What an amazing week. The place was beautiful. My wife, myself, my mother and father had the pleasure of staying here for our Tuscan adventure. The estate was perfect. Rolling hills of Cabernet and sangiovese grapes, a pool, tennis court, and even a bocce ball court. Our house on the property greeted us with a 2003 estate cabernet sauvignon ripe with blackberry flavors and a very mature swagger (bring a few bottles home). One day we jogged to the top of Montebenchi. We saw a family of wild boar in the distance below traversing a vineyard. Then walked through the rustic castle resort at the top (http://www.castelletto.it). Each day we would either take day trips to various vineyards or Tuscan sites and could always return to our villa to end our night. BTW - I strongly suggest a visit to Dario the butcher of Panzano - both his shop and his restaurant - I love this man and you will too. The kitchen was great for cooking a Tuscan dinner. Our host, Giovanna, who we met upon arrival in the tasting room, was very gracious and helpful. Overall, a wonderful vacation and an impressive and relaxing estate.

Villa La Selva (www.villalaselva.it) is a wine resort located between Arezzo and Siena. There is a town nearby with supermarket etc. The villas for rent are beautifully furnished and well-maintained. The kitchen has everything you need and the villa has a barbecue area, garden and privacy. Beautiful pool and tennis courts on site too. We stayed in September 2011 and would highly recommend it. Prices are very reasonable and guests receive a warm welcome.

We stayed at Villa La Selva in one of the larger villas, "Oliveto," at the end of Sep 2009. What an amazing time we had. The Villa was in a prime location between Siena and Florence, with easy access to wonderful food, vistas, sights, welcoming local people and the best wine the hills of Tuscany has to offer. The pool on the Villa's grounds, along with the tennis courts, bocce court and paths for walking and running made it a wonderful time for the children as well. Our villa's rooms were in perfect order, exquisitely furnished and decorated, and wonderfully relaxing. Patrick Spencer, who manages the property, is an American who has been living in Tuscany for over 9 years, speaks the language fluently and makes the best possible recommendations for things to do, see, and eat. Every single one of his recommended activities was spot on and perfect for our family. Go see Tuscany and make Villa La Selva your base of operations!

We stayed at Il Guardia from the 10th to 20th May and we would like to share our wonderful experience with you.

Firstly, we were very impressed with the warm welcome at the estate and by how Patrick Spencer (Marketing manager) made great efforts to make our stay very enjoyable.

The villa is very well maintained and everything that was mentioned in the list was there. On the first morning when we noticed the microwave missing, we informed Patrick and one was sent to the villa within the morning.

On the first night of arrival, we asked for recommendations for dinner and we were pleasantly surprised by Patrick's recommendation. We had the best steak of our life and the prices were very reasonable. Throughout our whole stay, we were very pleased by how Patrick recommended good quality to price locations. Having travelled in other regions, we have had bad experiences of other PR persons recommending over-priced places.

The only time we experienced an "okay" dinner and mentioned it in passing to Patrick, he immediately brought us a bottle of wine the next day and we thought it was such a nice gesture.

The only negative point about the villa is the lack of washing machine as mentioned in the list. We thought there were coin-operated ones and did not bring as many clothes. Thankfully, Patrick solved the issue by helping us with the laundry.

The property was fantastically maintained and it had great toiletry ;-). Super charming place that is a not more than 100km from all the major sights, which is great as eating in the neighbourhood was much cheaper than having meals at Florence or Sienna.