Hi,

I am not sure but I think you will not find an independt house with 5 bedrooms and pool for less than 2000 euro, may be apartments with shared pool.

Looks great, many thanks

I cannot possibly recommend to you more highly a stay at the Villa Catola. You can do a search using the search box in the upper left hand corner of this page and you will find many of my previous posts describing the place and recommending it to others.

It is a stunning villa, located in a small characteristic town called Bucine. It is located just on the border of Chianti and Arezzo regions - 30 mins from Florence and 20 mins from Siena and 10 mins from Arezzo. Some of the places reacheable by train, car or bus within 90 mins of the villa include: Florence, Arezzo, Cortona, Montepulciano, Montalcino, Pienza, Bologna, Pisa, Volterra, San Gimignano, Chiusi, Greve in Chianti, Castellina in Chianti, Radda in Chianti, Lucca, Parma, Todi, MOnteriggioni...so many more - these are just off the top of my head. Just perfect.

It has a pool - 9 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms and will accommodate up to 16 guests total. With your group of 10 you will be able to take advantage of the 5 double rooms - the remaining rooms are 2 twin rooms and 2 single rooms, which it sounds like you will not need.

It is owned by a lovely man named Fabio and is long owned by his family the Catolas. He and his wife and sons live on a small house on the property but they are in no way intrusive. They are lovely, warm, funny people and incredibly gracious hosts. If you stay with them, take advantage at least one night of Fabio to prepare an incredible meal. We had the best time with him hosting our welcome dinner our first night - one of the finest meals I've ever had in Italy - and he served us some of his family estates incredible wines.

The villa is located on a hill with a stunning view over a valley and we thoroughly enjoyed the close (but not too close ) proximity of the train station at the bottom of the hill. You will only need a car if you are planning to drive through Chianti or visit any small towns that are not easily reacheable by train. If you are staying for a month, I'm sure you will want a car at some point, but We found that we had a magnificent time using the trains to get everywhere, except for the one day when Fabio arranged for our one day wine and olive oil tasting tour, with 2 vans (for 13 people), visiting 2 characteristic hilltowns, a formal luncheon and wine tasting, estate and winery tour, a visit to San Gimignano and dinner at a local roadside trattoria...total per person was 100 euro (including food, transport, tip) unbelieveable.

Oh - and the cost of the villa itself in April in 2006 was $2,600 USD TOTAL. Extremely reasonable and if you are willing to rent long term I'm sure there is a price break of some kind offered.

Please see some photos and descriptions on his website: www.villacatola.it and do look at my previous posts for more information. If for any reason they are booked, Fabio will be happy to suggest to you other well located, local villas and I would trust any recommendation he gave to me.

I have stayed at several villas in Italy and this was by far the best experience we have ever had. I might recommend however that you select a villa in Tuscany for one month and then another villa in the south or the north for another month. This way you will get a full complement of experiences, people and culture.

I hope you consider Villa Catola seriously. The photos on the website don't even do it justice. It is even more lovely and comfortable in person.

Oh - and tell Fabio that Lorine in California recommended you to him!

Buona fortuna - Ciao! LL

Oh - forgot to mention that Bucine itself is a charming little town. The people are friendly and there is everything you need right along the main street. Within a 5 minute walk in any direction you will find some cafes, a gelateria, butcher, fruit/veggie store, shops, a couple of restaurants and just down the road a COOP grocery store for your basic villa supplies.

On Wednesday is the farmer's market, with wonderful fresh produce offered along with some small stalls selling some good quality souvenir and useable kitchen goods. I found here espresso spoons, cups and saucer set for 8 and a Moka espresso maker for a total of 20 euros. Anything comparable anywhere else was at least triple that price.

You can use the large, well appointed kitchen to make meals and there is a wood fired barbeque outside to grill food.

Hope it is as much the villa of your dreams as it was ours.

Ciao - LL

You could look at www.holiday-rentals.co.uk which lists all types of holiday accommodation, putting you in touch with the owners. The site also links to other associated websites.

We have used them this summer for the first time but friends have used the service severaltimes.

In the past we have booked several times through www.interhome.com.

I've just reread your post again. Do you mean 2000 euros for two months? For 5 bedrooms and a pool??

Not even long-term rentals in Tuscany would be at that rate let alone something being let out for holiday lets. I should think they can be 2000€ a week in high season if large and with pool.