Villa Rignana - The Tuscan Collection

We have just returned from a 1 week stay at Villa Rignana which I chose as the venue for our family reunion. With friends and family coming from Australia, Europe and America, we all agreed that Tuscany was the easiest and best choice for us, especially as we are all real foodies. Villa Rignana seems to have been running for a good length of time under the same family management and is right in the middle of Chianti. Florence and Siena are 40 mins away Its an old monastery that has been done up in a cool and quirky way, lots of curios and antiques. Bedroom are all a good size, with some opening out directly onto the gardens. Not all of them are air conditioned, but just keep the doors shut and the thick stone walls keep out the heat. There is a great pool above and behind the house, where we spend most days. I would point out that the steps are quite steep up to the pool but just treat it as a workout with a reward at the end! The wood fired pizza oven is a bonus for lunches, the kids loved Franco the pizza chef who knocks out pizzas to order, even shaped like Mickey Mouse. Alexandra and Stephen who run the place are a lovely team, Alexandra produces homecooked tuscan meals using ingredients picked straight from the vegetable garden...try the fried zucchini flowers.. Stephen never stopped opening bottles of wine during our stay and always seemed to have a chilled bottle of limoncello on tap for after dinner. If you want to try restaurants in the area, then La Cantinetta di Rignana is 10 min walk with great steaks but the two stars of the trip were LA Castellana in Montefioralle and Scuderia in the Badia, both family run and have truffle pasta to die for. All in all this is a great place for a big family group to get together. If I had to come up with any downsides I would say that the dirt roads are rather challenging if you are used to normal urban tarmac and also there are quite a few bugs around in the evening but it is the country side.