|
This Tuscan vacation rental home is located in the hills that divide Casentino valley from Chianti and nestled between Florence and Arezzo. Restored to perfection, the owners truly delight in giving their guests the very best Tuscan hospitality around. The holiday home was made with the traditional Tuscan sand stone and is set on several layers - giving the house a unique personality and the ability to accomodate large groups that want to be together but value their privacy.
The heated pool has a panaramic position of the Tuscan landscape, making early spring and late summer just as enjoyable as any other month. The grounds which belong to the villa rental are meticulously kept and offer lots of space for children to enjoy themselves, and since the entire property is fenced in - the adults can rest and relax as well. 
Scores for Carda are based on a 1 star (poor) to a 5 star (excellent) rating system.
|
| Description Matches Internet |
 |
| Clean and Friendly |
|
|
| Comfortable |
|
|
|
| Individual ratings and reviews are displayed below and have been submitted by guests who have stayed at Carda . |
| Westhampton Beach, United States, POSTED: 04/11/2008 Rassina, the closest town, had a few basics...small market, pizza restaurant. Bibbiena had a bit more. Cortona was worth a visit, as was Assissi...both within 1 hour drive. Poppi was lovely. We drove to the Outlet Mall...not recommended. LaVerna was a gorgeous view (although we went in the rain!!) The property was spectacular...the house lovely. The pool looked great, although the weather did not allow us to use it. |
| Sherman Oaks, USA POSTED: 06/10/2008 The owner's recommendations for dining were all superb. Each place had something unique. The food was excellent and the character of his suggested restaurants was always personable. The townspeople and merchants were all very helpful. Fortunately for the longer drives we had a GPS which allowed us to explore very freely. |
| Port Chester, USA POSTED: 06/09/2008 Westchester County, Rye Brook New York
"Simply Extaordinary" only begins to suggest the most exquisite surroundings experienced during our one week stay at the truly magnificent "Villa Carda". The location and landscape is postcard perfect! The house itself abounds with Tuscan charm and beauty. Antique furnishings prevail throughout. Rich oil paintings, tasteful decorative accents and ceramics of the region plus the bonus of a veggie garden including strawberries,lettuces,cucmbers,tomatoes, plus grapes,plums and an array of herbs made the week so superb in every detail. The beautiful pool was enjoyed by all.
Antonio the owner and his som Andrea enhanced our stay with the warmth, hospitality and effusive graciousness that is only evident when one truly loves and is passionate about what they do. Bravissimo to this wonderful family team!!!
|
| ermelo, Netherlands POSTED: 18/08/2008 the local pizzarestaurant was an excellent possibility to eat without travelling far. The home-cooks were superb. The majolica shop of Grazia in Deruta was very interesting. The owner gave us a tour of the factory and we saw the painters at work. The service of Antonio and his sons is perfect. They can tell you all you need to know and the grounds were kept immaculate during our stay |
| Weston, USA POSTED: 25/06/2008 Villa Carda is magnificent. It receives a 5 star rating from me...soaps, robes, slippers, a pool decked out like a resort, a driving range, vegetable and fruit garden and trees. The owner, Antonio is so helpful. He has a wealth of info to share with you about Tuscany the places to see and restaurants to eat at. Hope to go back some day.We loved exploring Florence, of course. Poppi and Cortona are lovely little hill towns. Cortona has great shops! Sienna and Arezzo are definitely worth the time to visit. |
| Chobham, UK POSTED: 17/06/2008 The pool was great, the garden breath taking and immaculate! The entire family enjoyed the ping pong and golf too! Antonio is a terrific resource! His suggestions for places to visit were great! |
| El Cerrito California, USA POSTED: 27/03/2008 Thomas--
We want to express how much we enjoyed our stay in Villa Carda. The villa exceeded our expectations--plenty of space for the 6 of us to spread out, with the bedrooms affording privacy when we wanted it. The furnishings are lovely and very comfortable. And we shall miss the luxury of those wonderful bed linens! The grounds are breathtaking---exquisitely maintained---and we had a bonus of a few fresh cherries from the trees and fresh lettuce and radishes from the garden. And it was nice to be able to take some dips in the pool after a long day's outing.
We took the opportunity to have a couple of dinners prepared for us by Piero and Nada (arranged by Antonio) and are so glad we did! A bonus of our dinners in was the opportunity to select wines from Antonio's wine collection. A very very nice amenity! We spent our days exploring the villages and towns nearby. Don't miss dinner at Ristorante Casentino by the castle in Poppi, and at Il Tirabuscio in Bibbiena. The town of Montepulciano is a must see (recommended to us by Antonio), and it was fun doing our local shopping and enjoying gelatos in the little village of Rassina nearby (Il Molina down the hill has good dinners too). I spent each morning walking up the hill from Villa Carda and then down again to the tiny settlement of St. Maria Carda.
The "icing on the cake" for us was the wonderfully enjoyable and accommodating host/owner: Antonio, we cannot say enough about his guidance for day trips, restaurants, etc., help with questions, etc. And his son Marco was also extremely helpful, his English being excellent. We totally appreciated their patience with our lack of knowledge of the Italian language.
The six of us thoroughly enjoyed our week at Villa Carda and hope to return again in the future.
Sincerely, Pat Magyary and friends
|
| SUNNINGDALE, UK, POSTED: 30/10/2007 Nice place to explore the less crowed area of Eastern Tuscany. Nice to have the wince cellar at the house, the heated pool was great. Anghiari was a beatuful small medieval town well worth visiting... no tourists and very picturesque. |
| Twin Bridges, USA POSTED: 23/10/2007 I suggest that all travellers read the house guest book as soon as they arrive. Prior visitors have written down excellent ideas in the guest book and it is a good resource. Also, any recommendation that Marco or Antonio provides can be counted on to be excellent! The suggestion to stop at the Intercoop for groceries on Saturday in Arezzo is a good one as everything is closed on Sunday. Our entire experience was a positive one thanks to excellent facilities and excellent hosts. The beauty of the surrounding area was unexpected and we found ourselves not wanting to leave during the day to go sightseeing. I encourage future visitors to walk, walk, walk and then to relax by the pool as often as they can. Loved the fruit trees and vegetable garden on the property! In fact, the villa is even more spectacular in person than the excellent photos portray. |
Reykjavik, Iceland POSTED: 26/08/2007 We were afraid that Villa Carda would not be as beautiful as in the pictures on the website, but in reality it was even more beautiful! We were in dream-land for a whole week, this beautiful house, with wonderful bedrooms for everyone, great swimming-pool and all in all well kept, beautiful surrounding. Everything so clean and nice, and the owner, Antonio and his son Marco, were so sweet and helpful in every way imaginable. Words can not describe how happy we were in Villa Carda, hopefully we will be back very soon! We recommend you to rent a car and drive around Tuscanny and visit the beautiful little towns and cities that are all over. For instance the Bibbiena, Sienna, Arezzo, especially the old city/town centers with nice restaurants. That is if you can tear yourself away from beautiful Villa Carda! Restaurant Il Massimo (just outside Bibbieana ) was recommended to us by Antonio, and we found it to be very good.
Visit the beautiful old towns and cities all over Tuscany, for instance Bibbiena, Arezzo and Sienna. They all have beautiful old city-centres with nice restaurants, that is if you can tear yourself away from beautiful Villa Carda! It was like living a beautiful dream for a week. Even more beautiful than in pictures on the website, wonderful house with very good bedrooms for everyone, great swimming-pool, great terrace where we spent a lot of time eating good food, beautiful, clean and well kept surrounding. It gets top marks from us in every way. The owner, Antonio, and his son Marco, were extremely nice, sweet and helpful in every way. We would love to go back to Villa Carda, hopefully sooner than later! |
| Natters, Österreich POSTED: 17/07/2007 Ideal, wenn man im Haus bleiben möchte. Ein Paradies |
| Sharon, USA POSTED: 12/07/2007 This place is heaven on earth. Five star quality. Gorgeous views, wonderful owner, elegant rooms, pristine pool, even robes and slippers to wear for the week. |
| Thornton, USA POSTED: 07/07/2007 Villa Carda EXCEEDED all of our expectations - was even NICER than the pictures!!
Arriving late on Saturday afternoon, if the guests want food for the Villa for Sunday it is important that they have a chance to visit the Punto Supermercado in Rassina before it closes at 19 P.M or better yet the IperCoop in Arezzo or Bibbiena, until 21 P.M. We were early enough, and drove right past the Ipercoop in Arezzo - it would have been nice to know that it was the best option for food, but closed on Sunday. There is a very small bottega open in Bibbiena on Sunday mornings, but their selection is limited. Cooking lessons from Michele at the Villa were the highlight of our trip! If lessons aren't your thing, his restaurant in Bibbiena, La Tavernetta Di Norelli Michele, was the BEST food we ate in Italy! |
| wichita, usa POSTED: 12/06/2007 antonio was very gracious. the grounds were beautiful. the villa was very comfortable. everything we expected and more. i would highly recommend carda to friends. |
| POSTED: 07/06/2007 Have the local folks come in and cook a typical tuscan meal or have them make home made pizzas in the wood burning oven...fantastic!! Antonio was absolutely wonderful and so very helpful!! The villa is incredible, with a private wine cellar, wood burning pizza oven, and beautiful pool and grounds. |
| Paris, France POSTED: 30/05/2007 Everything was lovely, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the beautiful villa Carda! The villa itself is extremely comfortable and well-equipped with a great sense of space and luxury, and the garden and surrounds are magnificent! |
Oyster Bay, USA POSTED: 06/05/2007 We loved the restaurant "Massismo, he had the absolute best food there. Truffles on pasta, Truffles on steak. We really enjoyed grocery shopping at the local market and visiting the local towns, such as Poppi. Our kids loved the castle there. We also visited other hill towns, such as Cortona, Arezzo, and went further south to Montepulciano and Sienna. All absolutely beautiful in their own unique way.
I can not speak enough of Antonio's (the villa owner) kindness and warmth. He was accomodating and helpful to us and we always enjoyed when he stopped by. He always gave us helpful advice during our stay on where to go and where to eat. The cantina has a fantastic selection of Tuscan wines and is very well stocked. The surrounding grounds are meticulously cared for and the interior of the villa is beautifully decorated. It is truly wonderful |
| Woodbridge, United Kingdom, POSTED: 12/11/2006 Arrezzo is a very interesting town to visit. The villa was well furnished and the decor attractive. The surrounding grounds were beautifully maintained and provided lots of space (3 hectares!)for walking and games. The views from the garden are stunning! Antonio, the owner, was very friendly, helpful and kind. |
New York, United States POSTED: 22/10/2006 Go to Arezzo very cute town.
Ask the host Antonio to arrange you a dinner in the villa with a private chefs-two italian women(very nice) who cooked the best italian food we ever tried.
The host Antonio is a very organize man and you can ask him for anything he knows the taste of quality.The villa is much more beautiful than the pictures and it's a very very clean place.
You can find romance there if you are a couple and a party time if you are more-abslutely gorgeous!!!! |
| larchmont, usa POSTED: 08/09/2006 great spot to use as a home base for exploring Tuscany...make sure to visit the small local towns nearby. Owner extemely friendly and helpful, made us fell like a part of him family. |
| Edinburgh, UK POSTED: 08/08/2006 Poppi is worth a visit and has a very nice restaurant |
Haworth, USA POSTED: 15/07/2006 Hi Donna,
I can’t tell you how beautiful the Villa Carda was. The web-site pictures of this panoramic heaven does not capture its true splendor.
Not only were the grounds breathe-taking but the inside of this 200 year old villa was totally amazing.
The furnishings, art work and local flare are something we Americans see only in movies.
Please thank Antonio for his generous hospitality and good advice and what little towns we should visit.
All and all it was a sad day for my departure and I truly hope that one day soon I can stay at the Villa Carda.
I would also like to mention the restaurant IL MULINO in the town of Rassina. This family owned and operated restaurant
could not do enough for our group. The owners Roberta and Angelo treated us like family and I hope that more people that
stay at the villa visit their establishment.
Thanks again for everything.
Eleanor and David
|
| Hawthorn East, Autrailia, POSTED: 04/07/2004 We had a wonderful time, the owner was lovely, we enjoyed the challenge of communicating with his limited English and our limited Italian. And Donna dropping by with a gift of some local produce and to give us advice on things to do and see was a lovely gesture. The location is wonderful, so relaxing, very calming... Overall the villa is lovely, very tastefully decorated, yet very comfortable and very well supplied with kitchen appliances etc. We had a great time. |
| Le Rouret, F - 06650 POSTED: 03/07/2004 Many thanks for your hospitality. We thoroughly enjoyed our week in the beautiful Tuscan countryside and have felt comfortable and welcome in "Villa Carda". |
| |
|
