Kristina, owner of the property, was wonderful! she really made our stay in tuscany great! we were arriving by rental car and got lost not to far from the villa. we called Kristina and I was thrilled to hear here perfect english on the other end of the line. she recognized the name of the street we were on and told us how to get to her place from there! we had reserved the deluxe room with a private balcony. the room was furnished with beautiful antiques. this hotel is brand new - but, built to look/feel like an old tuscan villa and it was the perfect blend of old world feel and modern convenience - however, I do have to admit that they skimped on the soundproofing. Our first morning, we were greeted by a lovely and filling breakfast spread. we planned to go into florence and Kristina helped with information on the train schedules, where to buy tickets (since it was a holiday), maps to the train station and of florence - she was a wonderful help. that night, we ended up eating dinner at enrico's (right by the train station). It looked like a dive from the outside, but we figured they would probably have decent pizza. turned out to be a great little family run eatery filled with locals. food was wonderful! the following day, Kristina gave us tips on how to drive up to artimino and then over to Pisa and Livorno. Pisa was a waste of time, but Livorno was amazing. No tourists around, and the weather was unseasonably warm. we enjoyed the afternoon walking along the mediterranean sea and eating seafood at a lovely outdoor cafe. that night we ended up back at enrico's for dinner. If you are going to stay here, make sure you are comfortable driving in the hills and that you make some choices about where to eat and how to get there BEFORE it gets dark. after it gets dark, it's easy to get lost. a 5km drive sounds close, but it's not! the only other downside of this location was... well, the location. it's built in a town with lots of other houses around - not alone in the middle of grape fields like I was expecting. I'd definately recommend this hotel and will be back someday!