Villa Rignana - The Tuscan Collection in Greve in Chianti

BEWARE THE MANY FAKE REVIEWS

We were a large group of 28, aged from 11 to 80 from Australia.

Pros - beautiful pool, stunning views, large open spaces, tennis court, friendly dogs, chickens and alpacas.

Cons - this is an old property and we had issues with:
1 - power outages
2 - water outages & quality (tap water not drinkable)
3- general upkeep and cleanliness of the rooms and kitchens.
4 - air-conditioning and ventilation - there is only air-conditioning in 2 of the many bedrooms, and only one works. There are fans however they are insufficient if you prefer sleeping in a cool room with fresh air
5 - towels and linen - there was one towel per person for a week. So you will likely need to wash and hang them out (there are no dryers).
6 - WiFi - sporadic. Ok for messaging etc, but not reliable for teams/zoom. Mobile coverage on the property also patchy.

The above issues are manageable however the primary issue was with the host. What you need to know before booking:
- the host lives onsite.
- the host shows up at gatherings "to check on things".
- there is a very strong push from the host for you to purchase catering for your group via her. The costs were extortionate, eg- a casual local cheese and ham night was EUR50 per person(inc children). Pizzas for the group was also EUR50 per person, and the portions and ingredients were miserable. These prices are double to triple what you will pay for much better quality nearby.
- there are certain "rules" that come up at times during the stay. Rules may or may not include - no usage of one of the kitchens as it is "heritage". Said “heritage” kitchen was equipped with a modern fridge and and an induction oven, there was nothing heritage about it (apart from the power outages).
- Sporadic allowance of the use of a portable speaker. Initially the speaker was offered for guests use. Then when she was grumpy it was her son's birthday present that couldn't be used, then on pleading we could use it again. When the battery died, apparently her son had taken the charger to Florence (sans the speaker itself)... She even flatly refused access when we were trying to celebrate 11yo twin birthdays. We gave up in the end and drove to Florence and bought one to save the grief.
- tennis is allowed, but you can only use the lights with the hosts permission.
- use of the pizza oven isn't allowed….”That’s for the chef”, ie pay me EUR50 pp and you can use it….
- swimming is allowed, however apparently it is an offense under Italian law to swim after 8pm…
- expect frequent requests for CASH. She demanded the tourist tax from everyone in CASH… every other villa we stayed in this was included in the initial price. She also wanted to be paid for any extras in CASH as she wouldn't take card or transfer, whereas every shop, market stall holder and taxi driver in the areas all accepted cars….odd.

The list could go on and on but you get the picture.

Our gathering was to celebrate a family milestone birthday. There was no loud or rowdy behavior, we thoroughly cleaned up after ourselves and even took the rubbish off site.

In an effort to be constructive Id suggest the host reads and pays attention to the Google reviews. If she were to take a different approach this place could be good, but sadly I can't recommend it as it currently is.

Fortunately our group was incredible and we were determined not to let her spoil the party.

The owner/host Alessandra is very unpleasant to deal with. Upon arrival, she was adamant that I give her 3,000 euros as a deposit for fees. Later I would find out that she had no intention of returning this deposit. She did not show up when I checked out at her requested time of 10 a.m. She came up with various frivolous reasons to find expenses such as paper napkins, 2 ugly water jars and “missing kitchen ware” because that’s what guests do when we rent $3,600 a night Villa. We steal paper napkins and kitchen ware. It took a week of back and forth of frustration for her to find the total expenses to add up to a little more than 3,000 euros. Needless to say it wasn’t very pleasant to have to deal with a dishonest and scrupulous host.

Furthermore, her listing is mis-leading. There are only 2 Air Condition Units for the whole property and only 1 of them worked properly. The stove was faulty so our Chef that we hired externally could not prepare some of the courses.

The worst VRBO/AirBnB booking ever!

Very unfriendly and far from customer oriented.
We made our booking long time ahead and already made 100% payment to the host. However this Alexandra requested us to cancle the booking and make a new booking correcting an issue with the kids age. Which according to her was not possible to deal on spot or correct from her side. She referred to us even to book rather through her own page, which we did, She never confirmed this booking after and is not answering.

This is beyond acceptable and very rude, due to the departure is in three days and we have thanks to Alessandra no place to stay. Highly unprofessional and not nice at all. Be aware of her practice if booking this place. Your holiday might just never happen.