Cignella Resort

We booked a three bedroom apartment for seven nights through Travelzoo, planning to travel with another couple. The voucher was for two people and stated stated additional guest could be accommodated through the resort. When we arrived we asked about additional fees to cover our two friends as the voucher only covered breakfast for two. The manager said they were covered.
When we checked out, we were charged an additional $1, 000 for our two guests! The only additional services provided were a buffet breakfast and one complimentary meal (the worst meal we had in Tuscany) There were no other housekeeping services.
Other notes:
The resort is in the country near the beautiful town of Traquanda. I loved the peacefulness and views. It is centrally located so you can easily visit Montipulciano, Pienza, and San Gimigiamo.
The apartment was spacious. Unfortunately it was sparsely furnished. The living room had a small sectional couch and one chair which was broken, so we all sat closely together.
The apartment had a lot of insects. My husband was bitten by an Asian lady beetle and Ingrid’s room had dozens in bugs. We did notify the manager who sent folks over to spray. It would have been great if management had taken care of this problem prior to our stay.
The beds were very hard. I was able to sleep on on the bed but our friends ended up sleeping on the couch.
Overall, we had an amazing time in Tuscany.

This is overall a nice spot. The apartments are large and offer plenty of space. The beds are very hard; like sleeping on the floor. We had to put the couch cushions on the beds just to be able to get some sleep. The staff was friendly and helpful but they were down a person so we didn’t get as much service as we would have liked. The food was fine and it was certainly nice to eat on property. You don’t get a menu, you just eat whatever was planned for that night. The wine tour was amazing. Cignella is centrally located and there are lots of cute cities to visit nearby.

Cignella Resort sits in a beautiful part of Tuscany—peaceful, scenic, and remote. The views are lovely, and the property itself is clean and well maintained. However, the remoteness that makes it picturesque also makes it inconvenient; a car or private driver is absolutely essential, as there’s no practical public transport nearby.
The apartments are large and comfortable, which works well for groups or families. That said, travelers should confirm all room and bed details before arrival. We booked a two-bedroom unit expecting two double beds, but one room had only a single bed. When we raised the issue, the initial suggestion was that an adult sleep on the sofa—something that really shouldn’t happen at a “resort” level property.
Breakfast was one of the few highlights—fresh, tasty, and served by genuinely kind staff. Unfortunately, dinner was consistently disappointing. After a few nights of bland and uninspired meals, we stopped attending altogether. The cooking class could have been enjoyable, but the instructor frequently ran his hands through his hair while handling food that was later served for dinner—an obvious hygiene issue that made the experience uncomfortable.
As other reviewers have mentioned, bugs are an issue in the apartments. While some of this is inevitable in the countryside, more effort could be made to better seal or treat the units.

Beautiful resort with lovely villas. Very laidback atmosphere. Enjoyed their cooking class and other experiences. Ideal location for checking our nearby cities, restaurants and wineries. You definitely need a car to reach this resort.

Cignella was purchased through Travelzoo for a 5 night stay in a two bedroom villa. The best part was the morning breakfast.
We needed to request toilet paper — we can laugh about it now. We did the first (and last) cooking class with 20 people. And that was our dinner. We needed to eat the pasta that everyone touched. No thanks. Also not even a salad was served or a dessert. We ordered drinks from the bar and no snacks were provided. No pricing options listed either. A fun surprise at the end. The pasta we made was a very small portion. We had snacks that we brought in from the grocery store. Thank goodness. We did cut our 5 night stay short and left after 3. We couldn’t wait to get out of there.
The pasta making classes were led by Vincenzo — very unprofessional to say the least. Unclear instructions, touched his hair constantly and smoked in between while pasta was resting for 10 minutes. We never saw him was his hands. Overall it was disorganized. We made plans to eat elsewhere offsite.
The villa had a ton of bugs and spiders. We didn’t open the windows or doors in hopes of keeping them out — but it didn’t work. They still got in. We never used the kitchen. No drinking water provided — only available for billing to the room. No activities during the day or a tour of the grounds or wine cellar as mentioned in the Travelzoo. Unclear who manages the property and it clearly needs an overhaul and training of staff for guest interaction.

Good location from which to see the area & do wine & olive oil tasting. But this facility needs attention. It is understaffed though the staff is helpful. It is not really a cooking school as you learn how to make pasta by hand but without anything else to be learned such as sauce recipes or how to make side dishes and deserts. The kitchen, in my opinion, is not a restaurant. Also we were there, early October, during a period when the ‘stink bugs’ were at their apex, disgusting! If the windows were open those bugs filed in & if smashed they emit a stench. Those bugs were everywhere & in flight they sound like a far off motor scooter.

The guests at Cignella all purchased their stay via Travelzoo. If it didn't sound so good on Travelzoo, they wouldn't have any guests.
These are the reasons for our poor review.
1. This is not a "resort". There are no amenities.
2 The 2 hour "cooking class" was a 45 minute pasta class.
3. The 3 "dinners" consisted of pasta with some type of sauce. Some "dinners" had no protein. The dinners were lacking any type vegetable.
4. The grounds are full of weeds and poorly manicured.
5. The was not enough staff to meet the needs of the guests. 1 person making coffees, eggs, and managing breakfast. 1 person serving dinner and 1 cook at dinner.
6. They said the $240 for extra persons in the room was 240 euros. We had to send them the information from travelzoo that specified the charge was in US dollars.
The staff was friendly and the wine tasting (about 25 minutes by car from the hotel) was beyond wonderful.

Good location as easily visited Siena, Montepulciano and Pienza. Had a spacious 2 bedroom house. With fireplace. Beautiful outdoor pool but too cold to use.
On negative side the access road was poorly marked. There is a locked gate and we were given no instructions to enter. Fortunately a delivery driver came by to let us in.
The villa had maintenance issues. The shower door did not close so ther was black stains on floor tile from water. The sink stopper did not work. No dish soap provided. Had to purchase.
The 3 course dinner was excellent. We brought extra food to room.
The cooking class is making some type of pasta with 6 other people and eating that night. Nothing else. They provide red or white sauce. If you miss class must notify management that morning or else do not come to dinner. They DO NOT have a menu to order from. Don’t expect to order like a restaurant.
The wine tasting and tour in Montepulciano was excellent.
Leaving was interesting. Your key is needed to open gate. We had to open gate and drive car through then walked key back to house.
Seem to be understaffed and English speaking is fair. Bartender excellent.

Cignella Resort has the potential to be fantastic. Not sure what is going on with this place but they are clearly short staffed. The grounds are not maintained, but we didn't take issue with this. The driveway should be graded — lots of pot holes, etc. The pool area is uninviting, the dining room is bland, the on-site cats / kittens are adorable and add character. The dinner menu is non-existent. Breakfast is okay, nothing special, but you can get coffee, juice, toast and pastries. We stayed in an extremely large 2 bedroom apartment with a patio out back. It was nice but not properly stocked — no dish clothes or tea towels. We enjoyed the patio, the views are beautiful, but again, the weeds, flowers and grass are much overgrown and need attention. We did a cooking class, of sorts, it was ok but could easily have been skipped. We used our stay at this "resort" as a base and were out and about every day, for this purpose, we were fine with it. However, if you are planning a vacation to stay exclusively at Cignella, you will be disappointed.

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Cignella Resort for making our wedding an absolutely unforgettable experience. The setting is truly breathtaking and picturesque – a gem of Tuscany that creates a magical backdrop for such a special occasion.
What makes Cignella stand out even more, however, is the exceptional service. We are especially grateful to Christy, whose dedication, professionalism, and remarkable care made every detail seamless. She is truly invaluable and irreplaceable, and we cannot thank her enough.
We remain forever grateful and will always cherish our memories of Cignella.

The property was way out in the country which was beautiful, but you definitely need a car to get around. Nothing was within walking distance. The villa was nice and had many amenities, but beware of the dryer it got extremely hot. The clothes were too hot to touch. We also saw several bugs inside the villa, but again we were out in the country. Everyone was friendly but there was definitely a language barrier. We got by with Google translate. The cooking classes that were advertised were nothing like the more organized, cooking classes that we had taken before. The classes were also 100% in Italian. We had three classes we skipped the last one. Very disappointing as the cooking classes were the main reason for booking there. My husband had left his expensive prescription glasses on the bedside table but after several promises to send them, we never received them. Overall a decent place to stay, just don’t have high expectations.

Not a Luxury Resort. To me a Luxury Resort is a place that offers excellent accommodations in a relaxing setting with good food and welcoming staff. Cignella Resort is none of these things. Our accommodations were in need of repairs and when we requested those repairs they were not done. The staff seemed to barely tolerate us being here and seemed to ignore us when they saw us. The food was barely edible. The access road to the ‘resort’ was so full of pot holes that our small rental car bottomed out even when we went very slow.
The ‘cooking class’ was about 45 min (not two hours) and consisted of you following the demonstration of the chef — who did not speak or provide information on how to do what she was doing. Dinner with the cooking class was one dish — the pasta you made during cooking school and the only option for additional food was to order the antipasta at your own expense.
There were so many things that were wrong/problems this review would be pages. Let me summarizing by saying we really did give it a fair try. We had reservations for 5 nights but after 4, could not take any more. We left. This was a TravelZoo deal and as a result, I will be much more careful when purchasing on TravelZoo.

We booked a 2 bedroom apartment at this resort through Travel Zoo for 4 nights initially. Our stay in ‘Pino’ apartment was in early May. The resort is in a lovely setting and has beautiful stone and stucco buildings. From our lounge we had beautiful views to the east and could see Lago Trasimeno in the distance. There were nice private areas for sitting out but unfortunately the weather wasn’t quite warm enough. For that reason we didn’t use the unheated swimming pool but it did look attractive. The landscaping is also very attractive although could benefit from a little bit more care.
A car is a must and makes the wonderful Tuscan towns accessible without too much effort. We visited Trequanda, Siena, Montalcino, Montepulciano, Pienza, Arezzo.
I recommend eating at Le Macine (4 km from resort). Very authentic local delicious food and reasonably priced.
Le Cignella.
PROS:
— The setting, buildings, the views.
— spacious apartment with good beds & linen.
— breakfast included (lots of variety)
— stay included an informative wine tasting with a wonderful guide.
CONS:
— There’s a 1km private drive to get to the resort on a very rough road.
— We were promised a 5th night at the same rate but ‘the boss’ wouldn’t honour this.
— The signage at the turning for the private road to the estate is virtually non existent which made finding the place difficult especially in the dark.
— Very few staff.

Where to start… All looks good at first sight and the place does have a huge potential. The surroundings are beautiful, the view, the apartment was modern and spacious. Our family of four (children 7 and 1) spent 10 days here in Oct 2024.
Here are however some problems we encountered (pls read the bottom, there is the biggest fault) :
— Very bad cleaning: dust and (cat) hair everywhere, specially under the beds and sofas, dirty sofa and pillows. The cleaning meant that sheets and towels were changed (and only 2 times during our 9-nights-stay), but on our baby’s bed/cot the sheets were not changed, not once! The owen was dirty and made smell. After the second time of cleaning part of my clothes were thrown on the floor and our baby’s two new pacifiers were taken. So strange!
— Cats (and cats’ poop) are everywhere, at least 6 different of them running around and laying on sun beds. Not a nice thing when you have a toddler learning to walk outside.
— Apartment (and the outdoors) needs overall better maintainance: broken door handles, broken shower door, drain was blocked, TV channels doesn’t work, the fridge had to be swiped many times a day because it had water in the bottom, the lawn and the swimming pool could not have been more messy. Couldn’t use the swimming pool at all, bloodsuckers at the bottom and very untidy. Way too little kitchenware, and for example the boilers were in very bad shape.

Stayed at the Cignella resort whilst in Tuscany and overall, felt that it was the attention to detail that was missing and the place generally lacked some love. It wouldn't take much to make this place a whole lot better.
Positives first, we had a 2 bedroom apartment, which was spacious, modern and clean. 3 months travelling around Italy was nice to do some washing, cook our own meals and generally just have a chill out in the gardens.
Negatives — On arrival, you have to drive down a 1.2km dirt road that is very unkept, lots of potholes, overflowing rubbish bins etc (the pic attached of the bins was after a couple of days when most of it had been run over and not as bad). We had a brand new car, that we had just taken through Car wash, which wasn’t ideal and would probably not have chosen the property had we known this. It would take so little to put some gravel on the road and fill the many potholes. Once at the property, the parking is around 200-300 metres away from the room. The hosts sent a buggy to pick up the luggage but only had room for one person so they told one of us we would have to walk. When we arrived at the apartment, we were given absolutely no instructions on how to use anything, heating, TV, fireplace etc or information on local attractions, etc. This is the only property that has failed to do this out of the already 15 we have stayed in on this trip to Italy. They basically gave us the keys and we never saw anyone again until we checked out.

A nice apartment resort. Only criticisms are that Wi-Fi speed is slow and had frequent downtime. The road to the resort was poorly maintained, difficult to drive on. The breakfast was great, and so was the pool.

Very nice breakfast, friendly staff but air conditioning did not work and the light in the bathroom.