This was only our second villa stay, the first being the week previous in Provence, and despite our noviceness we were glad we chose this property as it lived up to all our expectations. We arrived late afternoon, and having read past reviews we were expecting the challenging driveway; it is a challenge but proved no problem for us whatsoever, you just need to go steady. On arrival we were greeted by Becky, Louisa's cousin as they were on holiday, and she gave us a guided tour. This villa is in a stunning location, near to the sea, Pisa, Lucca and Florence (a bit further away) so if you want to do stuff there is loads to see and do. If you want a quiet relaxing holiday go to the supermarket and get the weeks provisions in and you could stay there all week and do nothing. The views are spectacular to say the least, and having cooked a meal on the wood fired barbeque you can sit back and watch the sun wane whilst looking down over the leaning tower of Pisa, interspersed with the occasional ring of the local bells in the village. Perfect.
There is not much in Pugnano, some restaurants should you need them, we didn't and only ate out when making a trip somewhere. The pool and deck area are superb, although at times we felt the lower area could have done with a bit more useful shade especially under the hot sun. The barbecues were good, as was the wood fired oven, unlike our pizzas which were not so good. We had the 'Meal at Home' option one evening and this was superb, highly recommended.
The villa itself was fine, it had all you needed, but we did feel it lacked a little 'homeliness' in places and a bit more furniture in the bedrooms might have been handy. One comment we would make is that the non ensuite bathroom could do with some better showering facilities. These minor things made no difference to us, we arrived, relaxed, ate, drank and relaxed some more - this is a great place to do this! Even the fresh lemons on the tree finished off our G&T's to perfection!
Many thanks Luisa Colin and Max, we loved our stay and we were glad to meet you albeit for a short time. Rest assured, Becky filled your shoes well!