Manola,
I am Ken Barrea’s sister, and I am very sorry that I did not meet you while we were in Italy. But I did want to tell you what a wonderful time we had in Sant Albino at Podere Monti!
I was able to be there for only 2 ½ weeks, but it was an amazing time. Podere Monti was the perfect villa for our family – just the right size and location. The villa was beautiful, and Silvia, Maurizo, and Paola were the perfect hosts. They had signs on each of our doors when we arrived, and they had purchased food and flowers for us before arrived. Maurizo and his assistant prepared dinner for our entire family to celebrate our son’s 18th birthday, and it was a delicious feast.
We were glad to be near a small town, while still being in a very private location. We were also glad to be so close to the wonderful town of Montepulciano, as well as to Chiusi, for easy train access. Ken could not have found a better villa for our family.
The highlight of our trip to Italy was our trip to Tufara, and that trip would not have happened without you and all of your hard work and special efforts. Not only did you make wonderful arrangements for our bus trip, but you truly went above and beyond in making all the calls to locate our cousins in Tufara. It was an unbelievable day, and one that none of us will ever forget. Without your efforts, we would have never met our family. I think Ken has sent you pictures of our dad’s cousins waiting for us in the town square when we arrived – it was an amazing sight. We had a wonderful wonderful day in Tufara – meeting our huge Italian family, seeing where our grandfather lived and the church where our grandparents were married, and having a delicious meal with all of our family. We all cried when we left.
I also want to let you know what a fabulous driver and guide Giuseppe was – our trip would not have been as wonderful without him.
Thank you so much for all you did to make our trip to Italy truly a once in a lifetime experience – I am so glad that Ken found you and InTuscany.net!
Michelle Barrea Graunke
Manola, well, we arrived home safely, but haven't adjusted to being back to "normal life" yet...still wish we were over there on vacation! We just wanted to thank you again for all of your help. Podere Monti was beautiful and perfectly located. We made many friends in San Albino (the Cannetiello family from "The Saloon" and Luana from the little grocery store at the bottom of the hill).
This trip was truly a once in a life time opportunity and without a doubt, the best part was the day spent in Tufara. We can't thank you enough for helping find our relatives there. They were all at the town square waiting for us when we arrived and gave us a tour that we will never forget.
Having my father see the house that his family lived in was truly magical. Hopefully, we created family bonds that will continue to grow and last forever.
Also, the bus and driver worked out excellent. His patience and humor was a perfect mix for us and by the end of the 2 days I think we could consider him one of our other long distance "cousins". Could you please send me his name and company or somehow to contact them? He introduced himself as "Joseph", but I never got his last name nor his "real italian"
first name. I want to make sure that he and his company realize how much fun we had and that he was a big part of that!
I am including a few pictures from our time in Tufara (I took almost 2000 pictures during the 30 days, but I wont bore you with them all!!).
Hopefully some of us will make it back to Italy to continue filly up the photo album!
Aqain, thank you very very much or should I say Grazie Mille for everything!!
Ciao, Ken and the whole Barrea Family!!
Barry Priestley - 2005-10-29
Thank you for a wonderful two days
which was the highlight of our 7 day trip to Tuscany.
It was a great party and superb meal that Morris cooked
for us on a most enjoyable evening. We have passed the
good news to several of our friends and we would hope
to be back to see you in the near future. The house
is fabulous and though we stayed in some very good hotels,
the character of your property stood out.
Thanks again and Ciao
Sylvie Leroux - 2005-10-04
Buon giorno Silvia e Maurizio, io
et Henri siamo adesso a la casa nostra in Canada. E
un poco dificile di lavorare ma dobiamo lo fare se vogliamo
andare ancore in vacanze a Podere Monti. We had a wonderful
stay at Podere Monti and I thank Maurizio for allowing
me to help out in his kitchen, I really enjoyed it as
well as the meal we had afterwards and also meeting
your charming friend Stephano. It is amazing how well
one can speak Italian after drinking a bit of grappa!
Votre gite est tout simplement magnifique et Henri et
moi comptons y retourner très prochainement mais
pour plus longtemps.
Grazie mille - Sylvie Leroux et Henri
Derome. Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Stefano e Meltem - 2005-08-23
A ritemprar le membra, di Belgio affaticati
sette giorni stemmo in quel di Montepulciano da Maurizio
e Silvia fummo viziati con delizie, simpatia e sol toscano.
Or di nuovo all'uggia tornati di queste nordiche terre
sanza sole nei di' di pioggia rimembrar si suole del
Poder Monti i bei giorni passati… A beautiful
week, with excellent food (thanks Maurizio!!), wine,
landscape, and nice people. So many things to see around
in val D'Orcia and Tuscany you barely have the time
to enjoy the swimming pool and the beautiful sunset
in the garden...
Silvia, salutami Enrico ed Alberto,
ma digli di cambiar squadra!!!
Laura & Gonzalo - 2005-08-08
Hola!!!! Well, this is very hard,
I´m writing from the office in Barcelona, thinking
that last week we were spending a great holidays at
Podere Monti. This is a very big change and very difficult
to assimilate!!! Thank You again to both of you, Silvia
and Mauricio, because you make us feel very good last
week. You have a warm and beautiful farmhouse in an
incredible environment. We hope to come back again,
may be next year. Our desire is coming back for spring,
maybe april, to see another view and another colours
of the Toscana. You have a beautiful region. There is
only one place that is close in beauty: La Costa Brava
and the area of Empordà, in Girona!!! Also I
would like to congratulated Mauricio for his cooking,
that we prefer better than Ferràn Adrià!!
Ciao, I hope you finish a nice summer.
R. Armstrong - 2005-06-02
Having just returned from our lovely
10 day trip to Italy, I must say that the highlight
was our stay, right in the middle of the trip - the
one lovely day and night we spent in and around Podere
Monti. Your beautifully restored Tuscan farmhouse has
every feature attended to in detail, maintaining all
the special character and romance one could ask for
in such a magical place - and then some! Our teenage
kids loved it, and my wife and I were thrilled. I really
enjoyed your wonderful sense of humor, Silvia - and
you KNOW I'm a funny character myself! We loved touring
nearby Montepulciano, and being close enough to enjoy
a swim at Podere Monti just a few minutes away. The
breakfast was wonderful - you and Maurizio are gracious
hosts. I only regret our brief schedule didn't allow
us to have dinner there with you all! Silvia, I know
you didn't believe we could do as much as we wanted
in one day there, but we did manage to fit into our
day several wine tastings, hiking, biking, hot air ballooning,
motorcycling, rowing, skydiving and sheep-milking. We
then made our own pecorino cheese before dinner. Just
kidding, of course... Next time we will plan on staying
with you for several days, but this terrific experience
left the sweetest taste in our mouths and memories.
Thanks for everything - and our best
to you! Robin and Judi Armstrong
Charles Clifton - 2005-05-29
Thank you for the note - I just returned
from my time in Italy. Jane and I greatly enjoyed our
day at Podere Monti and hope that we can return some
day. You have a lovely and comfortable house - and a
very refreshing pool. The bottle of wine was a nice
bonus! You asked for our address so you could put us
on your list of satisfied clients.
It is Charles Clifton and Jane Ashby
MA 01002 USA; Charles Clifton
#top
