To be clear, we have never stayed at a Castle before, and I was not specifically looking for such an experience when booking. However, my husband had already made a reservation at a nice spa hotel in Tuscany, and asked me to find a place halfway between that place and Rome. I can not accentuate enough how beautiful the grounds, outside Castle views and mountain vistas are here. The owners have put a great deal of time and money to give the place charm in every corner, and made it clear what a long and painstaking process it is to turn ruins into a five star hotel, and they are trying really hard to make it happen! But it pains me to say that they are not quite there yet, despite the attentiveness of all the staff. Given the expensive price and the 5 star ratings and pictures online, I neglected to notice that there is no gym, not even a small one with a few pieces of equipment. Also despite google descriptions and listings clearly stating there is a spa, hot tub, sauna and stream room, these amenities are not available to guests but are in a private suite. At first I thought my disappointment was due to my misinterpretation, but upon returning home and looking at the listings I realize that management is being blatantly deceptive in my opinion. Moreover, of the two pools during our visit, one was not heated, and the other completely empty of water (though plans are to have one heated and to add a gym but we saw no such work going on). As a lap swimmer, I kept looking at the gorgeous pool longingly as it was open and filled with water but was ice cold. On the one rainy day we had, there really was not much to do except romance but that does not take us all day lol. We booked one of the least expensive rooms, and although it was quite large, it was not as hospitable as we would like and not a suite in what is described as an “all suite” hotel. Our room was dark with small windows too low to have views through the trees. And there was no fireplace as described in the list of amenities. The mattress and linens were super comfortable, and the room had a wonderful private deck built out over the mountain ledge as well as a modern Balinese glassed in shower. However, an old wooden window (from Bali?) was used instead of door to our toilet & bidet area, with a threshold on the floor over 6” high to step over, and the top of which one has to bend over to not hit head, even if you are only 5’4” like me! It is quite dangerous, especially after some wine. Our particular room, was the basement of an out structure not part of the castle, with an amazing suite on the upper floors (not ours), making our room feel like it was for staff. There were steep stone steps to reach our room, again a bit dangerous. The headboard on the gorgeous four poster bed, was so low, that one could not really read in bed without using every single pillow in the room, and every time I did that, the housekeepers would put the pillows back on the chairs as if what I was doing was not allowed! Another oddity was this huge piece of furniture in the corner of our room, for what purpose we have no idea, but this space could be used for a comfortable sofa (voila now its more like a real suite) instead was used as storage. We resorted to putting the do not disturb sign on the room because we felt the level of service was overkill. Other minor amenities missing, were a magnifying mirror (I could not put on makeup during my stay), no tv and no phones. Guests have to download WhatsApp to communicate with staff. Included with our room rate, was a wonderful lavish breakfast with eggs that came directly from on premise chickens, and the most delicious fresh smoothies. We took a wonderful hike on property, down to the river and back, a 2 hour trek with amazing spring flowers in bloom. They can even provide hiking shoes in your size. We did also attempt to use the electric bikes, but the long rocky path to leave the property resulted in my tires slipping out, and we turned around after 5 minutes. There was construction & maintenance all over, as they were building a fence and staff break room. We did not realize we would be going so soon after they opened for the season. Generally we felt like we did not belong here, like we were crashing at a distant uncles mansion. The Castle is quite small, with half of it being the owners apartment, the rest being the managers office, the dining nooks for guests, and then a small living room which we were welcome to use but was dark and crowded with all the owners knick knacks from their travels. Lunch is served in a lovely outdoor courtyard, weather allowing, and was delicious. I must mention the remote location to reach the Castle. We had dinner here the first night, knowing we would be tired from our travels that day, but were surprised how expensive and not that amazing it was. Local fresh ingredients served gorgeously but bland. Other nights we decided to do afternoon trips to nearby towns, and have dinner there, but given Italy’s strict timing of lunch (12:30-2:30) shopping (3:30-7:30) and dinner in italy (7-10), it was not ideal given that the closest towns worth visiting Montalcino (wine tastings and great restaurant choices!) and Siena are more then 45 minutes away and the road is twisty, dark and at some spots one lane for two way traffic. I would summarize to say that this is a 7 star rated Agritourism Experience. The more you are into farming, the outdoors and Italian cooking classes ($290 per person) the better. The more you are used to deluxe accommodations, the worser. I also feel like the website is misleading. If one clicks on the section “Wellness” pictures are shown of a hot tub on a deck, what I now know is a private room called the Spa Suite. Some suites also have fireplaces, but ours did not. There really are very little indoor common areas for guests to use, so my advice is to choose your room carefully as they differ greatly from each other, and to go when it is warm weather. At other places we have visiting (Post Ranch & Ventana Big Sur come to mind as a good comparison) the least expensive room gives you entree to all of the resorts experiences, but here you only get a room and enjoyment of the outdoors, in the middle of nowhere. The owners have made odd choices, for example the Spa Suite could be used as a space for all guests until the new gym is built, but choose to instead book it out at $1500-2000 a night. To be clear, one can get a massage here, but there is no spa. One can swim laps here but there is no heat. One can take a hike or a bike ride but there is no gym. It is a wonderful outdoor experience with a room and a view, and lots of staff if you are into that. I initially gave more stars but realize now that management is deceptive on purpose in order to charge $1000 for a standard room. There are other castle hotels in Tuscany with pools that charge a fraction. But we did have a nice few days, and would have enjoyed it more had the false listings not heightened our expectations.…