My sister and I stayed at Villa Valenza in Cortona with our 4 children - ages 4 - 13. We stayed in their 2 bedroom apartment complete with mini kitchen, stove/oven, microwave, cutlery, dishes, etc. Breakfast offered is wonderful. Fresh fruit with apricots picked from the backyard; pastries, yogurt, toast/jam, juices, cereal, tea & coffee. There is free Internet access in the breakfast room, which overlooks the breathtaking views of Cortona, which is also accessible from the comfortable sitting area. Our daughters enjoyed watching some of their great DVD's on television. The rooms are air conditioned, spacious and clean. The center of town is about a 20 minute walk down a shady parterre. On the way you pass a beautiful park with swings, etc. for kids. If you walk in the opposite direction away from the center you can see Bramasole, the famous restoration house from "Under the Tuscan Sun". It's only a 5-10 minute walk from Villa Valenza. There are bikes to ride on the premises and a swimming pool. One evening for dinner we made spaghetti and ate it outside where there are several picnic tables and chairs. Alessandro, our host, was very accomodating. He always greeted us every morning for breakfast and couldn't do enough. for us. I would definitely recommend Villa Valenza to anyone who is considering visiting Cortona. We also ate at Il Cacciatore, a restaurant owned by Villa Valenza. The food was delicious and freshly made at a reasonable price.

I had the BEST time at the B&B of Villa Valenza in Cortona! It was my home away from home for 2 weeks in January, as I was travelling solo writing a book, and Alessandro was an amazing host. He was so incredibly kind, helpful and friendly, even though there was a slight language barrier, he was always smiling. The rooms are very comfortable, clean and cozy, and I loved the heating rack in the bathroom, which means warm towels after your shower, in case the water gets cold. :) The fireplace in the living room was such a wonderful treat, and I spent many nights curled up there using the Free Wifi. :) I felt so safe and comfortable in this peaceful oasis! Alessandro was so kind to drive me to and from the train station, and always helpful with anything I needed, including making sure there was fire in the fireplace, or offering me a cappuccino even at night. I LOVED his homemade croissants in the morning! YUM! It's a beautiful 15-20 minute walk into the town center, through the park. His family owns the restaurant in town, Il Cacciatore where you will have homemade, delicious Toscana cuisine. The pizzas and pastas are delicious, and everyone is very friendly and welcoming! I HIGHLY Recommend this Villa. You will not find nicer people anywhere. Alessandro is a true Italian gentleman! I miss Cortona already and my home away from home, Villa Valenza. As Alessandro says: "My home is your home." I hope to return again soon!! Tutto Grazie Mille Alessandro!

After a week in Rome we travelled to Cortona for a friends wedding and had decided that we would try a self-catering Villa so we could cook up some of the local produce. Villa Valenza offers B&B rooms or a Self Catering option and so we paid extra for the self catering 'apartment'.

The room was very clean and air-conditioned but we found it old fashioned in terms of decor and furnishing. The kitchen lacked some of the basic facilities we'd expected - the small kitchen area had just a fridge, microwave and a small hot-plate, no oven or kettle and only a few plates and utensils. For this reason we ended up eating out for the 4 nights we stayed, and just used the kitchen to make our breakfast and some sandwiches. The Bathroom area was adequate but again we felt it needed modernisation. We felt, for what we had paid the accommodation provided was very over-priced.

The location of Villa Valenza was good for us, about a 15-20min walk into the centre of Cortona town with some breathtaking scenery along the way. Residents also benefit from free wi-fi and have free use of the Swimming Pool at the adjacent sports centre which made for a very nice relaxing day of sunbathing and swimming.

In Summary, I would recommend going for the B&B option if you decide to stay at Villa Valenza as the B&B rooms seemed nicer; however, with an update of the self-catering rooms in terms of decor and facilities this could be turned into a really lovely place to stay.

I also have to say that the host looked after us very well and despite the language barrier he was extremely helpful and friendly.

I picked this Villa as the website looked good and it was close to Cortona

Location
If you do not have a car, you can walk into the centre of Cortona in 20 minutes. Driving is about the same time as you have to drive around the mountain. It was very quiet and so was very peaceful at night.

Apartment
We stayed in an Apartment and I wish we had not paid the extra money. The kitchen was a hot plate and microwave and so you couldn't really cook anything. The furniture was very old and the bed and breakfast rooms were much nicer. If I were you, save some money and go for the bed and breakfast rooms. Saying all that, the rooms were very clean when we arrived which is the most important thing.

Facilities
While the Villa does not have its own swimming pool, you have access to the local facilities which are 50m away. There is a lovely pool and a very reasonable snack bar.

Staff
The staff were very helpful but sign language came in very useful as they did not speak that much English.

Breakfast
As we were self catering we did not have this but it looked lovely.

We did have a lovely stay but I was just a bit peeved that I paid the extra money for self catering when I would have benefited more from bed and breakfast. Go for the bed and breakfast rooms as they looked lovely.