Reviews of Property: Villa apartment, Orvieto Umbria . Stunning views of Lake Bolsena

This is an excellent appartment in a beautiful and very interesting location. The property has been thoughtfully restored, furnished and equipped to a very high standard creating a very comfortable retreat during any season. Being surrounded by fields, with fantastic views over Lake Bolsena and beautiful sunsets, we found it superbly relaxing and away-from-it-all, yet it is very close to the amenities (excellent Bakery!) of fascinating Bagnoregio. We much appreciated the log burning stove during the cooler evenings and the large loggia for dining. The warm, friendly welcome from the owners and their helpful advice and local knowledge greatly added to our holiday.
There is masses to do in this area. Apart from the extensive Etruscan remains, excellent Etruscan museum and medieval streets of Viterbo, this is an area for garden enthusiasts, with some of Italy's most famous Renaissance gardens nearby. Villa Lante is a large, classic garden with great fountains and a water cascade and Bomarzo with its giant sculptures and 'monsters' set in woodland, would fascinate children as well as adults. We also enjoyed Castello Ruspoli and the Farnese Palace at Caprarola maintaining its 16th century frescoes throughout. We would highly recommend this property. We did not manage to see all we wanted to see in one week and when we return to this area we will certainly return to this appartment.

We stayed at the villa from Saturday 27 June until Saturday 4 July 2009 having already enjoyed three days in Rome. The villa was a haven of peace and quiet to wind down from the sightseeing. It's in a beautiful secluded spot overlooking Lake Bolsena and is very clean and well prepared to a high degree for holiday visitors. We know from previous rentals what we require and attention to detail at the villa is clear it is comfortable and well equipped we found everything we needed particularly in regard to cooking our meals, the main sitting area and the large balcony are really pleasant to relax in. The location is ideal to explore the whole of Lake Bolsena and we enjoyed Bolsena itself (find the Blue Bar reasonably priced drinks) and Capodimonte, Montefiascone and Orvieto without the need to travel too far during our weeks stay. There is a handy petrol station close by on the SS71 turn left from the Nino Bixio for Montefiascone it's 100 yrds on the left usually manned from 7.30 am until noon use the machine next to the booth to pay with euro notes after that, together with a new roadside restaurant a little further on also on the left,meals pizza's etc with a clean bar for anyone who just needs a coffee or a drink only opened in January fortunately english is spoken at both locations if your Italian is as bad as mine.We usually visit Italy each year and so far have chosen different areas to explore however La Porcilaia is in the "back pocket" as a destination we can come back to in the future. We have already recommended it to friends and family. If we had one disappoinment to deal with it was not being able to meet Giulia and Malcolm personally they work very hard to ensure that your booking is well managed and a fund of local knowledge is available to you by just asking.

Bob & Ros
North East England

My wife, our four children, older brother and I, recently returned from a magnificent stay at the beautiful country villa, La Porcilaia. Set in the majestic countryside of west central Italy, within miles of Lake Bolsena, it was a wonderful, relaxing place to stay for me and my family. The villa is very commodious. It has a large kitchen with a dining area, two bathrooms with showers, a washer, two large bedrooms with King Size beds, a large living/family room with a fireplace, and a lovely balcony overlooking the lake. The couch in the living room folds out to a Queen size bed and the hosts have a toddlers bed and a roll away cot.

The home also has wireless internet access. You will need to work with the host to get connected. Malcom, the host and owner of the villa was there during our entire stay and very gracious and solicitous of all our needs.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The countryside surrounding the villa is gorgeous, especially in the spring. There were lovely wild flowers blooming. There are also several kinds of birds that greet you early in the morning. My children had a wonderful time out on the grounds chasing the small green lizards that inhabit the area.

For those who wish to see Rome, Florence, or any of a number of other cities, the villa is within twenty-five minutes of Orvieto's train station. We made a one hour trip to Rome and a one hour forty-five minute trip to Florence by train. We were able to park downtown for free within five to ten minutes walking distance of the station.

Orvieto is also beautiful and has some wonderful sites to see as does Bagnoregio which features Civita, a city on a hill.

If it is hot, and you need to cool off, you can easily go and take a dip in Lake Bolsena. There are some great beach areas within a twenty minute drive. The water is clean and about seventy degrees. It's a bit chilly when you first get in, but it feels great when its eighty-five to ninety degrees outside.

One word of caution for allergy sufferers. If you go in the spring, as we did, and you have hay fever, or allergies to pollen, make sure you bring your allergy medicine as there is lots of pollen in the air.

As I said above, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We stayed five nights and it was very reasonably priced for a family. We would highly recommend this villa to anyone desiring to see Italy without having to worry about all the noise of the bigger cities.

We had waited so long to visit Italy and we weren't disappointed. It was everything we had hoped for and more. Many thanks indeed to Giulia and Malcolm for such a warm welcome and so informative about fantastic places to visit. The villa accommodation is of a very high standard and the perfect base for visiting the sites, there are of course so many. Rome and Florence are fantastic but do take time to visit Orvieto and Civita and of course the small towns around the lake. Eating out locally is great fun, the food is fabulous. Just ask Giulia or Malcolm where to go.

Italy in April is beautiful and we will be back. Thank you for making our holiday so memorable.

Italy, near Orvieto. A wonderful secret, tucked in the green centre of Italy. Beautiful scenery. Beautiful food. A fantastic place to explore from. Giulia and Malcolm are wonderful hosts. The apartment has all amenities and a lovely rustic charm. Fantastic balcony overlooking the lake. A wonderful position, a best kept secret. I don't know why I am telling you all about it. Enjoy.
Rob

Hi Giulia,
We had a fantastic holiday in your lovely house. Your tomatoes are growing well and the peppers are starting to flower. The area was so beautiful. It's a good job that I have managed to travel the world before this holiday as I think that if I'd been to Italy first we would probably never visited anywherw else, Mary and I were completely bowled over by it's beauty.
Thank you for letting us stay, I'm sure we'll be booking the house again soon.
With kind regards
Richard & Mary