We stayed at Borgio Dei Sensei from June 18th – June 25th, 2011. The villa is in Vernio, Italy – about 20 minute train ride north of Prato. We had kind of a mixed week at the villa, so I’ll split this into two categories:
1) Things that were good
The villa sits in a beautiful area. We had awesome weather all week which meant we had dinner (all 10 of us) outside on the patio overlooking both the valley and mountains. From there we could see both the ruins of an ancient castle and see and hear the bells of a nearby monastery. The rooms are all very nice and make you feel like you are in a rustic villa while still being modern and comfortable. The pool is not heated, so you probably won’t go for any long swims, but it can be nice to briefly cool off in after a long hot day of sightseeing. We never used the cinema room (we can watch TV and movies at home) or the workout room (we got plenty of walking in), but both looked nice. Overall, it is really the beauty of the place and the overall ambiance that made the week special for us.
2) Things that could be better/improved
The villa is not easy to get to. Emma Villas (who manages the schedule/bookings for the owners during the summer months) led us to believe that a vehicle would be optional….that it was just a short walk to the bus and a short bus to the train. It wasn’t made clear that this walk from the bus stop is all uphill, that buses come about once an hour and only “sort-of” on time, and that you need to buy a bus ticket each time from the local bar (which adds more walking). Also, the grocery store is in the town of Vernio proper, so this means buying groceries in town, taking them on the bus and then lugging them up the hill. I would say that in order to get full advantage of your time at the villa, you should plan a car into your expenses. You might need an SUV to get up the last bit of driveway, but if you don’t mind walking the last 40 meters or so, there is ample parking still on the property and an easy walkway from just below the last driveway.
There is no air conditioning. This is actually not a huge deal, but it should be known. The walls are about 1.5-2 feet thick, so if you close the windows and blinds in the morning and then open them in the evening, the rooms stay reasonable. Two things that I would suggest to the owners would be to get fans for every room (currently only 2 for the whole place) and to put screens on all the windows. In our room, there was a screen on the front window, but the window in the bathroom didn’t have one – so there wasn’t a good way to create a cross draft without inviting all the bugs into your room at night. These two relatively inexpensive upgrades would help the cooling significantly.
All that being said, we really enjoyed our week at the villa. We had lots of space, great weather, beautiful views, and great food. Having a car (or two) would have made the whole thing MUCH easier.
