Hotel Villa Cheli

At the foot of the hills between Pisa and nearby Lucca sits the historic Villa Cheli, known for its classic Tuscan architecture and beautiful setting. Once the summer residence of the sculptor Guido Cheli, who filled the villa with fine casts of mythological and contemporary figures. The villa now operates as a charming hotel, offering rooms decorated with antique furnishings and traditional Italian decor. Surrounded by olive groves, the property provides guests with a peaceful retreat.

The Villa is beautiful, the pool area good, on the drive up to the Villa it looked great. Unfortunately almost everything about the place could be better. The room was ok, but dull. A great view for sure, but a tiny bathroom with an elbow bashing shower and sad thin towels. The aircon was noisy and not a match for the morning sun. Breakfast was lamentable. Self served either on a terrace that was not well shaded, or in a dull windowless dining room. Tables were not laid up at all, everything had to be carried out on a tray. A toaster that took an age and only toasted one side. Cheap produce, plastic cheese. The fruit selection varied from day today, if you were lucky there might be a ripe peach. Bread rolls that were a little stale, as if had if they had been frozen. Eggs were rubbery and not refilled if you got down towards the end of service. It was more like a cheap motel breakfast than a good hotel. We had dinner at the Hotel restaurant one evening. It was not good either. The main courses were only ok, the accompanying vegetables were dull. I sent back my starter as the melon was not ripe, an essential if the plate is only melon and ham, it came back with the same melon, but the rind had been removed. Unbelievable! No apologies were offered when I sent it back again. When we came to pay the bill at the end of our stay it was still on it. We felt that customer care was lacking at this Hotel. That corners were cut at almost every opportunity. It could have been great, but it really wasn’t. Oh and check out was at 10 am, really, so last century.

This was a beautiful property situated between Pisa and Lucca. It’s an older hotel but all of the amenities including air conditioning were good. Amazing pool area and loungers and you can run down to the lobby to get drinks and other snacks. We had a family room which had an upstairs with a king bed and downstairs there were two twin beds for the kids. Lots of good food options near by. Only negative was that the breakfast provided by the hotel wasn’t great in terms of quality or quantity of options available. They seemed to run out of things regularly and not be replaced.

A fabulous retreat from the city! We enjoyed the countryside and nearby villages. The pool provided much needed relief from the hot weather. The breakfast was goid!

Beautiful hotel in a beautiful setting. The staff was kind and helpful in every way. The restaurant is delicious, and the breakfast had many great options. The pool was luxurious. I especially enjoyed walking the trails and quiet lanes in the neighborhood—a heavenly, green Tuscany location. Glorious Tuscan hills to enjoy. Easy and fast to take the bus to Lucca. Highly recommended!

Beautiful location and building. Friendly staff. Great swimming pool. Good breakfast selection. We stayed for 5 nights in one of the 'dependencies', effectively a separate annex to the main house. Our accommodation comprised a small sitting room (which had sofa bed and a tiny fridge), the bedroom and an ensuite bathroom. The place was pretty dark with not much natural daylight. The double bed was comfortable and the bedroom a good size. The bathroom was ok but the shower was tiny and you could hardly take a shower without bumping into the sides or the tap. If you are a bigger person, you'd have a real problem taking a shower in that tiny cubicle. The bathroom itself was big enough to have a proper-sized shower. Honestly, for the price we were charged for the accommodation, we would have expected better facilities. The main house had a large dining area (including a nice outdoor section) but could do with a lounge/sitting area. (If there was one, we didn't see it). We ate at the restaurant on a few occasions. The waitress we usually saw was lovely (unfortunately we didn't get her name). The menu and food was mostly very good. However, the last dinner we had was on a Sunday evening and the chef (Marko) must have been off because my wife's seafood pasta (which I'd had previously and was very good) seemed to lack the seafood. We think whoever prepared it forgot to add the main ingredient! All in all, we did enjoy our stay, but for the price we paid (on average 269 euro per night), the overall accommodation could have been better.