Hotel la Meridiana

Hotel Meridiana We were in Arezzo and were going to go to Cortona, but we were tired and decided to stop in Anghiari, which my wife had found out about from an article in CNN Travel called "Europe's most beautiful towns", because it was closer and made a nice rest stop, anyway and we were hungry, too. Good decision. Anghiari was great with wonderful views. We went to the Battle of Anghiari Museum, which was very interesting and described a battle that I was vaguely reminded of as I went through the exhibits. The real star was the young lady holding down the fort, Margherita Fava. She was wonderfully friendly and helpful, beyond the call of duty. We asked about the Hotel Meridiana and she said it was lovely. We told her that when we called they said they did not speak English. She offered to call them on our behalf, which she did multiple times. They offered us their best room at the lowest rate and I attribute that to her calling them. When we got there and the parking was unclear as to whether we could actually park right in front of the hotel and there were at the moment no other spots in the little piazza there. She said she would come by to help. By the time she came a spot opened up in the piazza and we felt bad, because it was already after her work hours. She then came into the hotel to ensure our check-in went smoothly. We offered to take her out to dinner, but she felt it was unnecessary and I guess she wanted to get home to Arezzo after working the whole day. Despite not being able to speak English the gentleman at the desk was very nice throughout our stay. We had two bedrooms and plenty of space for luggage. It was relatively basic, but it met our needs, although my bed was on some railing that would move from side to side when I moved in bed or got out of bed to go to the bathroom. It was a bit unnerving and took some getting used to. On the extremely positive side, our room had a little balcony with a million dollar view of the town lit up at night. Absolutely magical. Reminded me of Alhambra lit up at night, a tough comparison to achieve. We went on it in the morning and the view was still great. Breakfast was a fairly limited affair - the standard breads, pastries, etc., but it had good coffee and you could get your own OJ bottles from a little fridge in the dining room and overall, it was fine. Considering the discounted room rate, it was a good deal for our one night stand there. By the way, make sure you take a walk along the city walls in the morning if the weather is nice. You get a fantastic view of the valley from on high. Bottom line: if you can get the room with the view, absolutely stay in Anghiari if you visit there, instead of making it a day trip. You will be glad you did.