We booked the hotel last minute and then read the trip advisor reviews - which unfortunately were true. We tried to cancel with Hotels.com only minutes after making the booking but this particular hotel has an 8 day cancellation policy, so we had to go.

Although located 30 minutes up hill from Florence centre, its a beautiful setting and could make an amazing boutique hotel. However, the place is run down, stuffed full of ornaments, trinkets and mainly junk!

On arrival, we suffered the same problem as most reviewers, when we eventually found via Bolognese the hotel had no sign apart from the writing on the entry phone system. They opened the gates for us remotely and we drove the down the drive to a promising property from the outside.

We were met by a lovely, but harassed, Philipino hotel worker who checked us in without problem and showed us to our room. Despite booking an en suite double we got given an apartment room which would have been fantastic if we didn't have to share it with another couple. Our bathroom was external to the small double bedroom.

My wife had a shower and due to no shower curtain in the cubicle , the floor flooded. Due to some unknown issue with the other peoples room in out apartment the manager and Phillipino lady arrived outside our bathroom. When my wife requested a mop to sort out the flood HERSELF, the manager proceeded to bollock her for not showering properly! The manager told us no one else has this issue and to shower more carefully! Due to his repetitive rudeness, I firmly closed the door. At which point he banged on the door, I opened it, he told me to shut it more quietly in future!

The Philipino lady came back to clean the floor, she was clearly unhappy with his attitude and apologised for him.

This COULD make a fantastic hotel, BUT the management and cluttered state of the hotel make this place one to avoid.

The pictures of this place are lovely, but the reality is a bit different. the actual villa is beautiful, but many of hte rooms are in more modern apartment buildings adjacent. we were given a large apartment (booking confusion by Ulivi staff) but which was really dirty (grey carpet, marked walls) and a small poky bedroom - the place where I spend most of my time in a hotel!! Certainly no marble bathroom in sight, in fact very tired bathroom suite with a shower door that didn't' close, cracked paint etc etc. A bit gutted really. Breakfast was nothing to shout about, although it was in the nice villa bit. When I complained to staff, they didn't seem that interested. I wouldn't recommend.
Also, you really can't walk into town from here, because the roads have no pavements and the traffic is v fast, so lots of waiting for buses... why not stay in town!!!

This was our first visit to Europe. My expectations may be too high. At the time I made reservation our group was 5 couples and we made reservations for one apartment and 3 double rooms. It was difficult to understand the sleeping accommodations for the apartments. The apartment configurations are not accommodations for 2-3 couples since the beds are singles or were not in bedrooms. Later we had two cancelations, which we did through the web leaving us with one apartment and one double room. We arrived to find our accommodations were not available, although we still had our confirmation for the remaining apartment and double room. Accommodations were made at our expense in a villa down the road for one/two nights. We were given continental style breakfast as consideration for the trouble. This was not satisfactory. The apartments did not meet our expectations based on the marketing material. The apartments are in need of repair and updating. In general the apartments were worn. Furniture is broken, wall plates are missing, paint is peeling, or shower doors do not close. The beds in our apartments were single beds that we found very uncomfortable because you felt the springs, they dipped to one side or they bowed toward the middle. The carpet in the apartments needs cleaning or replacing. We avoided walking on the carpet with our bear feet because it felt dirty. The showers or baths were very small and did not have a place for soap or shampoo. The villa does not have Wi-Fi Internet service as indicated on the web site. The setting and view from our apartment was wonderful. Overall it did not measure up to what we consider 3 star hotel accommodations.

I don't normally do this kind of stuff - I've registered especially to write this review in the hope that is might save some other people ruined holidays.

All the bad reviews are true - although we have have something very special to add. We reserved our room by credit card - the only way he'd take our booking - and paid on departure with cash, which at the time of booking he agreed was fine - only when we got home to our credit card bill did we discover that this villan had charged our card AND taken our cash. Credit card fradulent investigation currently being carried out.

Just like everyone else says the place was filthy, misrepresented on websites, he was rude, they took forever to confirm rooms (which it sounds like we were lucky that they did actually do for us), breakfast was awful, bed bugs, blocked sinks, signage non-existant - with lies on literature the distances from central Florence and no indication about the unmanageable driveway if you don't hire a car.

My only advise is never ever go there.