HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

The Dream of the Musician—the Carmen Room

     We decided on staying in Montalcino two nights instead of driving too far to the east and Chiusi.  If we wanted to drive beyond La Foce and Chianciano Terme, and all the way into Chiusi, we could, or we could take it easy and stay in the Val d’Orcia area.  The least expensive B & B I found was “The Dream of the Musician”—same block as the Duomo.  The owners, the Gigliola family, have three themed rooms, named after famous operas—Aida, La Boehme and Carmen.  Mr. Gigliola helped paint, but his daughter is the musician-- trombonist. 

Hello,

I have avaiable disponibility for the night request the new year.

the room carmen is don't problem because is located on the lower floor, there

aren't  stairs...

 the price is Euro 60 for two people with breakfast.

reply me for the confirm the room.

best regards

Mrs Gigliola

Hello,

yes , I have avaiable disponibilty for the night 28 and 29 June.

the parking is pubblic and is near at the b&b, but is free during

the holiday period.

best regards

Mrs Gigliola

Hello,

ok I reserve the room carmen for you for the night

28 and 29 june.

 for the deposit don't problem, you pay me when do

you arrive or when do you go out.

write to me if something changes  and you can not  come.

best regards

Mrs Gigliola

Car Rental?

     How do you interpret this one?  I was really unsure of the car rental company that our friend Bob, aka ‘Roberto’ (from Gina’s advanced class), had used.  The two emails that we got were ‘cryptic’ and strange.  I had hoped we weren’t heading into ‘la cosa nostra’ territory here.

Dear David Jones,
Thank you for your interest to our company.

We kindly inform you that as we are car rental broker company, we cooperate with several 

suppliers to every destination, and we are not able to know in advance which of them will confirm 

your order as to provide you with any further information at the moment.
All the available locations, their options and prices are available online as to select the 

most preferable for your rental.
Please note that all delivery / pick up details as well as contact information for the 

company, which has confirmed the booking, will be written on the confirmation voucher.
You are more than welcome to create an order online according to your preferences 

and also check the local terms and conditions of your destination through this link https://www.economycarrentals.com/LocalTerms.aspx
As soon as we have a reply from our partners you will be informed to your email 

account. For any additional information do not hesitate to contact us!

Best Regards

Ms Filio Ramaki

         Reservation Team
And…

Dear Mr Jones,

thank you very much for your interest to book your car with Economy Car Rentals.

We kindly inform you that we are a car rental broker company and we have several car rental partners that supply the cars.

As a consequence, we can not give you a specific address as we are unable to know in advance which partner will confirm your request.

Please, proceed with your booking on our website www.economycarrentals.com and when it is confirmed, you will receive a voucher with all the necessary information (car rental company, address, telephone numbers and meeting point details).

For any further information, do not hesitate to contact us!

Best Regards
Efi Ktistaki

     The concept of ‘partners’ and a company not knowing who is in the train station 

area of Empoli struck me as just a little odd.  I certainly didn’t want to pay the prices 

that Avis and other companies were charging, but I wasn’t sure that after we had paid 

for it there would even be a car waiting in Empoli.  I emailed Roberto and asked him 

if they had any trouble with the rental company.  He said he didn't recall having any 

odd conversations with the car rental people.  It went very smoothly for them .  He 

suggested that we may have gotten someone who was not very fluent in English. 

Effluent, perhaps? I was being forced to take another leap of faith and it was unsettling.

     The place I had chosen to stay for our two nights in Volterra was a Seminary.  You laugh, but it became very clear that if we were to actually do a third week, there would have to be compromises.  The car rental would be cheaper than a big name company and so each of our six nights’ stays while running around the Tuscan countryside had to be really economical.  Cheap, okay.  The Seminario Vescovile sits just outside the north east city gate of Volterra.  It is at the end of a street and about a ten minute walk up to town.

Monday, December 07, 2009 2:21 AM 

Buongiorno; 

My wife and I am planning a trip to Italy in June of 2010.  We are hoping that we may stay at 

Seminario Vescovile San Andrea.  I was very encouraged when I read about your rooms in Rick 

Steves book. 

Hopefully we will be driving to Volterra via San Gimignano on Monday, June 28 and staying to 

Wednesday June 29th.  We will need a double with a bath. We will also have breakfast both 

mornings. 

My wife and I are middle aged and she will be using a walker to get around.  She really can't do 

stairs and she needs a toilet that has handicap access.  Per favore, any information that you have 

would be greatly appreciated. 

Molto grazie, 

David and Marianne Jones

Good morning, 

we are very pleased for your choice and we thank you for this. 

We inform you that we'll open the reservations for the next year 

beginning from January 2010 so we please you to contact us again in January. 

For the stairs we don't have any problems because we've got the 

elevator, but for the bathroom we unfortunately don't have bathrooms with handicap 

access.But if you want we have a multiple bedroom with a large bathroom at the ground floor. 

The price for bedrooms with private bathroom is 18,00 euro per day. 

We thank you and we hope to hear you soon, 

best regards, seminario