Il Grifone A Cortona Residence — Hotel in Cortona

We stayed at Il Grifone early June. We are very familiar with the surrounding area and have stayed at Agriturismo establishments before so we usually know what to expect. There were 3 of us and we booked a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen.||||The access road to Il Grifone is in a terrible state with numerous potholes - this is reasonably manageable in daylight hours but when it is dark it can be treacherous and uncomfortable to drive on. ||||Access to the car park is not as may be imagined though the front gates but at the rear of the property down an unlit potholed track surrounded by deep culverts. Unnerving to drive down when it is dark and wet.||||The apartment we stayed in would not be suitable for either children or elderly or disabled people as access was up several steep stone stairs to reach the apartment and then one of the bedrooms was up a further dozen steps. ||||The kitchen - or probably kitchenette was not very well supplied with equipment - there was only one wineglass and only medium sized plates. There were minimal cooking utensils and we actually bought some for our stay which we brought home with us. The kitchenette was also up 4 fairly high steps making it dangerous if you were handing hot food into the central area. There was no oven. (Much of this did not matter to us as we ate all meals out except breakfast but we would like to inform other guest who may wish to eat in).||||There was only one wardrobe to serve two bedrooms and this was fairly small and upstairs. We ended up hanging clothes on the bannisters of the stairs.||||The upstairs bedroom had one Velux type window for ventilation - although this could not be left open because it was raining on quite a few nights of our stay.||||There is a swimming pool within the grounds but this was not open on our arrival - It opened 3 days after. The path to the pool was over fairly rough meadow land and as there had been some rain mud had been trampled from this to the poolside. There was only one lounger and two chairs at the pool but no sun umbrellas so no shade for those who want sun protection.||||The apartment information was minimal. No information on Doctors, shops, restaurants etc.||||The manager Patrizia is there from 8 til 10 each morning and 2 till 4 in the afternoon - for the rest of the time the complex is unattended. Patrizia is very pleasant and very helpful but as the property is not hers there is little she can do about any of the above.||||Il Grifone appears to have been open for a couple of years but what seems clear is that as yet it is unfinished in certain respects and despite its location being attractive it requires some investment in its infrastructure to bring it up to a similar standard of Agriturismo...

We stayed one week at Il Grifone. What a wonderful stay! Patrizia the manager made us feel very welcome and at home, she had lots of suggestions of towns to visit. She gave us an upgrade to a two bedroom appartment (Il Guado) which has a bigger dining room. The appartment, on the first floor, has a kitchen with a stove and an oven. There is also a fridge and a freezer. We missed some kitchen utensils and asked Patrizia. We also got some kind of a breakfast package with coffee, tea, milk, jam and biscuits. The complimentary bottle of wine was a nice touch.|The whole appartment has airconditioning. The bed was comfortable. The bathroom has a wonderful shower, toilet and a bidet. There are towels, a hair dryer and some bath products.|And then the surroundings, absolutely breathtaking!! Il Grifone is situated in the beautiful Tuscan landscape, surrounded by fields of sunflowers. It is very quiet and we loved the view. There is a swimmingpool with sun loungers. And there are tables and chairs so you can have your breakfast, lunch or dinner outside. There is a washing machine and Patrizia offered to do our laundry.|Our navigation system couldn't find the address, but the residence is near the Ospedale Santa Margharita (Localita Fratta Santa Caterina). There are signs nearby which direct you to the residence.|There are supermarkets in the nearest town Camucia (Coop and Conad). Only 10 min by car. The gelataria in the same square as Coop has good ice cream. |Cortona is 15 min by car. |We visited Cortona, Arezzo, Perugia, Assisi, Gubbio, Bevagna, Montefalco, Trevi, Spello, Montalcino, Pienza, Montepulciano and Castiglione del Lago. The furthest city took us 1,5 hours by car. Assisi, Spello and Pienza were absolutely stunning. The landscape between Bevagna and Montefalco was breathtaking! But honestly this part of Tuscany and Umbria is so beautiful.|To summarize, a perfect accommodation in a perfect location. Highly...

We stayed at Il Grifone in August 2015, on our first visit to rural Tuscany, I would note at this point that a car is absolutely essential, not only to get to the residence, but for travelling around Tuscany. Il Grifone was ideally situated as a base for our 4 night stay, allowing us to get to Montalcino, San Gimnignano and Siena within just over an hours drive. Cortona is a short 10 minute drive uphill to the town centre.||||Patricia was a friendly and helpful host, giving us information about local shops and places of interest. Our room was large, with a good sized living/dining area and bedroom, and a fully equipped kitchen. The bedroom was quite large with a huge bed. The only knock on the property is the lack of air-con. It is hot in the room, but Patricia had left a fan in the room which went a long way to cooling it down, and the mosquito nets on the windows meant that we could sleep with the windows open without worrying about getting bitten by mosquitoes.||||The outdoor area is very nice, and the outdoor pool was a welcome retreat from the searing heat of the day. The only slight criticisms we would have is that the pool is fairly small to accommodate all of the guests, and during our stay there were quite a few families with noisy kids. We weren't expecting it to be the kind of place to attract families, so that's something to be aware of when picking your time to go. We did manage to get one complete day where we had the pool to ourselves though, which was beautiful and peaceful.||||We would recommend the...