Every morning we lazily sipped delicious Italian coffee over looking the olive groves and vineyards nested in the Tuscan Hillsides. Actually we did this for lunch and dinner and any other opportunity we could find. The neighbours donkey would announce his daily arrival around 3:30 and the hens would offer us up fresh morning eggs. It really was a piece of heaven. What could be better.
The home was authentic Italian, welcoming, comfortable, and very clean. Beds were all very comfortable. Not only did the windows offer an incredible view from every room but they also provided a lovely cooling breeze on warm days. The home is large, we lined up 3 single beds in one room and it still had lots of room. Everything was well equipped and very functional. the kitchen so spacious - great for family dinners.
But the best part were the owners. Suzy and Salvatore were wonderful, so accommodating, and just lovely people. We had a wonderful family evening of cooking lessons taught by their son Lorenzo, we learned to make homemade pasta and wood burning oven pizza. It was a wonderful afternoon and evening. The pizza was to die for!! They all really cared that our time there was a great one.
We enjoyed 6 weeks here at the end of our 6 month European tour. We originally only booked for one week to host our family (there were 7 of us for 1 week). We loved it so much we stayed. We stayed in a lot of VRBO rentals on our tour, this home hands down, was the best experience we had. The community of Rufina was so welcoming and we played some great tennis at their local tennis club.
The home is located just 25 mins from Florence, very easy drive or train ride. Great location for visiting the rest of Tuscany. We comfortably did day trips to Florence, Pisa, Luca, Arezzo, Bologna, Siena, and everything in between.
We would return here in a minute and are already talking about booking our trip next year. Wonderful home, lovely family, and amazing views.