SAN GIUSEPPE
"All of us will vouch that Calcione is far better than portrayed"
Dear Olivella, I can't adequately describe in words how wonderful our trip to Calcione was. We spent two weeks (from Sept 16 to Sept 30, 2006) in the San Giuseppe Villa. We were a group of 10 adults and it was our first trip to Italy. I found the Calcione site on the internet early in our planning stage. We all agreed that it looked just like what we were hoping for. However, as you know, things often times are not nearly as good in reality as they are on websites or magazines, etc. All of us will vouch that Calcione is far better than portrayed. It is centrally located for you to take day trips to a different destination every day if you choose too, but yet you have your own little bit of "Tuscany" all to yourself
No traffic noise, sirens blaring, or other irritating city disrupting noises. The San Giuseppe house was like being on our own estate, even though there are several other homes and the Castle on the property. But, with over 2,000 acres of Calcione property, you are totally by yourselves which we loved. The grounds were beautiful and rustic, lots of olive trees, horses, cows, and our own flock of pheasants. Because all of us live in cities, we were enthralled with the country life and loved the serenity and natural beauty. Whether we were lounging around by the pool or sitting around the wonderful big table with bench's in the kitchen (our favorite spot every morning for coffee and planning our day), we were never cramped for space. The house is very big (we all guessed at around 5000 sq ft) and just what we pictured for an Italian Villa. It's originally very old but has been remodeled with all the modern conveniences. Except in Italy, the dishwashers and clothes washers and dryers are not nearly as efficient as ours, but that just made it more fun to experience. None of us wanted everything to be "just like home" anyway. We made side trips to Siena, Cortona, Chianti, Pienza, Montepulciano, Deruta, Florence, Lucignano, Sinalunga, and others. We would try to visit a town on the day of their local open air market which was so much fun. We were always back home though by 4 to 5 PM. Our very first night, we had arranged to have Amel come and cook for us. It was so incredible and delicious that we hired her many more times during our stay as no restaurant food quite compared to her cooking even with the highest recommendations. After cooking our dinner she always spotlessly cleaned everything up (and believe me, she uses every pan, dish and spoon). She gave us mini cooking classes and let us watch as she made pasta from scratch (not even a pasta machine). Dinner was a three hour, 5 course event around the two big tables in the dining room. Be sure and try her Lasagna. No other Lasagna will ever taste as good as hers. All 10 of us agree that our stay at Calcione was one of the very best vacations any of us have ever experienced and all of us have been many many places throughout the world. My husbands only regret was that we didn't spend more time at our Calcione Villa rather than running around visiting all the local sites.
One final note: We had originally planned on spending two days in Florence (staying one night in a hotel) as we thought it was probably too far to do a day trip. But it isn't. We had arranged for a private tour and we had plenty of time to see everything that we wanted to including the Uffizi, the Accademia., and a leisurely lunch. We were still back "home" by 7PM.
Please feel free to use our comments on your website. Thank you so much for preserving your family's history of "Calcione". You have done a wonderful job. That reminds me: Chiara (one of your staff) gave us a fabulous tour of the castle and the chapel. Anyone staying at Calcione should request a tour. They will be amazed. Obviously it's not open to the public, but it could be. The chapel and archive room in the castle are as good as visiting many of the churches in the local towns and villages.

Michael and Elene Mackey & Friends
San Clemente, Ca USA
email: elenem@pacbell.net