The problem of Il Casteletto is that they refuse to listen to critical feedback, which in our case resulted in a largely dissatisfying experience leading us to resign from our vacation in Il Castelleto mid-way through. It must be stated that we came to Tuscany in the middle of the summer, where temperatures oscillate around 37-38C and while that is hot, it’s nothing unheard of in Italy. Despite that It Casteletto management chose not to install AC in any of the rooms – we made a mistake of not catching that “detail” while booking (we keep coming to Tuscany for years and never seen a place without AC), but then hoped that with Tuscan way of building and with the extra help of fans, it will be ok. It wasn’t – it turned out our 3-room apartment was a heat trap, where temperature felt even hotter than outside with very limited air circulation between rooms. Club that with old worn-out mattress and you have a great recipe for sleep-less nights. While we asked for fans during booking, only one was available on check-in and second was provided only when we asked. There were no more fans available. We did complain about the heat inside rooms, to which we got an answer that we must be too sensitive and “no other guests complain”. We were envious of other guest heat tolerance, but it didn’t make our stay more bearable.

When you’re trapped in heat and your - what was supposed to be – idyllic Tuscan experience turns into suffering, all the other disadvantages of Il Casteletto come to surface. When we complained about it – the management always had a reason to ignore our feedback - On check-in we discovered previous guests residuals on shower cubicle – we should have shown to staff it was dirty - Oven was very dirty – we should have shown that to staff - Wi-fi is unreliable – new satellite connection was just installed a month earlier and it tested well - Rubbish lying around the property – we should sent complaint to local authority (!) - Rooms were not available at indicated check-in time – Booking.com informs about check-in at 15:00, they send email upfront informing about 16:00. When we arrived at 16:00 we were told to wait “a couple of minutes” - they had a lot of cleaning, so they didn’t manage on time… Couple of minutes turned out 40 minutes and to our surprise – our room was ready all this time, they just chose not to let us in and prioritise other activities in the meantime. - It was too hot in the apartment – well, apparently we’re too sensitive, we were advised to book elsewhere in future A stay was uncomfortable, giving feedback even more. It seems management is very happy with their loyal base of customers who keep coming back for years. The place was indeed full and seemed like other guests had a good time – no wonder – the location is to die for, scenery is stunning, pool is really nice & well maintained so the place has a great potential but we found management disappointing. So a piece of advice for potential newcomers – leave Il Casteletto to current loyal guests. I’m sure they are sharing only positive feedback and management is happy to host them.