'We had such a great time in IL TESORO that we felt we had to write something and thank Rita and her mother for their kindness and hospitality. They were the perfect hosts and together with Arno & Yvette, who we befriended at IL TESORO, helped to make the holiday a most memorable one.
With two still relatively young children (6 & 9), this was our first real holiday abroad, and we booked everything via the internet, and everything worked out like clockwork. We decided to spend the first week in Rome & Ostia and then a week in IL TESORO. We booked a car for the second week, and I had n't driven in Italy before, but I found it was quite easy to drive on the RHS. On the Saturday, we picked up a diesel Fiat Stilo from Rome Fumincino airport, headed for the AutoStrada A1 and within a couple of hours we were there. There is also an hourly train from Rome to Orvietto, from where you can hire a car or get a taxi to IL TESORO, or you can also use the service to visit Rome from this region for day trips.
We arrived in IL TESORO, a little bedraggled from the piping hot week in Rome & Ostia. We were immediately impressed, the villa was beautiful and the grounds and swimming pool are professionally maintained. Situated among cornfields and nestled between the hills, it was an idyllic location. You can never get this feeling from pictures on the internet, but arriving in IL TESORO we knew our second week was going to be just what we wanted. Rita was waiting for us and welcomed us, her English is very good, which helped a lot because our broken Italian leaves much to be desired. Rita gave us all the information of the local area, sites to visit, shopping areas, where to buy the best pottery etc., and then showed us around the basement sanctuary room, where you can relax quietly while the children are playing, the vegetable garden from where the guests can help themselves to cucumbers, courgettes, tomatoes, herbs, etc., the stone barbecue and pizza oven in the garden, the swimming pool, and then showed us to our apartment.
We stayed in the IL RUBINO apartment which was upstairs, with its own balcony area where you can sit and relax, and inside there were two decent sized rooms and a shower/toilet room, all modern and decorated to the highest standards, with wooden-trunk beams and lovely terracota tiled floors. Everything was clean and fresh. The kitchen/sitting room had bunk beds for the kids, a nice comfortable sofa, a TV with plenty of channels, a table for four people, and the kitchenette area with fridge, sink and cooker and cupboards with all the pots and pans and utensils. The bedroom again was very comfortable, nice double bed with lovely antique warderobe.
We got on very well with Rita and her family, and during the week we were fortunate enough to try out the barbecue 3 times, and twice with Rita's family which made the holiday very special for us. Since our return back to Ireland, we have been telling everyone of how much we enjoyed our holiday and we would highly recommend IL TESORO as excellent family-based holiday accomodation for anyone wishing to explore Tuscany, Lazio and Umbria from this central location.