Beforeyou come.

No. Velatura is let whole, to one party at a time, so the house, the pool and the garden are only ever yours. The price is the same for two guests or twelve.

Three nights from November to March, five nights in April, May, June, September and October, and seven nights, Saturday to Saturday, in July and August.

A 30% deposit confirms the booking once you have signed the booking form, and the balance is due 60 days before you arrive. You can pay by bank transfer or by card. Extras are settled at the end of your stay.

Yes, €3,000, held on a card a week before you arrive and released within seven days of departure. We only take anything from it for damage beyond normal wear, and we send photographs and receipts if we do.

More than 90 days before arrival we refund everything except a €500 handling fee. Between 90 and 60 days the deposit is kept. Within 60 days the full price is due, but if we manage to let the dates again we refund what we receive, less the handling fee. We recommend travel insurance that covers cancellation.

The terms of stay have the details.

The house is yours from 16:00 on the day you arrive until 10:00 on the day you leave. If the house is free the night before or after, we can usually offer an earlier arrival or a later departure.

We would recommend one: the towns are close, but there are no buses up the white road. If you would rather not drive, Chiara books drivers for days out and for evenings in Pienza.

An identity document for every guest, including children. Italian law asks every place that hosts guests to register them with the police on arrival, and we do it for you in a few minutes. Everything else, from towels to hairdryers and beach bags, is in the house.

Yes. The Comune di Pienza charges a tourist tax per person per night, at a rate it sets each year. We add it to your final bill and pay it to the town for you.

Yes. There is Wi-Fi in every suite and every shared room, on a fixed wireless line with a satellite back-up, and it handles video calls comfortably. The library has a desk for anyone who has to work.

Every suite has quiet air conditioning and underfloor heating. The thick stone walls keep the shared rooms cool in summer, and there are fireplaces in the living room, the library and Il Frantoio.

The pool is heated from April to October and covered in winter. It is salt water, 18 by 5 metres, from 1.2 to 1.8 metres deep, with shade, loungers and towels in the pool house.

Daniela and her team make up the suites and tidy the house six days a week, usually while you are at breakfast. Linen and towels are changed twice a week, and more often if you ask.

Not indoors, please. There are ashtrays on the loggia and by the bocce court.

Very. There are two cots and two high chairs, a garden to run in, pizza nights and babysitters we trust. The pool has no fence, so children must be with an adult whenever they are near it.

Well-behaved dogs are welcome outside July and August, by arrangement and for €150 a stay. They sleep downstairs and stay out of the pool, the spa and the suites’ beds.

Partly. The parking, the courtyard, every shared room on the ground floor and the suite La Loggia, including its shower, are step-free. La Torre and Il Fienile are reached by stairs. Tell us what you need and we will tell you honestly how the house works for you.

Of course, with a little notice: up to twelve extra guests at dinner on any evening. For larger numbers, see celebrations.

Every morning, from 8:00 to 10:30, made by Graziella. So is a four-course welcome dinner on your first evening.

She can cook as many evenings as you like, for €95 per person for four courses, with wine from the cellar at cellar prices. Most guests eat in three or four nights a week and go out to the towns on the others.

Yes. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and allergy menus are part of her normal work. Tell Chiara when you book so she can plan.

The kitchen is yours outside breakfast and the dinners Graziella cooks. It has a wood oven, a gas range, two dishwashers and everything you need to cook for twelve.

Civil ceremonies take place in Pienza’s town hall, ten minutes away, and you can come back to the house for lunch or dinner. Symbolic ceremonies and blessings can be held on the lawn under the cypresses.

Twelve stay in the house; up to sixty can join you for a ceremony and dinner on the lawn. Guests who are not staying usually sleep in Pienza or San Quirico d’Orcia, and we arrange a minibus at the end of the night.

Music outside stops at half past eleven, out of respect for the neighbours, and carries on inside the library for as long as you like.