We stayed four nights of a five night package, having decided before our trip began to leave a night earlier to visit Ravenna on our way to Venice. We thought the restaurant was excellent, better than the nearby number one Trip Advisor place. Room fine, staff fine, beautiful countryside setting. The place is clearly designed for staying on sight during the summer. It is simply too remote for touring Tuscany, including Florence.

This place was part of our tour booking and we had to stay here for 5 nights. It was the most miserable part of our stay and lucky for us it was only for the night as we ventured out all day.
First, it is extremely difficult to find, limited signage and the map on their website was not helpful at all.
The rooms: weird arrangement, no living space, only a big bed (not the best one), then a kitchen area, bathroom and a tiny tiny room with two single beds. I was traveling with my friend and there was no way I could sleep in that tiny room with two people. Felt very claustrophic. So I slept in the big room. The positive - they did have hangers.
Bathroom----tiny water heater with only about 5 minutes of hot water. We had to turn off the water put soap/shampoo, then turn back on to rinse. If you have a family or loads of people, you will need to alternate when to take showers. Horrible hair dryer- didn't use once.
Only had 2 towels so we had to beg for additional ones--so be sure to ask when you check in.

if you have a lower room prepare for noise, there is no insulation between the floors and if the upstairs people are walking around, drop a coin, you can hear everything. if you are a light sleeper this place is not for you.

The staff---let's just say unorganized, rude, rude and rude. Don't get the wireless internet as it is beyond slow and you can only use in the hotel lobby. We had several instances where the staff was nasty even when I tried to speak to them in Italian.

Location- middle of nothing. if you don't want access to the world, I guess this would be a good place. tennis court is in shambles, limited places to run, etc.

Food- the dinner we had was decent but the staff never once smiled, it's like they were pissed off to be working. My friend is super social and they didn't want anything to do with us or any of the other travellers there.

Getting to Fattoria degli Usignoli is part of a bonding experiance with the other guests. Its not easy. For us, having read the reviews, I programed the town in our GPS San Donato in Fronzano (there are at least 10 San Donato's in Italy) an looked for signs - we went right to it with out a problem. The grounds are absolutely beautiful! It is an old monastery that has been converted into a country inn. They have outdoor swimming pools, tennis, horse back riding and are constructing a golf practice area. You can see that this is probably a destination point for those in Florence (or other Italian cities) who want to go somewhere and relax.

We were led to a two bedroom apartment (room #5). It had a small kitchen (which we didn't use except the refrigerator) and a lovely terrace overlooking the riding stables and the valley below - great view!. The beds were hard and the bathrooms small - especially the shower - but we found this true at all of the hotels we stayed at. They do not provide room cleaning while you are there, and neither is there a catered laundry - but you can do your own.

The restaurant was very good - especially the pasta dishes, and the wild boar stew.

To get into Florence the best bet is to take the train which is an easy 10 minutes down the mountain and a 30 minute train ride. The train takes you right in the heart of Florence. We also hired a cab to take us and another couple we met to the Chianti region; going to Greve, Raba and another small town, along with a family run winery where we have a tremendous lunch - one of our favorite days in Italy. We aslo took day trips to Sienna (a must) and Pisa.

All in all a very nice stay - I would definitely go back to stay in the hills of Tuscany!

great accom, poor service, below average food. the attitude is "doesn't matter, if you don't like it, the ppl will come anyways"