Fonte De' Medici CountryRelais

The Fonte De' Medici is one of the most picturesque places I've visited in my travels and upon arrival we were incredibly excited by first impressions. I am generally optimistic and rarely leave a review with any negative feedback, however in the spirit of honesty I would say we didn't experience great service here (reception staff and housekeeping were friendly but most of the restaurant staff were consistently unwelcoming and apathetic). I would say that in terms of amenity, this property has it in spades - the pool is magnificent (and such a valued feature when traveling in the heat of summer as we were!). The gardens were so beautiful and our apartment was spacious, very clean, cute and comfortable. Some bits were somewhat worn and weathered but that was part of it's charm and we were happy to reside there for our 6 night stay enjoying gorgeous Tuscan views from every window. The air con was adequate and we had what we needed. I would say that only let down was the service and experience in the restaurant. From being ignored multiple times trying to order drinks for the pool (politely trying to gain service, but this was not easily achieved), through to uncomfortable dinnertime experiences where it seemed the staff were disinterested and apathetic towards us. There were a few problems with our food which I won't go into, but generally it was not a great dining experience...AMAZING antipasto platter, but the rest of our food was honestly pretty mediocre. Perhaps the staff here are just sick of tourists, we certainly got the feeling that they didn't really care and generally couldn't be bothered which left us feeling quite unwelcome. After our second day, we did not return to the restaurant to dine apart from breakfast (breakfasts are a bit of a strange affair here....there is plenty of food but it's a weird combo with some notably missing items like butter, and sometimes cereal...one day there was no bread beside the toaster which made us laugh!). Anyway, this place has huge potential and I expect it may have been a really special experience at some time in the past, however that feeling is largely lost. In the past when we have stayed anywhere for a period of more than a few days, we have got to know the staff by name and have felt a level of connection and care that makes a place special. This is something we were looking forward to, but unfortunately it was totally absent here.