GuestHost - La Serra Vitignano

The living room is wonderful, with high ceilings and a a lovely feel to it. We spent most of our time there. The views are also stunning with no one around. The shared pool hardly had anyone there so that was also good.

The drive up is not easy and was constantly worried about damaging the car. The pool is a walk from the house and shared which is not really clear. The rest of the rooms felt very dated with basic decoration. The kitchen need a complete revamp. Cabinets had a smell, no extraction the AC not working and with a closed window. Being harsh here but this place could be so much better with a little care and attention to detail.

The house itself is large, spacious and has potential.

The swimming pool was out of commission in mid-May when we arrived - something which should have been made ABUNDANTLY clear when the pool is literally in the title of the booking.com ad AND front and centre in the photos. The booking.com app even stated it as being open for our stay. We have stayed at three other Tuscan properties on this trip ALL with swimming pools functioning in May - it is not as if we turned up mid-winter expecting a pool. Indeed, when I received the guestbook pdf from the host in advance of our stay, there was nothing to suggest the pool was unavailable. The guestbook featured prominently a picture of the pool and advertised that it was available 8am - 8pm. Furthermore, the access to the property is tricky via a heavily rutted and overgrown driveway - we have a "normal" car and caught the underside several times. One of our party has a sports car for which the driveway was impassable without risk of damage - forcing him to leave his car on the public road. The villa backs on to a seemingly abandoned property from which one can access the main road through an iron gate (which had an open padlock) - however owing to drains being dug on the driveway above the villa, one couldn't get one's car in this way even if one was willing to trespass. In addition, the kitchen of the property was not cleaned as one would expect and the washing machine was not functioning. The villa has been exceptionally well photographed - the general state of it and the surroundings were below expectations even if there had been a functioning pool. We decided to cut our losses and leave after a couple of hours (once we'd sourced alternative accommodation) without even staying the night - it was a crushing disappointment given it was a stay we had most looked forward to. I have used Booking.com for a decade but I will not do so again, such has been their lack of interest in resolving this situation adequately.

The villa is located in a great spot, in a typical tuscan landscape (in an olive trees garden, with wide panoramic views in certain spots). By far, this is the best place in which we stayed during our vacations, and we've been in a few by now. My only regret is that we stayed there for such a short time (I strongly recommend at least 5 - 6 nights there!). The pool was near by, and the water was very clean. The house has a fully equipped kitchen, a washing machine, launder, a dishwashing machine - everything necessary for a relaxed vacation.

The mosquitos - we all were hard-bitten!