Fattoria San Leolino -

I have only one thing to say ...WAUW, awesome en chill. Everyone should come and have their best vacation ever. I stayed in august 2014 on Valpiana and I didden't know what to expect but it exceeded my wildest expectations. Verry nice people (everywhere) and good wine & food. If you want to have a real vacation I have only one advice: come over here and experience Valpiana yourselves. Many many cool pictures to take; clean beautiful nature, best of wheater. As a designer I found it verry inspiring. I had fun the whole time and came home very relaxed. Thank you Nanette and Tomasso.

With love and greetings Gwendolyn Qwerinto, and without a doubt I will see you next year!

I can not recommend the property highly enough. Plenty of charm and character. Easily accommodated our family, eleven and a baby. A spacious family home set in glorious surroundings, Ideal for recharging the batteries prior to the new school year. The only problem was having to come home at the end of the stay. The hosts were so accommodating and really made the stay that much more enjoyable. Easy access to Florence and its surrounding area. Our seven year old even asked to buy the house so we could stay there for ever.

Vacation in August 2014.

Vacation in July 2014,

If you need to get into the countryside far away from the rat race and are after wonderful views, a great house, extremely helpful hosts and excellent local restaurants, Valpianna is ideal. After an exhausting late night drive from Bologna (2hrs approx) due to roadworks and the infamous Italian drivers, my children(late to early teens) were concerned) at where I had selected especially when we negotiated the narrow, windy, hair-pinned road and then long unpaved drive to the villa. All stress and doubt was immediately alleviated when the ever helpful Nanette showed us around the great villa. Wonderfully converted and tastefully decorated with great old furniture. On morning the beautiful location of the villa and surrounding vineyard and olive grove received an universal approval from not only my family but the relations who traveled with us.The villa is well equipped and kitchen while small has all you need to cook wonderful pasta using the fresh herds from the garden. The 3 double bedrooms, sitting and dining rooms are all large and the 2 twin and single bedrooms are of a good size. The pool while an overground version is big and deep enough for adults to comfortably cool off and splash about in. The garden is great and ideal for long lazy days sunbathing, reading or surfing the net on the wifi (much appreciated by the teenagers) ending in dinner outside on the large table under light pollution free skies. Londa is small and has 2 small supermarkets and a good veg shop. The village restaurant is great value and serves quality pasta and pizzas. There is a lakeside restaurant that has good reviews and another restaurant in the nearby village which is also great and reasonable. In fact all the restaurants we visited in the nearby towns were great value and served gorgeous food. You will need to drive 20 mins approx for big supermarkets and if you want to eat out you will have to drive min of 10 mins. Florence is 30km by car or hour by train from nearby village station (15mins by car) which has regular trains. We also traveled to Venice 3.5/4 hours each way, Pisa 2/3 hours each way, Siena 2hrs (all approx and from memory so worth double checking). We also visited the lake at Mugello which the kids loved as it has giant inflatables. By the end of our stay I was completely taken by the place being in the middle of the wonderful forested hillside with marvelous views over the valley. The kids howeverfound it a bit remote after a while as we had to drive everywhere. Food in the shops and especially the restaurants was fantastic, villa was a great roomy cool stone conversion, with everything you need including plenty of Valpianna wine and olive oil. With a little effort all that Tuscany has to offer is within easy day drives and airports are all relatively close.

On Tripadvisor:
http://www.tripadvisor.nl/ShowUserReviews-g1238426-d6357491-r221383646-Va lpiana-Londa_Tuscany.html#reviews

Our vacation in July 2014

This is the third year in a row that we've spent our summer holiday in Londa, and the second in Valpiana. The location is amazing and the views are simply breath-taking. We have stayed there with family and friends, with children up to the age of ten. The setting is perfect if you just want to laze by the pool and the house has everything you need to cook up a feast. With six spacious bedrooms, a large dining room and large lounge (not to mention the garden and surrounding countryside) there is more than enough space for everyone to do what they want.
If you can tear yourself away from the tranquillity of Valpiana, you are only 40 minutes by train from the bustling and beautiful centre of the city of Florence. In my opinion one of the most beautiful cities in the world. You are also well placed for day trips to Bologna, Siena, San Gimignano, Arezzo, and Cortona. We even managed a day trip to Lake Trasimeno and Perugia this year (2hrs drive), and have been reliably informed that Rome is only a little over 3 hours drive. The owners are unbelievably friendly, and very helpful. They will answer any questions you may have and have a wealth of knowledge about the local area. I can also recommend the wine made from their vineyard as I drank my fair share!

There are a number of good restaurants in the local area, and the nearby restaurant "IL COLONNELLO" was amazing food at good value. If I'm honest I feel more at home in Valpiana than I do back in the UK, and I would recommend this villa to anyone. I'm already planning next years trip!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1238426-d6357491-r221383646-V alpiana-Londa_Tuscany.html#review_221383646

Valpiana is truly relaxing even if there is nothing to do. All we did all day long was drinking wine, chill, had family quality time, picking cherries and strawberries, sitting by the pool, enjoying the cool weather, BBQ etc. The road to Valpiana was narrow and it was my first time driving on the left side of the car. Everything was opposite but after seeing Valpiana, it was all worth it. The town of Londa was really small but friendly people. I still very much prefer the people in Londa compared to Rome or Venice. People just say hi and smile at you by the streets while in Rome and Venice, we are just so used to getting the “No” treatment. It seemed that although language is a barrier, but the people in Londa still find ways to help you happily with smiley faces. Nanette and family were one of the most accommodating families we have met. Nanette teaches us about the herbs around the wonderful house and used them as well in our cooking. Almost everything around the house has a purpose-medication..food..spices…aroma… Nanette kids were friendly too. It was a surprise that her lil girl could speak good English and she too taught us about herbs around the house. My son and I were sick the moment we arrived Italy (probably due to change of weather) and Nanette gave us their cough syrups (really sorry didn't had the time to replace them!). I have to say that the only place I love staying during our 2 weeks stay in Italy was Valpiana. My folks and kids enjoyed the place. My kids were running around the place freely.

I did not really enjoy Rome and Venice. Probably because we keep on encountering unfriendly and rude people (not everyone!), got a ticket for doing right, very hot and crowd everywhere and probably almost ruined our holiday mood.

from:
http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/accommodation/p8066976?version=desktop#revi ews

Recommended for: Age 55+, adventure seekers, sightseeing, families with young children and romantic getaway

We had a wonderful stay in Valpiana with our friend family. There was four adults and five children (age 14, 13, 9, 8, 6) of us. The house was really nice old stone house in between the wine yards. View was wonderful. It was great to wake up in the morning, open the windows and look at all the nice Tuscany hills and down to valley. Life was very peaceful all the time. Nanette and Tommaso is a brilliant couple with wonderful kids and kind dogs. Nanette and Tommaso helped us very kindly, if we needed any advices or whatever. We had so great time that we did not move quite much. Children swam and we brought good food ( for example great meat from the butler) from Londa village and had a good barbeque parties almost every night. Thank you for the relaxing vacation! I really recommed the place to everyone. (Only notice that the fenced pool is 120 cm deep, so little children can´t swim there without adults.)

Recommended for: Adventure seekers, sightseeing, families with teenagers, families with young children and romantic getaway

I stopped here last year (2013) having motorbiked accross France. Despite rain on the way (France) Italy was warm and dry. The ride up to the farm house from Londa is beautiful. Once there I was struck by the lush and varied green hues, contrasting the blue skies. It must be *** in the winter too. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone. A real jewel. The olive oil is like nothing I have tasted before, the rooms are m***ve and everything clean and tidy. I dried out just in time to go again but hope to go again soon. Great for family and friends.

Dear Nanette and Tommaso

I just wanted to thank you both for such a lovely stay at Valpiana last week. All of us had a great time and really enjoyed spending time in the house and sitting in the garden. You made us feel very welcome. I loved all the furniture, pictures and the way that you have decorated the house. I hope that you have a busy year with the house and many more people get to enjoy Valpiana! Thanks again, Sharon.

(Sharon W. from London was with 12 adults and one toddler at Valpiana from 12 to 19 april 2014)

Wij hebben van jullie Brulino wijn genoten dit jaar, 5 liter was dan ook natuurlijk veel te weinig volgend jaar bestel ik minimaal 2 x 5 liter. Helemaal geweldig, ga zo door met het maken van al dat lekkers. Wij zijn fan, dat waren we natuurlijk al want Valpiana en ook de Rosse is top!! Groetjes vanuit Nederland.

In english:
We very much have enjoyed your Brulino wine this year, 5 liters was also far too little. Next year I'll order a minimum of 2 x 5 liters. Totally awesome, keep making all the goodies. We are fans, we were obviously allready because Valpiana and the Rose are also top! Greetings from the Netherlands.

For the first time, we decided to go on vacation, all the family at once, a big family of 11 (9 adults and two teenagers). The highlight of our trip was definitely where we had chosen to stay, the lovely house kept by Nanette and Tommaso. The house is a real beauty with it's ancestral charm. We were worried that it would be cold inside, because both the walls and floors are made of stone, but it was never a problem. Every bed is provided with a most comfortable duvet. Plus there are a couple stoves in the house if it gets chilly. The living room's fireplace is very impressive. I have never seen anything like it. We had lots of fun playing card at night in front of the fire. The two bathrooms are modern, very clean and functional, both with a shower, and one has a washing machine. We were pleased to find racks in the yard for our laundry. Although the kitchen looks small, it was never a problem to be at least two people cooking together. It was equipped with everything we needed, including big cooking pots, which was perfect for a large group. The garden is lovely. The large table was one of our favourite gathering spots. There are also four lounging chairs to relax in the sun. My favourite part was the herb garden. Nanette kindly gave us a tour so we could recognize each herb. There are lots, even laurel, which in Canada I had never even seen fresh! As for the parking space, we had two vey large vans and the space was plentiful. We had a stunning view of the surrounding mountains, and of course, of the vineyard. We found it very pleasant to have a walk around, either up through the to vineyard, or by the olive grove. Walking to the village is a good walk, very feasable, but the return can be harder since it's like climbing a mountain! Londa has grocery shops, pharmacy, bank... We were the luckiest people on earth to get the chance to help with the harvest of the grapes; it was one of my dad's dream. It was a wonderful experience and we love that we got to share this with Nanette and Tommaso. They are honestly the kindest! We also got to visit the family's Olive oil mill in Londa. It was a quite interesting tour and we had lots of fun! A short drive away, we loved the Castle of Poppi. Another highlight is that you can take the train from Contea (10 min drive) straight to Florence, at walking distance of the Duomo. I would highly recommend staying at Valpiana. Everybody loved it! We were so kindly welcomed and we would love to go back someday. (stay was from 24 september to 8 october)