My fiance and i stayed at villa sobrano for our friend's wedding in todi, along with many other wedding guests. the villa itself is perfectly lovely, and we came home with great memories of our stay and our time in umbria. however, upon returning home, we found we had been charged a large sum (almost $300) at the beginning of our stay, without our knowledge. this fee, whether intended as a deposit, or whatever, was not deducted from our final bill, which we had reviewed and authorized payment for accordingly. subsequent attempts to contact lidia proved fruitless (she ignored us completely, though we were using the same email address she quickly and willingly responded to at the time of booking). she completely ignored us, and even the bride followed up with her to no avail. she recently had the audacity (after connecting with me on linked in) to claim that she refunded our money, and yet our check card shows no such refund.

in the beginning i chalked this up to an honest mistake, but her avoidance of us and her complete disregard for making this right lead me to believe that she is a completely dishonest person. if you do stay there, go to an internet cafe and check your bank account before check out to make sure she has not made any unauthorized charges to your card--if she has, you'll at least have the opportunity to have it deducted from your final bill! (which we later discovered other guests had noticed and done). or use an Amex card (we used our visa check card, but have yet to see the dispute settled on their end).

if it were me, though, i would choose another place to stay where you won't have to worry about being fraudulently charged.

I spent three weeks at Villa Sobrano while working locally. The owner and her staff were absolutely fantastic and made us feel truly welcome, nothing was too much trouble and she has a great command of English so proved indispensable in terms of local knowledge etc. The rooms we stayed in were clean, spacious and had an individual charm typical of the area. The food was absolutely superb, typical local cuisine created using fresh local produce and such was the variety I didn't eat the same meal twice in 3 weeks. My only regret was that I didn't get to use the swimming pool, I simply didn't have time.

We needed time alone, simple elegance but also typically Italian. We loved sitting at the pool surrounded by the Sobrano vineyards with the view of the Massa Matana Mountains, sip prosecco and be spoilt with simple home cooked food at an affordable up charge.Thank you for a wonderful memory

Our weekend in December was another pleasant stay at this owner run Hotel. We have stayed there many times over the last 5 years and have never been disappointed. This time it was in the red suite. Our favourite rooms. We love the personal welcome, and nothing has ever been a big issue or problem. If you love Italy want a quiet hotel, with English spoken, a pool, close to Todi with good rustic Umbrian food from Local produce.... Then you can't do anything better than Villa Sobrano.

Iain & Jane Laurie Hanslope, Bucks, UK