Thank you Juergen for your review and perspective. I would like to respond to each of the points.
(excuse the rough translation)
"It's a bit run down and some areas have never really been renovated, such as the E.g. the two rooms in the basement which are uncomfortably unfinished/improvised."
The fact of the matter is that basement (or cantina in Italian) was one of the most renovated parts of the house. Each room's walls were redone with new stucco or paint. The bathroom there took months of work. I think more to the point is the esthetic. I wanted to leave the house as much as I had found it as possible. Instead of buying new non-inspiring furniture I often made stuff from the things I found around the house. For instance the table into which the sink is placed was an old 100 year old shutter. I attached the table and sink to wood beams, used originally to age cheese, by using the old strapping for barrels that I found in the house. I think it looks great.
"Bedroom furniture everywhere is very outdated, with broken parts or paint you'd rather not have."
The furniture is, for the most part, antique. It does need attending to sometimes and because I hadn't been to the house, because of COVID, until last fall, (2 1/2 year's) I'm afraid some of the furniture was a bit rickety. That has been attended to now. Again, the esthetic is to use furniture of the time that works with the feel and look of a 600 year old home. I'm not sure what the paint he's referring to so I can't comment. The aim to is have a guest home that is functional but unique and true to its nature.
"Our group was smaller than planned due to Covid cases - had everyone come we would have had problems with beds: some of the double beds are quite small (and not all guests are couples), some mattresses poor and hard, bed frames improvised..."
I hear you, Juergen, about the size of the beds. They are considered double beds in the U.S. but here, as I've learned, there are specific sizes to go with queen, double, matrimonial, etc... The bed frames were not improvised. They were designed by a furniture maker from Bologna and were put together with ancient beams from the homes around the Borgo.
"The Kitchen could also do with updating - well stocked with pots, crockery, cutlery - but oven and dishwasher are small, concrete sink a bit off-putting, pizza oven useless."
I just had a world famous Venetian chef here who was cooking for more than 20 at the house. He loved the kitchen. The sink is the original stone sink of the house. It takes a bit of getting used to but like the rest of the house brings you into a different frame of mind. The oven and dishwasher are small because that is size of the kitchen made 600 years ago. Over the last decade we have had many groups here of over 20 and there have never been a problem feeding them and making the food in the most delightful way. And speaking of delightful, the wood fired stone oven works beautifully. We cooked Rabbit and Bacala in it this fall (made by that aforementioned Venetian Chef). Just keep the fire dolce and not too excessive. But it was burning for nearly two days straight. I think Juergen, perhaps you didn't see the door in the. fireplace which is how you access the round egg shaped ancient amazing wood-fired oven!
"A seat outside is missing, you can only take some wobbly, broken chairs from the basement and try to make yourself comfortable without a table. How nice would a terrace with a table and chairs be!"
There is a beautiful round table for many to sit around and. have breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I'm sitting at it right now as I write this. It was, unfortunately, hidden in the. garage and my caretakers couldn't find it. It will be put out this summer in the dinning area under the beautiful and shady cherry trees. The chairs are not wobbly or broken to sit at. The outside dinning area is lit by a string of lights.
"In the upstairs bathroom, the water from the shower barely drained, but even after our kind hostess cleaned the drain, the smell of drain pipes was noticeable throughout the room."
I am sorry for the drain problem you had, Juergen. There was a problem with the septic field's containers not having their yearly maintenance due to Covid. That has been resolved.
"As said, we still loved the house and had a happy week there. But we are an undemanding group..."
Thank you, Juergen. I hope you might think about staying here again.
all the best,
Paul Magid
Owner
