| Tuscany, Bucine Limonaia |
"I must tell you -- Borgo Bucine was spectacular." |
| Resort-Like Wine Estate |
A perfect medieval castle overlooks the hamlet "borgo" that has been turned into a vacation village with ten accommodations. The views of the Chianti hills are open and lovely.
Between Siena and Arezzo, a little off the beaten track, the fairy tale castle of Bucine rises from the hills of Tuscany. The hamlet next to the castle has been transformed into a vacation village with luxury apartments and villas.
And all of Chianti and Tuscany lie beyond with so many fabled towns and villages to explore, you will be torn between enjoying your village or visiting new ones. You are, amazingly, a fifteen minute drive from the A1 highway that links Rome with Florence, but unless you know how to find this property, it is unlikely you will discover it. Arezzo, famous for its antiques market, charm, and medieval jousting is half an hour's drive. Siena and Florence are a 45 minute drive and Rome's airport about 2.5 hours. You can avoid driving into Florence by catching the local train that gets you right into the center of that city in an hour.
The restaurant that serves six days a week during mid and high season is a real bonus. Breakfast is included with the B&B rooms and is available to apartment and cottage residents for an extra charge. Dinner served five nights: M,T,Th,F,Sat. There is a small bar and local wine and olive oil are available for purchase.
This lovely property has so much to offer to the vacationer whether a couple or an extended family. The variety of accommodations welcomes mixed groups and family reunions, too. Close to well-known towns like Arezzo and Siena, it also lets you wander solitary among the olive groves and ancient hills.
The property has 700 acres of woods, olive groves and vineyards to wander. An unrestored borgo used for farm purposes lies a hundred yards down the road and just beyond is a fishing lake. Fishing poles are available. The large, sunny swimming pool (26x66 feet or 8x20m) is almost competition size. You may reserve cycling tours, guided walks and treks, and private or group cooking lessons.
Ground floor: Large luminous living room with satellite TV and dining area ringed with arched windows in a wonderful position overlooking the castle. Well equipped kitchen with oven, gas stove top, dishwasher and refrigerator freezer. Bathroom with shower.
Second Floor (First European): Galleried landing with small sitting area. Double bedroom with queen sized bed, en-suite bathroom with shower. A second double bedroom with queen sized bed. Twin bedroom. Bathroom with shower.
| Location | Arezzo |
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| Sleeps | 6 |
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| Bedrooms | Double bedroom with queen sized bed. A second double bedroom with queen sized bed.Twin bedroom |
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| Bathrooms | Bathroom with shower, en-suite bathroom with shower |
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| Floor | 1st Italian, 2nd North American |
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| Elevator | No |
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| Size | 2045 sq ft, 190 m2 |
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| Hair Dryer | Yes, on request |
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| Dining | Yes |
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| Kitchen Equipment | Well equipped kitchen with oven, gas stove top, dishwasher and refrigerator freezer. |
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| Laundry | There are no Washing Machines; but there is a laundromat in the nearby town |
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| Air Conditioning | In the bedrooms |
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| Heat | Central |
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| Utilities | Heat and air conditioning is controlled and paid by guests, all other utilities included. |
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| Transportation | A car is required. Train station nearby. |
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| Parking | Yes, no charge |
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| Crib | Yes, on request, no charge |
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| Entertainment | Satellite TV |
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| Telephone | Landline phone. Pay for calls. |
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| Internet | Wifi internet is available in the lobby near the office and on the terraces near there and outside the restaurant. |
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| Linens | Included |
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| Pets | No |
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| Smoking | No |
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| Family Suitability | Fabulous |
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| Cleaning | Light housekeeping every day except Sunday, 1 towel change for weekly stays and final cleaning included. Light housekeeping does not include cleaning the kitchen. During Summer pool towels are provided. |
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| Cook | With arrangements well in advance, the chef will give cooking lessons in the restaurant kitchen, usually on Wednesdays, provided enough guests sign up. The fee of €85pp includes the meal and 1 bottle of the property's wine for every four people. Payment is in cash on arrival. |
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| Restaurants | Open for breakfast and dinner. Dinner served summers M,T,Th,F,Sat |
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| Available for bookings | Occupied/Not available | Reservation Pending |
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Tourism tax of €1,50/night per person from the age of 12 years for the first 5 days of stay.
Included: Utilities included except for heat and air conditioning, paid as consumed. Heat and air conditioning is controlled and paid by guests. Air conditioning in bedrooms is optional at €10/bedroom/week. Guest pays for landline calls. WiFi on the property, not guaranteed for every room. The security deposit is €200 paid in cash upon check-in and will be returned to you upon departure, less any deductions for heat, air conditioning, damage, lost keys and phone calls. Light housekeeping every day except Sunday, 1 towel change for weekly stays and final cleaning included. Light housekeeping does not include cleaning the kitchen. During Summer pool towels are provided.
Arrival is normally on Saturday afternoon between 3:30 and 7:30pm. Please complete your arrival information on the Italy Perfect site in any case so your hosts know when to expect you. Other times and dates by advance arrangement.
During mid and high season, dinner is served daily at 8:00pm, excluding Sunday and Wednesday. The fixed menu changes daily. The approximate cost is €32/person for 4 courses and water; there is a children's menu for cost of €20/person for 3 courses and water. Reservations in advance required. When you login to Italy Perfect to complete your reservations, please indicate whether you wish to reserve dinner for the date of your arrival; it is one of the options. Throughout your stay, dinner reservations must be made the morning of and breakfast reservations must be made the evening before. The breakfast buffet is €10/person.
You can arrive in the afternoon and if your accommodations are not yet ready for you, ask if you can leave your luggage before you leave the property. Better to leave your luggage before going someplace like to the grocery store. It is not prudent to leave luggage in an unattended automobile.
Tourism tax of €1,50/night per person from the age of 12 years for the first 4 days of stay.
Office Hours - The office is open daily from 9am to 1pm and 4pm to 8pm, except Sunday the office is closed in the afternoon.
A perfect medieval castle overlooks the hamlet "borgo" that has been turned into a vacation village with ten accommodations. The views of the Chianti hills are open and lovely.
| A Wonderful Stay | Nov 2012 |
My husband and I spent a week in late October at Bucine Limonaia with our two grown children and their "significant others." We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The accommodations were attractive, spacious, comfortable, and very clean; it was particularly nice to have a bathroom (with stall shower!)for each couple. The grounds were lovely and meticulously maintained. The staff were uniformly helpful, with particularly excellent restaurant recommendations. Don't miss the Osteria Alle Corte di Bacco in nearby Ambra and La Bottega di Duddova in the tiny hilltop village of Duddova, also close by. Another suggestion from the staff that we are very glad we followed: don't drive into Florence. We had a car and used it to visit the smaller Tuscan towns, but driving/parking in the city isn't worth the trouble. The trains from Bucine are frequent, they get you there in an hour, and the city is very walkable. A caution: if you visit in cool weather, use the heat in the unit sparingly--it is VERY expensive and will eat up your security deposit in no time. Other minor quibbles that would lead me to give the place 4.5 stars rather than 5: we found the dishwasher in the unit temperamental, the wifi in the common area was down for half our stay, and the the unit's living and dining areas could use an additional lamp or two. But these are trivial matters in the overall scheme of things, and I wouldn't hesitate to highly recommend Bucine Limonaia to anyone looking to spend time in the gorgeous Chianti countryside. |
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Kathy, West Hartford, CT |
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| We had a very relaxing week in our enormous apartment which we enjoyed immensely. | Jul 2011 |
We had a very relaxing week in our enormous apartment which we enjoyed immensely. Highlights were the pool, the peace, and several beautiful meals at local restaurants well off the beaten track which we would never have found without the advice and help from the wonderful staff. |
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Gregory Ward, Melbourne, Australia |
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| The villa in Tuscany worked out really well. | Jul 2008 |
The villa in Tuscany worked out really well. With 4 daughter, 2 older and 2 toddlers the larger accommodations were perfect. We really enjoyed exploring the Tuscan region. Each day was a new adventure as we drove our Ford van here and there seeing the sights. We originally thought that we would relax and spend more time at the villa but ended up putting over 500 miles on the van that week alone. No problems, but did lose our security deposit when my wife and daughter decided to blow-up the cooktop. Long story, quite funny really. Loved the location and surrounding area. May have been a little too remote for us. But having the car really helped. Most of the local restaurants were good and had friendly service. Each little town seemed to have its own specialties and it was fun to explore each to see the differences. We visited, Aretzo, Siena, San Giminagno, Mont Riggioni, the Chianti region, Montevarchi, and several others. (town names spelled to best of my memory) Tips: Recommend using a GPS unit when driving the area. Usually very accurate but at times put us into some strange situations that all turned out to be fun and exciting. Tip 2 don't cook on top of the glass cover of the range, that's not what it is there for. Thank you for all your help. We will not hesitate to recommend you to others. |
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Mike P, California |
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| We all would go back in a heartbeat. | Jun 2008 |
I must say that I feel that I know you personally. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you so much for helping Jennifer prepare such an amazing and memorable trip. All the arrangements were perfect. The Castello di Lupinari was the perfect setting for my family. I must tell you that the owners of this property are some of the most lovely people we have ever met. We all would go back in a heartbeat. |
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Madeline O'Dea, Georgia |
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| Everything else was perfect | Aug 2006 |
We just wanted you to know that we had a totally fabulous time at Borgo Bucine last week. We also were fortunate to have lovely weather, and thoroughly enjoyed our daytrips to Pisa, Siena, Montepulciano, and Arrezzo. We also visited one of the local wineries, Poggio Molina (website is www.poggiomolina.it) whom the owners recommended. This was one of the highlights of our trip....the vineyards are gorgeous and the wine cellar and tasting room was beautiful. It's run by a local family, and they even sent us back with a gift of wine for recommending them (we bought two cases of red and one of white). ...everything else was perfect...we loved the layout of the villa (Fienile) and the furniture is beautiful. Thanks again for all of your help and advice and I would love to return to Italy again soon. Thank you |
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Linda S |
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| Borgo Bucine was spectacular. | Jun 2006 |
We returned from Italy late Saturday night. I must tell you -- Borgo Bucine was spectacular. Your directions were terrific and the family was lovely. I got especially friendly with Antonella. My daughter fell in love with their dogs. So, thanks for hand picking a lovely villa for us. We had a wonderful and relaxing trip. Tuscany is a very special place. The Italian people--even more special. It can get unbearably hot in the summer. We may have hit an unusually hot spell, but it did put a damper on our enjoyment. We had several days of 95-100 degree weather. Brutal. If people have a choice, they should choose May or October. There were soooooo many tourists, it was crazy. When I travel, I like to spend time with the people who live in the area. Not people like me! Anyway, Antonella suggested three "tourist free" places for us that I loved. Thanks for great tips. Oh, we ate in a place that you recommended. I don't have the name right now but it was about a block away from the Piazza della Signoria. Wonderful food. NO TOURISTS!! Grazie, |
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Andrea Y, New York |
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