We spent two nights here while on a VBT cycling tour of Italy. It's a lovely family-owned facility in a splendid Tuscan countryside setting of orchards, vineyards, and olive groves, only a few miles from the Tyrrhenian Sea. It's very popular with German tourists since owner Luigi Brunetti spent over 20 years in Frankfort.
The food in the restaurant is excellent, made with fresh produce from the Brunetti farm and local goods from the surrounding area. The Brunettis also produce their own wines and extra virgin olive oil. We had excellent service from the staff, especially from Luigi (who gave us a tour of his wine cantina), his wife Elisabetta, our waiter, and Marco, who ran the bar at the beautiful outdoor pool.
There's only one thing holding me back from giving this facility a four-star review, but it's a biggie: Like many small European hotels, especially in the countryside, Agrihotel Elisabetta has no air conditioning.
Many of the rooms have ceiling fans, but ours did not. We were also on the top floor with our bed situated under a sloping ceiling, so our room was extremely hot and stuffy to the point where we could not sleep the first night. (We asked for a portable fan the next night, which made it only marginally better.)
This was in mid-September with the temperature in the 70s and 80s (Fahrenheit), so I can only imagine how bad it is in mid-summer. Opening the windows did not help since we had no cross-breeze. It also let in a swarm of insects because the windows have no screens. The best rooms are probably on the first or second floor overlooking the pool.
If air conditioning is a must for you, then you may want to consider staying here during the off season, or even choosing someplace else until the hotel decides to upgrade their facility. If you can tough it out, however, Agrihotel Elisabetta is worth a visit. read more
