Tuscany Apartment in a Castle Hamlet Close to Florence

A: Yes you can and there is a great grocery store about a mile away. The staff is great about supplying you with information regarding small markets and a large chain grocery store. It is a small kitchen with a below counter refridgerator (so not a lot of refridgerator space) and a stove. We cooked a couple of nights in our stay there but there were so many great restaurants nearby that we wanted to sample from as many as possible!

A: Hmmm. It depends on your level of cheffing ability. It is a very small kitchen with a small stove, I believe there are two burners. The is also a tiny bar fridge. Be sure to watch your head, you have to step down to get to the stove and there is a brick wall that left a permanent dent in my head. However, depending on how many dishes or guests you had it would be totally do-able. There are many amazing restaurants nearby (my favorite is Mamma Rosa email: fcianci@libero.it soooooo delicious and you could eat outside in the garden or in the resaurant. Mama speaks perfect english and is very helpful if you're a chef)

A: Yes there was a small refridgerator, as well as an oven. There is a small (compaired to USA standards) grocery store about 10 min away COOP.

A: The town of San Casciano is a close drive. There is an excellent grocery store The Coop. You have to deposit one euro to obtain a cart and when buying produce they want you to use a plastic glove. These are provided in the store. We made our own meals, but ate at a few small places in San Casciano, unfortunately, I do not remember the names. However, every place we went in Italy the people were pleasant and accomodating. There is a wonderful medieval town Certaldo which is fun to visit. We went to Siena, San Gimigiano and Lucca from Il Castello and all were a reasonable drive.

A: About 15-20 minutes from the castle is a town with a small grocery store, 6-8 resturants/pizzerias and a gelateria. We went there maybe every other night, and found it very safe, fun and convenient. I honestly can't remember the name of the town right off the top of my head, but when you get down the steep driveway from the castle you make a right and just follow the road until you get there.. its the first major town you get to. Trust me, you can't miss it, and they will give you a small restaurant/area package when you arrive with the name of the town anyways. There is free parking right in front of the grocery store and the town is very walkable. For dinner, the only problem was that the grocery and most stores closed around 17:00, and the restaurants opened around 18:30 and the town is not nearly big enough to spend a whole day in. The resturants were fairly inexpensive and even the pizzerias were excellent. Didn't really go there during the day though. Speaking english was no problem so long as you at least tried to communicate in italian first. You wil be very close to Florence, but all of the towns and cities in tuscany are easy day trips,our favorite being Siena (bring good walking shoes for all the hills). We found Rome too far to travel too, but used Florence as kind of a home base in the afternoon or evening after whatever particular area we went to that morning. If you haven't been to Tuscany before, by far the best thing we did was just get in the car and drive through all of the back roads and take in the scenerey. At the bottom of the driveway we just made a left and followed signs for whatever particular town name sounded interesting. Bring something to eat and drink with you though cause there were very few places to stop along the way, and be sure you get the whole driving stick-shift thing down cause the hills and curves are sometimes very tricky. We also tried to stay on the Firenze-Siena motorway as much as possible since it was toll free, its a stone's throw from the castle, very fast and gets you to many interesting places along the way. As to having a productive time and getting the most from our stay, we were not crazy about italian breakfasts so had most of our morning meals in our room (self-prepared), picked a place in the guide book that sounded interesting, stopped for coffee at an autogrille on the drive there, saw everything we could at our destination and had a big lunch, went back to florence or the small town near the castle and had dinner, walked around for an hour or two and then back to the castle for some bad TV and sleep. We would also spend the morning (and one beautiful evening right at dusk with a bottle of wine and some stemware) walking around the grounds and olive groves of the castle with such breathtaking views that we ran out of film. In short, if you have a willingness to explore and are not afraid to "just see what happens" you will love this place and your stay in tuscany.

A: There is only a tub with a hand-held shower attachment. There is also no enclosure around the tub (shower curtain or otherwise). If you prefer showers to baths, this is definitely a bit inconvenient.

A: There are 9 other apartments (designed to house from 2 to 6 people) situated in farmhouses on the property plus three separate farmhouses for more people. Our apartment was the only guest apartment in the castle itself. There are two pools on the property, one 100 meters from the main area that serves the larger farmhouse and one for the apartments in the main village area. Our stay was in late June, early July and there were never more than 6-8 people in the pool when we visited. Despite the size of the "village", we found our stay very peaceful. We were up fairly early each morning to go off and explore the countryside and rarely ran into anyone other than the people who worked there. We never saw anyone coming in and out of the castle where our apartmenet was. There was a Sunday breakfast offered during our stay where we ran into several other gusets but that was about it. It is a beautiful property on the top of a hill with outstanding vistas. Despite visiting during their busy season, we found it very quiet and relaxing. We would return in a heartbeat!

A: Dear Ralph, My husband and I stayed in the Castello for 5 days on our honeymoon. The accomodations were wonderful. The bed is equipped with linens, and there were plenty of towels ( I believe that there were 4 bath towels, and an assortment of hand towel) that were sufficient for the week we were there. There is a caretaker on the grounds, and I'm sure that he could have housekeeping provide you with extras if necessary. Enjoy your stay! We can't wait to go back! Best Regards, Ariana

A: Staying at the Machiavelli-Castello was a wonderful experience. There were linens on the bed that were more than adequate. We had enough towels and you could get fresh towels whenever you wanted them. The kitchenette area was also nicely equipped. The view from the castello is sensational. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

A: Yes - very well.

A: Yes. The property Manager and all others members of the staff speak fluent english.