This was my first stay at this property, and the first time I have used HomeAway. The website is very informative, and I found extremely easy to use. Guido was extremely helpful and communicated promptly and effectively.
We arrived later than expected, although we had informed out hosts with a quick text message that we were still in Bologna rather than Bracciano when we were meant to arrive! This was no problem at all, and both Sandro and Rosaline were very friendly, showed us around the place quickly and left us with a nice cool bottle of white wine and some delicious cake. They were considerate that we were knackered and wanted to shower and sort ourselves out.
The villa itself is wonderful - the views are absolutely amazing, especially from the sun terrace off the master bedroom, out the kitchen window, and outside the lounge in the outside dining area. We ate most of our meals here as it was convenient, cool and already mentioned the countryside is beautiful. We also ate a few times over under the shade next to the oven - Sandro and Rosaline showed us all how to do authentic Italian pizza in their own pizza oven over the back of the garden. He used meditteranean pine wood, and they were to die for... The barbeque is just around the corner of the oven, built on to the side and we enjoyed some tasty trout and sea breem one blazing hot day.
The place is extremely quiet except for the occasional plane passing overhead en route to/from Fiumicino, and half dozen vehicles down the lane. At night the surrounding countryside comes alive with the sound of all the local wildlife which we found quite nice to listen to on the sun terrace watching the twinkling lights in the distance.
Rome is either roughly an hour drive, depending on what route is taken or a simple train journey from Bracciano. A journey is 3 euros each way! Ladispoli is quite near for a trip to the beach, but we went at night time and managed to stumble across a night market in the town centre. We actually preferred the Lago di Bracciano (lake) to the beach! Anguillara is definately worth a trip as is the lake front down from the castle in Bracciano. The restaurant/bar 'Il Pescatore' does amazing pizza 'a porta vee' (takeaway)
A memorable trip for all the family. Sandro and Rosaline are excellent hosts, and literally couldn't do enough to help us, going out of there way to help us. We hope to return :-)