Norcenni Girasole Holiday Park

4 readers found this review helpful

I booked this holiday independently directly with campsite and stayed in a Tuscan Apartment which was on the site.
This worked out far more economical than booking through an English tour company as there are only 3 of us and so paying for an 8-berth caravan is a waste of money.
This apartment cost about £340 for a week and it was really nice - a large room with upstairs mezzanine with double bed. Very clean, very comfortable bed and great facilities. There was a table and chairs outside the apartment too which was great for al fresco dining.
I holiday with my 2 kids - 13 and 11 at the time. We flew into Rome and spent a couple of days there seeing the sites, and then got a train up to the campsite. It was easy to do and we had no problems. At the end of our week we returned to Rome for another couple of nights.
This worked out great for me and the kids as it combined sightseeing and city life with some lovely time on a campsite in a beautiful area of the country.
The campsite itself is big, but not particularly noisy, with good swimming pools which the kids really enjoyed, particularly the lagoon type one at the top of the site where there was a water slide and loads of kids.
There were restaurants on site and supermarkets where you could get most basic provisions. There was no "entertainment" as such that I noticed on site. I believe there was a disco but we didn't visit it. We did eat in the restaurants and the food was nice.
There were trips run by the campsite which were okay, we went to Pisa and Lucca with them. Florence is easy to get to by local train and well worth a visit. We didn't have a car and my only gripe with this campsite was that it wasn't that easy to get on and off.
The town/train station is about 1/2 miles away but a big section of it is on a winding road with no pavements which I didn't feel comfortable walking along with my kids. The campsite only run 2 mini-trains to town in the morning at something like 8.15 and 8.45 and two back up at night say 17.00 and 18.00 - so not really that convenient.
Taxis could be got down to town but were not particularly cheap and coming back it was sometimes difficult to find one.
Italy is beautiful especially the Tuscan region where this campsite is based. With a car it would be fantastic as you could explore the region as you liked.
Without one, as we were, it was slightly inconvenient but fairly easy to get about and see all we wanted.

3 readers found this review helpful

We have just returned from an absolutely fabulous holiday at this site. We have two boys aged 5 and 9 who were so amused with the pool facilities and playing with friends that they had made that it gave us parents a really relaxing time.
The site is fantastic, really clean, and brilliantly maintained, and Tuscany is really beautiful. The staff were very friendly and spoke English which helps a lot.
There are two pool areas, the pools in the main village area are more adult orientated, as they are quite deep (our 9 year old couldn't touch the bottom of any of them) but the lagoon complex at the top of the site is amazing and really well designed for children of all ages.
The shops on site sell the inflatable doughnut rings that you can go down the lazy river on, and there are no restrictions on the type of swimwear that you can wear - so the boys were fine in their UV suits and bandana's.
There were more than enough sunbeds around the pools, many of which were under the shade of trees (very welcome when we were there - with temperatures between 30-35 degrees everyday).
We did a fly-drive option from Pisa airport - Easyjet from Gatwick and then hired a car with Europcar - which was fine. The Tom Tom Sat Nav took us straight to the site in just under 2 hours with no problems - didn't have to look at the map once!
We did 2 organised excursions on the site - one to Pisa and the other to Florence - both were reasonably priced and well organised with nice air conditioned coaches. Both cities were awesome and definitely worth a visit.
We did attempt to get the train from the town (figline valdarno) as recommended by others on this website, but the station car park was full and the other car parks in the town were short stay only. In the end we gave up and booked the excursion - so much easier!
The only thing that we were disappointed with was our particular accommodation. The caravan was quite old and shabby in places. There were shards of broken glass all around the door and the steps to our caravan as a result of a stone chipping the door in the previous week when the grass was being strimmed and apparently the glazier, when replacing the glass - just shattered all the door glass without putting down any protection and it was all in amongst the gravel causing our 5 year old to cut his foot.
The Rep did his best to sweep it up and then shovel it under the caravan - but a lot still remained. We have booked with a different operator for our holiday next year due to this.
There is a co-op supermarket in Figline Valdarno (5 mins drive) which is cheaper than the on-site supermarket. On the site there is a charge card system in place where you get given a card on arrival and charge it up with euro's to spend on the site - you aren't allowed to pay for anything on site with cash.
Most places on the site will charge the card up for you - including the gift shop, supermarket, and restaurants.
What more can I say... we would definitely recommend this site and would return here for another holiday. Oh, and the Pizza's were lovely!

My husband and I and our 5 year old grand-daughter have just had the most wonderful 12 day holiday at this site.
Our mobile home was new, immaculately presented, fully equipped, with a lovely bottle of Chianti as a welcome. This site has 5 restaurants with great Italian food - not expensive.
There are 7 swimming pools - some heated, and the scenery is spectacular. The campsite runs well priced excursions to Florence, Rome, Sienna, etc. and the train to Florence is at the bottom of the hill, with free car parking.
The return fare is 6 Euro for adults and 3 Euro for children. There is a bus from the site to the station. The Canvas holidays staff, including Yvonne the site supervisor, were quite superlative - nothing any bother and warm and welcoming.
Our little girl had a wonderful time at the Hoopi Club - 2 sessions a day,6 days a week and staffed by Sally and others. She is a very gifted young lady, enthusiastic but mature and responsible, just a natural with children.
The programme included nature trails, wacky hair days, and pirate adventures, lots of art and crafts and even tuition in other languages - made fun, of course!

The site itself is run as quite a tight ship - no loud noise, lifeguards at the pools. The shops are well stocked and not expensive. The site is hilly and not great for anyone with walking problems, and there are a lot of ants outside - easily dispersed with sprays!
We are well travelled in Italy and elsewhere, but this is quite the best holiday we have ever had - we will certainly go again, and with Canvas Holidays, as their service was better than the other companies on the site, especially early in the season.
Well done Canvas!

1 reader found this review helpful

All I have got to say about this camp is that I will be going back in the very near future.
Everything was superb about this site and it had every thing that you and your children would need for a superb holiday. 3 swimming pools to choose from and astro turf football pitch with another planned.
2 superb restaurants and a pizza takeaway with another restaurant on the upper level of the site with great views of the tuscan countryside. You get to this by the little train if you do not fancy the 5 minute walk uphill and also another swimming pool here and the food is great and pizzas to die for.
Take the train from the village to florence for 6 euros which saves taking the car.
While you are here you must visit the village of greve which is about a 20 car ride away and have a meal in the village square after buying your wine.

We have travelled to many campsites around Europe and this was by far and away the best. Beautiful location, superb scenery, fabulous on-site restaurants and great staff - Margarite, the Haven Europe rep, was exceptional. Once we finally decided to leave the site, there were plenty of photo opportunities nearby.
Florence was brilliant, but do not do the organised night time tour with the meal - it was expensive and disappointing but useful for getting your bearings for travelling in by car later. We rarely return to campsites but have booked to go to this one again in May 2006.

Norenni is an absolutely beautiful park with plenty to offer everyone of all ages.
Onsite restaurant is out of this world and very competitively priced. Swimming pools and leisure facilities all kept to very high standards.
ideal location for touring Tuscan countryside and train station at figline Valdarno - a 5 min drive away has direct trains to Pisa, Florence and Rome. Once in Florence you can even get to Venice in 3 hours.
Beautiful campsite more like a small village in its own right in beautiful surroundings in a beautiful country.

An excellent site for families with older children or teenagers. The restaurants were extremely good value and offered a wide range of food. The site was in a beautiful part of Tuscany and within easy reach of Florence, Pisa and Siena. We didn’t hire a car and found public transport cheap and reliable. We visited major cities on the campsite-run excursions, which we found very informative and we weren’t herded around. I would certainly recommend this site. The pitches were very close together which was the only negative aspect of the site - the answer is to holiday with friends!