Hotel San Miniato

We set off on our pilgrim walk from this beautiful hotel. Azzurra’s homemade torte was delicious and packed with the calories we needed for the day’s walk. The buffet breakfast was complete, with fresh local ingredients. A great father and daughter team!

The village is wonderfully unusual, and the accommodation was much higher quality than I expected. A really nice place to stay and a great stop on the Via francigena.

Breakfast was good, and the front desk staff were nice and polite. The manager or owner, though, was rude. The hotel itself is in poor condition and badly maintained. Water leaked from the shower door onto the floor, the towel holder was mounted so high that the room felt like a sauna, the bed was hard, and the door knob was about to fall off. Our room was right over the road, so cars kept us awake all night. Skip this one.

The worst part was the air conditioning. It wasn’t cooling the room, just making noise and blowing a little warm air. After we reported it, a receptionist checked and agreed it wasn’t working. She said she couldn’t move us, but would come fix it after dinner. When we got back at 23:00, we were told it still couldn’t be repaired. No other solution or discount was offered, so I asked whether the price would reflect the problem. It was 30 degrees Celsius in the room. The receptionist said she’d ask the manager. At checkout the next day, another, arrogant woman told us the air conditioning did work, just at lower power, and offered only a 10 euro discount. When I said we hadn’t slept all night because of the heat, she said we should have left the room during the night and then we wouldn’t have paid anything. I still can’t believe that response. I don’t want to have this kind of stay in Italy again. If you want a good night’s sleep, avoid this hotel. It’s an old, very worn hotel near the center of San Miniato. The parking lot is great, but little else impressed us. The beds are old box springs, the room furnishings are badly worn, and the bathroom needs renovation. The faucets are a bit trimmed. Bring slippers, because you won’t want to walk barefoot on the floor. Breakfast was good, and the staff behind the bar made very good coffee included in the price.