Our stay at Villa Sogara was spectacular in every way. The property is so lovely and is surrounded by gorgeous countryside. You really feel that you are away from it all, it is so quiet and peaceful, however the main highway is a short (8 minutes?) car ride so it is easy to get places (Verona, Lake Garda, Venice, Padua, etc). The rooms are comfortable, quite beautiful, and have historic charm and character. The air conditioning in the bedrooms works great, and there are plenty of outlets. The kitchen is old-fashioned in style but is very functional and has a useful array of cookware and plentiful dishes. We had many fun evenings in this kitchen, cooking and talking all together at the big table. The pool was terrific and well-maintained; kids especially loved it.
Our hosts, Tommaso and Ella, were wonderful. They are both very friendly and welcoming, and so very knowledgeable and helpful about the details of the visit. Ella prepared for us a meal to have on our first night and it was delicious; she is a terrific cook! And the menu, at her suggestion, was quite thoughtful and turned out to be perfect after a long journey, and with many age-ranges in our group, as it was flexible and varied (a variety of cold dishes combined with several things to reheat on our own schedule). Tommaso arranged a very informative and enjoyable visit to a nearby family-run winery that also prepared olive oil in small, high quality batches. I asked Tommaso a lot of questions by email prior to the trip and he gave us a lot of advice, suggestions, and helpful information about the area. And plenty of good conversations in person when we were at the Villa were also helpful in making the most of our stay.
The location is magical. Because our group included older adults and young children, we wanted to keep travel on the light side, and there were so many fantastic choices within 1-2 hours drive from the Villa. Even closer, less than 20 minutes, Verona was visited several times, as well as many of the beautiful nearby smaller towns (for example, Soave). And, Lake Garda and the nearby mountains were simply breathtaking (less than one hour drive) and we felt we could have spent all our time there as it was so beautiful and so many towns and sites to see along the lake.
Overall we all felt that Villa Sogara was outstanding. Despite it looking beautiful in the pictures, the pictures do not even do it justice; it is far more beautiful and magical in person!
