San Giovanni d'Asso holiday villa: Montisi

We had the pleasure of staying 2 weeks at La Cella in the Summer of 2009 and we really loved it! The house is beautifully restored and decorated and feels more like a home than a rental villa. Our daughters of 2 and 4 years old enjoyed the outside terraces, the pool, the big living room ànd the little pussycat that visited us each morning. We also liked the stunning views, the fantastic selection of books around the house and the trips we made to little towns and restaurants in the neighbourhood. A special thank you to the owners and the caretakers who welcomed us very warmly and gave us a lot of information and good tips for visits and restaurants!

What a fantastic experience. A beautfully renovated tower with the main large area room being under ground (due to gradient) on one side meaning it is always cool -with open gorgeus views of rolling tuscany countryside. The furniture is tasteful and stylish giving a feel of luxury.The reading material is good quality and wide ranging. The pool is the perfect temperature in summer (we went in July) and we we spent many happy days relaxing on the sun beds and cooling off in the pool. The support and friendly service from Adi and his mum nearby was excellent. Altough we had some nights which were very hot and the bedrooms would benefit from air con at the time we went - this was bearable with the the fan on in the top room and the 1st floor bedroom had insect nets on the windows meaning our daughter could open the window at night. A hire-car is a must and we enjoyed both eating in and at dining at local village restaurants. Florence was an hour and a half away and Sienna about an hour away. Be aware if you travel on Saturday virtually all shops are closed on sunday so be prepared to eat out on the sunday until you can get to a supermarket. Overall excellent experience.

We loved it! We are a family with 2 kids (age 9 and 7) and had a fantastic week in La Cella. When we arrived the first look out over the unspoilt view (and I mean unspoilt - just hills, distant hilltop houses and dirt-tracks) took our breath away. The house is much more like a home than a holiday rental and the pool was a good size and a perfect depth for our kids and we had many evenings playing pool volley ball with the sun setting over the hills. Montisi, the local village which is a nice 10 min walk down dirt-track, had enough facilities (shop, baker bar, restaurant etc) to save us getting in the car when we didn't fancy it. La Cella is also well located for various tourist hot spots. Kids complained of too many trips to 'beautiful villages' but soon won over with gelati and pizza - Tuscany is no Orlando - which suited us. Wonderful!