Florence - Villa Mangiacane

Having stayed at Villa San Michele on an earlier visit to Florence, I was looking for a new retreat, and Villa Mangiacane seemed to fit the bill, well certainly from the brochure and web site sales pitch:

“the character of an informal luxurious private home set amongst 600 acres of lush vineyard, olive grove and forest where a few privileged guests can enjoy authentic Tuscan villa living - a magnificent 15th century villa that bears the unmistakable hand of the Renaissance master, Michelangelo.”

The photograph of a vast terrace with stunning views towards Florence sealed it.

I called and booked a Terrace Suite for a princely €770 + tax (a further €77).  At almost €850 a night my expectations were running high.

Villa Mangiacane is situated 12km from Florence and close to the town of San Casciano, a hideously ugly conurbation, which might once have been picturesque but now resembles a set from Kubrick’s movie, ‘A Clockwork Orange.’

The Villa was built by Cardinal Francesco Maria Machiavelli, uncle of Niccolo Machiavelli, the Renaissance political philosopher.  It was sold by Machiavelli in 1645 to Marchesi Mazzei, whose family kept it until the mid 20th Century. When it was bought by Glynn Cohen, a South African transport entrepreneur, in 2000, he paid a reputed €8.5m and spent considerably more converting it into the 29 room boutique hotel it is today.

The hotel is divided into two buildings, the ‘Main Villa’ (the original residence), and the ‘Vineyard Villa’, which was built much more recently and houses 20 rooms.

The only place to stay is in one of the Main Villa suites, with access to a large terrace (which is not private, but shared with at least one other suite).  The vista towards Florence is impressive.  It is inspiring to sip Prosecco (grossly overpriced at €10 a glass in the early evening terrace bar) and view the world famous dome of the Basilica di Santa Maria Del Fiore.

A fellow guest checked in to a Classic Room in the Vineyard Villa.  As we exchanged pleasantries across the restaurant he let rip about the room he and his girlfriend had been allocated.

“It was like a prison cell with a tiny window”, he complained.  “The receptionist told me that these rooms were originally staff quarters.”

He immediately upgraded to a suite in the Main Villa.

Villa Mangiacane is a tale of two terraces. The antithesis of the historic terrace suites is the terrace of tiny holiday chalets situated behind the Vineyard Villa.  This line of rooms and junior suites sits behind a high hedge, with postage stamp gardens and unappealing plunge pools.  I suspect residents see more of passing guests, on their way to the swimming pool, than they do of the sun.

There are two swimming pools, one in a walled area by the Main Villa, which is quiet, tasteful but has no service, so drinks require a walk to the other pool bar.  The other has four poster double sunbeds, deck chairs, a bar and dining area.  The major downside was the tape loop of music, which, every hour, cut out part way through a Coldplay track and started again from the beginning.

Money and taste do not necessarily go hand in hand, which is blatantly apparent as one looks around Villa Mangiacane.  The walls of the small lift in the Main Villa are lined with cream coloured padded leather, reminiscent of a 1970’s porn movie. The Spa walls are adorned with giant size prints of nudes, taken in and around the Villa by Norwegian photographer, Petter Hegre.  African art is scattered around the gardens, creating the ambience of a bric-a-brac sale.

Our suite had been created in a high ceiling room, where the space was used to build an open upstairs level, with bedroom, bathroom and closet.  The bathroom was tiny and the closet, for midgets. It was pity that the vast downstairs area had not been utilised as a bedroom / sitting room, allowing the upstairs space to become a spectacular bathroom.

The in-room wi-fi didn’t work.  In fact, there wasn’t even a signal.  The receptionist told me to plug my laptop into the Ethernet socket in the room but that didn’t work either.

The restaurant was very poor - both the quality of produce and preparation.  My ‘local’ steak was an off cut from a pair of designer boots in one of the nearby  ‘Outlet ‘ stores, selling last year’s fashion.

The Villa does produce its own wine and their ‘Aleah’ Merlot was excellent.  However, to charge €14 for a bottle of their house Chianti, placed in the room, with the aim, presumably, of persuading guests to buy more to take home, was poor when one is paying €850 a night.  If they are so concerned about margin why not charge €14 extra for the room and make the wine ‘complimentary’?

This should have been a wonderful experience.  On paper, all the boxes were ticked, but we left with a sour taste.

Things didn’t get off to a good start as the flaky, inefficient receptionist ditched us halfway through the check-in process for other guests?

The owner and his family were in residence whist we were at Mangiacane.  They seemed to have a group of friends staying.  The ambience was very cliquey.  I later discovered that the guests for whom the receptionist had dropped me were part of the ‘Cohen Club.’

Villa Mangiacane is run like a private club.  It has the potential to be a good hotel.  If Nikki Beach were to seek a venue in Tuscany this would be perfect.  For the time being, Mangiacane would benefit by bringing in someone who knows how to run a luxury hotel.


Villa Mangiacane
Via Faltignano, 4
San Cascian
50026
Florence

+39 55 8290123

http://www.mangiacane.it/

'Our suite's terrace was shared with the neighbours '