Erica F.
Yelp
Significant pros and significant cons.
The Good:
1) Beautiful views. You can see the entire city by standing on the grass by the pool or looking out some of the windows.
2) Gorgeous exterior. The villa is hundreds of years old and looks like it in a quaint way.
3) Unique gardens. The gardens are a maze of hedges, flowers, and organically grown fruits and vegetables. There is even a greenhouse, and there are a few animals (donkeys, chickens, cats, etc.) that kids would enjoy.
4) Original frescos. Many of the interior rooms feature original frescos on the walls and ceilings. There is also some impressive wood paneling in some of the bedrooms. However, most of these original features have not been restored, so they are missing pieces.
The bad:
1) Inattentive staff. No one helped us carry our bags from the car into the hotel or up the stairs to our room. One day we accidentally left the window open, and the maid did not close it, so the rain came in through the window and soaked our luggage.
2) No restaurant. You have to go down the hill into the city for lunch and dinner (prepare to spend 10 euros on a taxi to get there). They do serve a buffet breakfast, but it is simple (bread, boiled eggs, yogurt), and the waitress spoke no English so it was even difficult to order tea.
3) No exercise facility. I know this isn't very important to some people, but it really wouldn't be difficult for the hotel to buy some weights and put them in a room.
4) Gross bathrooms. The shower did not have a shower head, only a hand-held sprayer, but there was no way to attach it to the wall. There was also no shower curtain so it was hard to not get water all over the floor. Every night when we came back, the bathroom would smell horrible like the toilet had backed up, although we looked and it hadn't. Whenever the toilet was flushed, we could hear it very loudly in our bedroom.
5) Dirty. I walked around our room barefoot, and within an hour the bottoms of my feet were dark brown. Also, in the lobby they had a bowl of flowers sitting in water, and after leaning in to admire the flowers, I realized that there were worms breeding in the water.
6) Bad interior design. There is little furniture in any of the rooms. What is there is very old and worn (such as a broken piano in the "music room"). The beds are fine, so don't worry about that, but be aware that inside, this place looks very shabby.
While this place is beautiful on the outside, it certainly has seen better days. You may still want to stay here because of the views, but be aware that this is far from a luxury hotel. You would find more comfort at a Holiday Inn.
