We stayed five nights and wished we could have stayed longer. The food was tremendous -"The best meal we've had in Italy!" Hospitality was fantastic. We're going to tell all our friends to stay here if they come to Italy.
Mike & Mary

We stayed at this place for 5 nights the first week of October. The bathroom door didn't close, the shower flooded, there was no heat. The gal who was running the place was unflexible in serving breakfast...etc. She offered to book us a tour through a winery every day we were there, but it never happened. The rooms weren't clean, the bedding smelled. The positive was that the view was incredible. But for the money, you can get pretty great views at many hotels in Tuscany, this one is way over priced. For the same money we stayed in a great small hotel in Rome and a great small hotel in Venice, both of which I will give high raves about. Avoid this dump at all costs. If we hadn't had to prepay, we would not have stayed more than one night. As there was no phone we couldn't even call our agent to have her get us out. Bad bad experience

I had made my reservations for September 15 to 21, 2006 through venere.com on January 22, 2006 and then followed up by obtaining a confirmation from Castellare De' Noveschi a few days later. On September 1, 2006, the manager of Castellare De' Noveschi, Manuela, called to inform me my reservation would have to be canceled due to a city water system problem that would not be fixed until the end of September. She suggested we stay at a nearby hotel, Hotel Radda and faxed me that information. After reviewing the property on line, I elected not to go there and made reservations elsewhere. Unfortunately, my credit card information had been given to that hotel by Castellare De' Noveschi and I recieved a charge of 240 Euro on my American Express card for not honoring a reservation which I did not make nor confirm in the first place. To make matters even worse, when we were in the Chianti area my husband and I stopped by Castellare De' Noveschi on September 16 just to see the property where we had originally wanted to stay. The Castellare De' Noveschi was open for business with guests arriving and leaving and no hint of a water system problem in the entire tiny town. The owner was present and thought we were arriving guests but didn't speak english very well so he called the manager, Manuela, and ask her to speak with me. She thought I was the the mistaken arriving guest and proceeded to tell me what a wonderful room she had for us. It was after I explained to her who I really was that she realized she had been caught in her own false statements and admitted that they had double booked and that was why my confirmed reservation was cancelled. I can only guess that the other guest had not booked through venere.com and was paying more and that is why we lost our room one week before our departure for Europe. The Hotel Relais Borgo di Stigliano, also close to Siena, was our replacement and a wonderful place to stay. Just as quaint and much more convenient to highway access.

San Sano is a very small Tuscan town with about 40 residents. This is exactly what you invision Tuscany to be like. There is one restraunt (which was closed on the day we planned to eat there) and one small store - which is loaded with exceptional wines and meats. San Sano is somewhat difficult to find and we got lost in Sienna on our way to the hotel from Vernazza (Due to the poorly marked streets and ViaMichelin directions) . It was absolute luck and the kindness of one of the residents we arrived in San Sano. We asked a hotel in Sienna how to get to San Sano and there happened to be a sweet ederly lady who lived there and was on her way ... so we followed her there. Thank God --- because we were about to break down and stay in Sienna.

Castellare de' Noveschi is a wonderful property that is run by Marinanella. She treats you like family and between her English (she tries really hard) and our Italian we managed to get around with only a few hiccups.

The room is exactly as it looks on the website. One of the most romantic rooms we have stayed in. The shower was hot and the bed was very comfortable.

The breakfast is like every italian breakfast ... pastry, coffee, fruit, bread and meat. Probably the best breakfast we had on our trip but still not what you are used to in the States ... but the lunches and dinners made up for that.

We visited Castellare de' Noveschi store in Monteriggioni (15 minutes NW of Sienna). The store has all hand made Tuscan goods. My wife bought a purse made out canvas and leather for 30 Euro. It is pretty interesting town that is mainly there for tourists - not many people live in the town. Lunch there was good and the atmosphere was great.

San Sano is a great jumping off point to visit the Chianti and Sienna (20 minutes).

Malborghetto in Lecchi is a great meal option. All of the food was exceptional - try the steak and artichokes with vinegar or pear and cheese ravioli.

I would highly recommend this property and when we make it back to Italy ... we will be staying with Castellare de' Noveschi.