Farm House Le Macine - Florence

Un endroit qui marque nos souvenirs, pas tellement par la qualité de la chambre que par l acceuil et la chaleur de nos hôtes. Un seul reproche, et cela n affecte en rien la qualité du sejour, c est la difficulté a trouver l emplacement, un accès difficile par une très petite ruelle...demander de l information au garage Q8, ils connaissent l endroit. Nous y retourneront surement un jour.

Charming family, beautiful surroundings and delightful stay

Attention plus gite rural bas de gamme que hotel Pb de parking de voitures environnement campagnard dégradé 1° impression négative mais excellent acceuil du propriétaire, proche de Firenze sans être en ville et conditions acceptables pourun court séjour ( 2-3 jours)

I loved the people and the quality of care they gave us, i would send my dearest friend there. I will be going back there.

This property is indeed a rustic farmhouse as described, run by a lovely welcoming and warm couple. Our downstairs apartment was spacious and clean, and the bed very comfortable. There were quite a few downsides however - the cooking facilities were very old and in need of repair thus were not used, as was the old furniture in the bedroom which was a little too 'aromatic' to put clothes in. The location was not ideal - not in the hills/country surrounding Florence, but swallowed up in suburbia, consequently the motorway nearby was noisy, the bus journey was not the easiest (there was a strike when we were there which we discovered only after waiting over an hour for the bus, then phoning a friend), the view from the downstairs apartment was non existent, and there were no immediate walks to be taken by the rivers, in the woods, etc, but only through the suburban houses. I would not recommend the particular room for a medium-long length stay if you intend to self-cater. I also wouldn't recommend as merely a base to and from Florence as the bus journey was stressful - I would recommend either staying in Florence itself, or totally in another town in the hills. With this in mind I feel the price is comparitively over-rated.

The host-family (Piero, his wife and daughters) were very friendly and helpful. Piero, especially, was an ebullient, outgoing fellow, full of stories and observations (in excellent English!). A hearty, rustic breakfast was served family style each morning, with plenty of home-made preserves, fresh fruit juice, platters of cheeses and meats....wonderful! Our apartment (small kitchenette which we did not use) was rustic in keeping with the age (17th C.) of the farmhouse. It was quiet, cool and comfortable. Only complaint is that the shower stall could have been a bit cleaner. The farmhouse is not rural as one would expect, but actually in a suburb of Florence, 1/2 mile from shops, buses, etc. This makes it possible to get into the city by bus, although not the "10 minutes" away as advertised, more like 45 minutes. Even driving (which we do not recommend) takes l5-20 minutes, not counting an hour to find parking! We thought staying in the country would be okay since we had a rental car. Next time, we'll skip the car (a nightmare), stay in downtown Florence.

"Nightmare" if I had to sum it up in one word. I wrote the owner to change the number of people in the party to two adults and one 10 year old child. I received a second email confirming the change, with the original statement and original price quote. There was no notice of additional costs leading me to believe there was no extra charge for a child. When we arrived, we were shocked to find that the property had olive trees and some vegetable plants, not your typical farm. It was more like a junk yard complete with old farm machinery and rusted vehicles. The animals were very thin and sickly which depressed and scared my daughter. We were shown our room which looked nothing like those on thier home page. After we got settled in our room furnished with dirty old, possibly antique furniture,(but what does that mean,)we were informed that we would be charged an extra 40 Euros due to the child and need for an extra bed, even though she slept on the sofa bed. The bathroom shower was full of mold. I informed the owner that we could not spend a second night there as we were not informed of the increase in price on the second confirmation and that we were very disappointed in the room and surroundings. She stated that we might be able to work something out to reduce the price by not reporting the third person to Venere, because she had to pay Venire by the number of people booked. We again stated we didn't want to spend another night and she then insisted we pay her the complete 130 Euros. We left itching from bug bites and drove to Hotel David in Florence where we had a large beautiful,clean room and a wonderful stay for less than 130 Euros! Be very careful dealing with this property. It was "THE" sore spot of our month long Italian vacation.

Really enjoyable stay.Greeted with a lovely glass of red wine and advised on where to go for dinner.The family were very friendly and helpful.

The stay was excellent. Just far enough out o town to feel a little country-ish, yet ten minutes drive from the sites. Owners were very friendly and helpful. English spoken.

Ok, price/value ratio, very old furniture (as indicated on the webpage, some furniture is original from the 17th century), very quiet location, good bus connection to Florence centre.