Fattoria di Maiano

Perfect place to experience the Tuscan countryside while staying close to Florence. The grounds feature a nice pool area, gardens, farm animals, and a lovely hiking trail. The on-site restaurant is one of the best in the area, serving fresh, local ingredients. There is also a small store where you can purchase cheeses, fruits, and vegetables, as well as coffee and wine. There are also many excellent restaurants within walking distance. Our group had two apartments here for five days. They both had two bedrooms and two bathrooms. One had a small kitchen/living area. The other had a spacious living area and full-sized kitchen with sweeping views over the Tuscan landscape. The larger unit also had an updated bathroom with a large shower. So nice! AC in all the bedrooms worked really well. Definitely recommend a car to get around in this area. It is possible to get a taxi but definitely easier if you have a car. Takes about 20 minutes by taxi to get to Florence. There is also a bus that stops close by. The town of Fiesole is relatively close (perhaps a mile by foot) and has a nice bakery, meat shop, grocery store, produce store, restaurants, etc. Overall, this was a charming, peaceful and authentic place from which to start our Italian vacation.

While the hotel staff was very friendly and communication via WhatsApp worked well, the overall experience did not meet our expectations. The location offers a beautiful elevated view, but that was one of the few highlights. The room we were assigned felt more like a basement than a proper hotel room. Although we were offered an alternative, it was also very old and did not match the photos shown on the website, which we found misleading. Additionally, the room had an unpleasant odour – a mix of wine smoke and something musty – that made us feel uncomfortable. The breakfast was another disappointment. Much of the food had already been affected by the heat and looked unappetising. The pool area is nicely designed, but there were no shaded areas available during our stay. The outdoor shower by the pool was full of wasps and therefore unusable. Although the setting is quiet and scenic, it’s quite inconvenient if you rely on taxis – they need to be ordered at least 45 minutes in advance, making spontaneous plans difficult. Ultimately, we were so disappointed that we decided to check out earlier than planned.

Absolutely not what was written in the write-up… none of the extra things to do were available. Dining room was not open. Bought food to feed the animals to only find out on our own when we started to walk the farm that there was electric fences around all the animals - so the animals do not come close so you cannot feed them. We felt like we were bothering the employees - considering we cancelled our original plans to stay here - we were very disappointed.

We had a truly authentic tuscan family experience here. From our 5 year old neice to our 88 year old grandmother, everyone loved learning about the animals, honey, olives and wine, and they enjoyed sampling it even more. Delicious food and wine enjoyed by every member of the family! Thank you for looking after us in such a special way.