internet and no working television). Our last evening and morning there, we had no running water. That to us was an emergent issue, but not to Tuscany Now and More and the Villa care takers. Imagine how unhygienic it was to not be able to flush the toilets. (Someone should have been sent to the Villa to repair within a few hours or at least as soon as the sun rose.) And lastly, the Villa is extremely remote and by no means easily accessible to anywhere. Using the term “minutes away” is taking liberties with what that term means to people. It would have been appreciated and appropriate to have been given an accurate representation and description of this Villa. And to have had problems dealt with timely and appropriately. Tuscany Now and More should do a better job of setting realistic expectations and providing better assistance and responses. They certainly did not with this Villa. Beware when using Tuscany Now and More. Unfortunately, my accommodations will not be a fond memory from my trip to Italy.
Alena G-M2 anni fa
This house was not exactly as advertised. We dealt with an ant infestation, no internet, no TV channels and spotty air conditioning. We noticed the ants immediately upon our first morning and they were our constant companions during the trip. It meant absolutely no cooking (something we had really hoped to do during our stay in the Italian countryside). For the internet, we were told that the service was out for the next five days (out of the seven days we stayed). Even after the fifth day, the internet did not work (it never worked during our stay).
We were in constant contact with the staff at Tuscany Now and the owners throughout our stay and they were responsive, but also very unsympathetic to issues that we shouldn't have had to deal with--when we emailed the person in charge about all these issues, they essentially said that they had sent someone out to spray for ants, the internet was out for the foreseeable time and there was nothing that they could do about it. Nothing more.
The house is cute and the area around is gorgeous--however, we had specifically stated that we hoped to hike, run and walk outside. The area had so many mosquitos that this was all but impossible. I went for a walk during my first few days there and had so many bug bites, that I had to avoid being outdoors. I ended our week long trip with over fifty bites.
The listing also says that it's "minutes" from Castellina-in-Chianti--it's a somewhat painful fifteen minutes' drive, most of which is on a dirt packed, hilly and winding road, to and from Castellina-in-Chianti, which makes it not especially easy to access. Even most of the close wineries require a 30-45 minute drive. If you're looking for complete solitude, this is a great place for it--if you're looking for easy access to the rest of Tuscany, this is not the ideal location.
I think that a good portion of our disappointment could have been staved off by knowing that we needed to adjust our expectations about the property and our relative location ahead of time. But, for the price that this cost, the issues with the house itself (excluding the mosquitos, which merit a warning but are not the fault of Tuscany Now) shouldn't have existed.
And lastly, the Villa is extremely remote and by no means easily accessible to anywhere. Using the term “minutes away” is taking liberties with what that term means to people. It would have been appreciated and appropriate to have been given an accurate representation and description of this Villa. And to have had problems dealt with timely and appropriately.
Tuscany Now and More should do a better job of setting realistic expectations and providing better assistance and responses. They certainly did not with this Villa.
Beware when using Tuscany Now and More. Unfortunately, my accommodations will not be a fond memory from my trip to Italy.
We were in constant contact with the staff at Tuscany Now and the owners throughout our stay and they were responsive, but also very unsympathetic to issues that we shouldn't have had to deal with--when we emailed the person in charge about all these issues, they essentially said that they had sent someone out to spray for ants, the internet was out for the foreseeable time and there was nothing that they could do about it. Nothing more.
The house is cute and the area around is gorgeous--however, we had specifically stated that we hoped to hike, run and walk outside. The area had so many mosquitos that this was all but impossible. I went for a walk during my first few days there and had so many bug bites, that I had to avoid being outdoors. I ended our week long trip with over fifty bites.
The listing also says that it's "minutes" from Castellina-in-Chianti--it's a somewhat painful fifteen minutes' drive, most of which is on a dirt packed, hilly and winding road, to and from Castellina-in-Chianti, which makes it not especially easy to access. Even most of the close wineries require a 30-45 minute drive. If you're looking for complete solitude, this is a great place for it--if you're looking for easy access to the rest of Tuscany, this is not the ideal location.
I think that a good portion of our disappointment could have been staved off by knowing that we needed to adjust our expectations about the property and our relative location ahead of time. But, for the price that this cost, the issues with the house itself (excluding the mosquitos, which merit a warning but are not the fault of Tuscany Now) shouldn't have existed.