Villa San Filippo

Years of neglected infrastructure have caught up with this property. Things simply don’t work to the point that they are endangering the welfare of guests. My first big concern came when I tried to contact the front desk because of an issue with our bathroom plug and discovered there was no room phone. The only way I could contact them was to dial the outside number. There are instructions throughout the property to dial a three-digit code in an emergency but there are no house phones. The front desk informed us they had been “taken out because there were problems.” As to the bathroom plug, we were told it could not power my curling iron or phone because of “safety issues.” (All other hotels on our Italy itinerary did not have these issues.) We were provided with an extension cord, which we had to jerry-rig to extend from the bedroom into the bathroom so I could use a mirror. Our issues were minor, however, compared with what other members of our tour group had to put up with: flooding floors, roofs that dripped on to beds in the middle of the night and toilets that didn’t have a foot between the wall and edge of the seat. The uneven space provided (we had a whole living room while others in our group had barely enough room around the bed) was not a morale booster. The surrounding landscape is lovely, but you can’t enjoy it in November, and so you’re left with what’s inside and that’s not great.

Given some of the past reviews, we were apprehensive about this villa. Our stay was excellent. The room was clean and had a great view, and the staff was helpful. My guess is that the Villa is suffering from a lack of staff promulgated by the downturn in travel during Covid. The A/C could use some maintenance but was not necessary when we visited. While their restaurant is closed, they bring in a caterer for groups. Beautiful property in a great location close to Barberino val D' Elsa.