Reviews of Property: Luxury villa sleeps 10, recently restored, Private pool, gardens & parking

A group of 8 of us spent a week in perfect peace!
No urban noise or chatter, just the sound of.......well not very much apart from the wildlife!
A lovely house and location, but be prepared for a steep, winding drive from the main road.
Excursions to Lucca and Florence by train were well worth the early morning rise, as was the sight of the early morning sky with stars not usually visible to the naked eye.
Everything was as described.

I have been on many villa holidays and this was definitely up there with some of the best i have visited, why...?:

- The location is wonderful. It is very quiet, amazing views of the valley from the terrace where you can sit and eat your breakfast in the morning.

- The furnishings and fittings were very well maintained. I was particularly impressed with the bathrooms. They all looked very new and clean.

-The service from Sue was excellent, we got good recommendations of things to do, she made it very clear what she needed from us at the start.

I would say the only slight downside to the location (being among the trees) are the annoying insects. Rotting fruit was falling down from the next door neighbours garden and this was attracting the bugs. However, this is only a minor point on what was a thoroughly relaxing and great holiday.

Although i agree with the point about the road being a little difficult to get up, once you have done it a few times in the car its fine, you just need to get used to the width! You definitely need a car to get about and would only recommend this villa for those people who are willing to rent. I would highly recommend sat nav as well.

Recommended restaurants:

- Pizzeria opposite the foreigners club restaurant (dont go to the foreigners club as its not very good quality)
- There is a little western style bar near there (ask Rosie for more details) that looks a bit plain on the inside but the food is excellent and cheap.

Thanks Sue for a great holiday.

Just returned from a glorious sun-drenched two weeks at La Salvia in Riolo where we spent many hours wining and dining on the terrace enjoying the most fantastic panoramic views over the Tuscan hills.

La Salvia is a fabulous character property offering generous accommodation with spectacular views from all of the terraces/balconies. The pool being a constant 1.4 metres depth is very ‘non-swimmer’ friendly and provides a welcome cool retreat from the soaring summer temperatures. The chestnut forest is teaming with wildlife; we saw deer grazing just below the terrace, eagles soaring over the valley and even saw a porcupine crossing the road on our return to the villa late one evening. On the downside though, access to the property is a little tricky particularly for larger vehicles, the overall state of cleanliness was poor and the general maintenance of some equipment etc was also found wanting e.g. broken hot water tap in the kitchen, broken handle to the front door and badly chipped crockery all of which sadly influenced the all important ‘first impression’ of property. We were also a little disappointed to have to change the bed linen and launder towels over the middle weekend of our fortnight stay. Overall La Salvia lacks the 'TLC' of an on-site owner.

The local area has a tremendous amount to offer with many attractions, bars and restaurants close by, although none are within walking distance.

Finally a word of caution should you be intending to use the local rail service for excursions, make sure you have a contingency plan as the published timetables at both Lucca and Bagni di Lucca stations are subject to change without notice – after a daytrip to Florence our scheduled last train from Lucca at 21:40 was cancelled and were still ruing the €80 taxi fare back to Bagni di Lucca!

We are back from our two weeks at La Salvia, and had one of the best vacations of our lives. I have saved the truly spectacular view from the terrace as my new screensaver, and already am counting the days until our return to the Garfagnana.

Sue, the house is great, and we enjoyed every minute there. Monia and Massimo were wonderful. Monia’s English (and German) are phenomenal. She could work at the UN if she ever wanted to come down off the mountain. It was a terrific experience, and I would recommend La Salvia to others, not to mention return there myself.

What a wonderful holiday we had at La Salvia ,the view was a little piece of heaven. If you want a stress free holiday come to this villa in beautiful Tuscany. The beds were comfy, plenty of hot water,the pool was fanstastic .Plenty to do and to see ,Florence a train ride away,western style horse trekking just outside Bagni di Lucca.We did not want to leave,thank you Sue for sharing your home with us.

Greetings from Finland and thank you for the possibility to rent La Salvia. We have travelled across Italy for couple of years and the location of Bagni di Lucca is something special for chilling out and for making day-trips (Pisa, Florence, Maranello, and Viareggio etc.).

You have done an excellent job with the planning and organizing the villa. Also as a “member of Scandinavian community”, the functionality of La Salvia is clever. I love to cook, so the place for open fire pizzas was my favorite. Others liked the pool and surroundings of it.

La Salvia is a luxury villa, so there is not so much to do anymore. In fact, it is an excellent for purposes like ours. Only minor thing I could raise are the animals of neighbor’s if there are allergic persons (we weren’t). In general and also in particular, we were really pleased La Salvia and the people in Riolo, Bagni di Lucca and Tuscany. We all wish to thank you and we wish you and your family all the best.

La Salvia is advertised as a Luxury Villa. Regrettably, we did not find it so. We have spoken with the owners about our disappointment. The owners seem content in the knowledge that La Salvia’s maintenance is undertaken swiftly as it arises.

Of course, we are aware that there are times when emergency maintenance needs to be addressed, but when we arrived at the villa the expected fundamentals were not in place and we had to contact the keyholder on a number of occasions.

1 towel only was allocated p.p. for the week - this problem was not resolved during our stay
The gas was not turned on the stove for our arrival
The T.V./Satellite receiver had not been turned on for our arrival
Toaster was not working properly - not replaced during our stay

Other issues we encountered:

The interior had not been cleaned adequately (matted hair, dead flies and hair in bedrooms)
The outside seating area was clogged with leaves and debris that had obviously not been cleared in sometime
Evidence of recent building work (concrete had dried on exterior furniture)
Broken seat/lounger and weeds around pool area
Chipped and crazed crockery
Oven grill caused so much smoke it was unusable
Roasting tin pealing and rusty
Garlic press clogged with grease and grime
Bulbs missing from light fittings
Bedside lamp not working
External shutter removed and standing in bedroom
Curtain tie backs hanging off wall

We live in a converted barn in a rural area and understand that older properties are prone to require continued attention, but frankly the age of the building could not be blamed for what was in fact poor housekeeping and maintenance.

The owners have offered us 5% (sixty pound) discount for another visit to La Salvia, to be taken within the next 12 months. But this is not a viable proposition for us and we feel we should have been compensated for THIS holiday.

The owners final email stated that they were sorry that we were so disappointed with our holiday and that the villa did not meet our exacting standards. They have sent a cheque for £10 for reimbursement for our “missing” towels.

As a point of interest, if you are looking for a villa that is secluded, La Saliva is not for you. The outside, upper terrace, leading from the sitting room is overlooked by the house one side and by houses on the hill near the clock tower, on the other side. The swimming pool and adjoining terraces are overlooked by the elevated houses to the side of the property.

We stayed at the villa in the beginning of April 09. We were looking for somewhere to stay for our honeymoon when we came across La Salvia. What a fantastic place this is. Lovingly restored, spectacular views. The pizza oven was great fun - shame about the chef!! La Salvia was the perfect hideaway and we would recommend it to anyone, and we hope to return one day.