Ville dei Medici - Fattoria de' Medici Resort — Hotel in Vinci

Our family of thirteen, including five children ages ten and under, just returned from what one of our sons described as "our Tuscan heaven." It far exceeded our expectations, which were high to begin with. The two houses are located at the top of a high hill with spectacular 360 degree views of rolling hills of vineyards, olive trees, crops and flowers, with mountains in the distance. The main house has a gracious, multi-room main floor, a dining room which seats at least twelve and a lovely covered terrace outside with a round table for ten. The kitchen is small but well-equipped and has two refrigerators, great for all the bottled water and wine! The upstairs has a large main suite, another en-suite bedroom with a small bunk room attached, two more nice-sized bedrooms, and a large gorgeous bathroom. The smaller house has two en-suite bedrooms and a small bunk bed room, another kitchen, great for catering. It has a large lounging area and a table for twelve to fourteen. It has huge terraces (balconies) on every side including one with a table which seats twelve to fourteen. The swimming pool is down the hill and has great seating areas and large blow-up pool floaties. There is a ping pong table outside and a foos-ball table inside--great with kids.

The week was totally idyllic. We had breakfast each day on the porch of the main house, listening to the birds and enjoying the peaceful view, and we had cocktails, dinner, and after-dinner drinks each night at the other house at one of the huge tables either outside under the huge umbrellas or inside if it rained. We had the chef prepare three meals for us. One was a welcome luncheon for twenty one people (we had Italian friends join us), and the other two were evening dinners. The food was creative and delicious, and her assistants set beautiful tables for us, served the meals and cleaned up. After dinner the kids and dads played nightly soccer games in the lovely area between the two homes, a bit of an obstacle course soccer game, with trees, hedges, etc.

We were pleased to find that the villa was only ten to fifteen minutes, depending upon time of day, from a train station in Empoli, which had a large parking lot. We therefore, made our trips to Sienna and Florence much easier and relaxing by taking trains. The kids loved it! Trains to Florence run every fifteen minutes, take around one half hour and end up right in the middle of Florence. Trains to Sienna run a bit less frequently and take around an hour and end up right by the Sienna wall (after a lot of escalators). There were grocery stores ten minutes away from the Villa, and Vinci and Empoli were great sources for pizza, gelato, coffee and meandering. We also made side trips to Pisa, Luca, old Vinci and several other places.

Virginia, the property manager, was a total delight to work with. She helped with arranging baby sitters for one night, was always available to drop off anything we needed, to explain how things worked and was very accommodating with our times of check-in and check-out.

It was a truly...

Magnificent and well-kept property with magical views and two lovely villas right in the middle of the Chianti region. Perfect if you love wine and wine tasting as you even have vineyards within a walking distance.

The first villa has recently been renovated in a tasteful, light and modern style. It is also the villa which accommodates the largest amount of people on its terrace. Unfortunately the kitchen is slightly under-dimensioned and it can get a little tight at times. The main villa, with a more traditional interior, has a larger kitchen with more hot plates and two fridges. Both villas have barbecues.

The location is perfect if you are in to road biking (shoutout to Stefano at tuscanybiking.it for delivering road bikes to us at a great price) or hiking - the rolling hills are perfect and hiking trails are not too far away. Also great for visiting nearby towns and cities or simply relaxing in silence at the pool. There are no grocery stores or markets within a walking distance which should be expected from a large property on the countryside. This means however, that you need a car for groceries, restaurants, bakeries etc. The property is quite close to Empoli where you have the huge and superb coop.fi superstore (grocery store with everything under one roof).

The contact with the property manager Virginia was great from the beginning to the end. She was always ready to help with a big smile.

A few drawbacks; highly unreliable internet/wifi, hence if you have some work to do, make sure you are flexible. Also the length of the property is orientated along a road. The windows are not that well-isolated so you will hear cars passing by (although not many), occasional dog barking and horn honking due to the tight corner outside the main villa. Finally, there was no music system such as a Sonos which should be expected from a property of this calibre. At least in the villas/on the terraces, if possible even in the pool area. All in all, I will have to give this property 4 stars as it was missing that little extra something in relation to its high price.

Despite its drawbacks, I warmly recommend spending your vacation at Ville dei Medici - Fattoria de’ Medici. A lovely get-away in the Chianti region for large families or groups of good friends.

P.S. Don't miss out on visiting the lovely vineyard and restaurant Dianella which lies only 10 minutes...

Spent an incredible week at this villa with our extended family of 8 adults and 5 kids. To simply call this “villa” doesn’t do it justice. It was our own private resort: 2 separate houses, 8 bedrooms, stunning grounds and pool. Waking up every morning to what looks like a postcard - quiet, private.

The house manager Virginia was super helpful with dinner reservations and more. Had a wifi issue arise during our stay and she was there within the hour to fix it. Houses are well stocked, air conditioning worked beautifully even in July, and everything was sparkly clean when we arrived. Beds are extremely comfortable, too! Truly a beautiful and unique stay just outside the towns of Vinci and Empoli. Easy car ride to the Florence train station. We also took day trips to Pisa & Livorno Beach as well as Siena. It was great location to see different parts of Tuscany!...