TUSCANY CLASICO
La dolce vita is alive and well in this ravishing region,
HeRe’S a game to play in traffic. You have one last holiday and it’s for a month. It won’t cost you a thing but you have to go somewhere you’ve been before. That honeymoon hotel in Sri Lanka might loom large but, then, after a couple of weeks you could regret not choosing the beach resort in Jamaica. Perhaps a month in the Maldives would do the trick — though you might need more culture.
My wife and I play the game on the way home from Tuscany and are hard-pressed to think beyond the place we’ve just left — Castello di Casole, a ravishing hill-top converted castle within striking distance of Siena, San Gimignano and Florence. In other words, culture of the highest order on your doorstep, where going nowhere at all is also a tantalising option.
We’re talking Tuscany Classico: lush undulating countryside, a patchwork of greens, ochres and violets broken up by thick hedges and narrow tracks lined with immaculate Cypress trees.
Many of the tracks you can see from the castle’s terrace — with its fabulous infinity swimming pool and huge terracotta pots laden with olive trees — lead to villas that are part of the hotel’s 4,200-acre estate, now owned and run by Timbers Resorts.
The American firm acquired it in 2005 and set about a massive restoration, finally opening the hotel four years ago. There are 41 suites (plus a two-storey penthouse) in the main building and dotted about what amounts to a private hamlet, with its own church and crypt built by the Bargagli family in the 19th century. The spa is in the granary, with treatment rooms in the former cellars.
At one time, the castle was owned by Italian director Luchino Visconti (Death In Venice). Perhaps he, like us, spent hours staring into the distance — front row seats in the Ritzy Naturale.
It’s truly special at night, when the main courtyard becomes a village square, complete with fountain, stone benches and al fresco dining. Children play hide and seek while their parents pile plates with some of the best cooking in the region.
What you forget about Tuscany is
that the Etruscans were here long before the Romans. Hence the exquisite hilltop towns that once were fortresses designed to repel outsiders and are now communities keen to welcome visitors armed with euros.
On our second night, we ask the concierge to book us dinner somewhere cheap and cheerful nearby. He chooses Osteria del Borgo in the tiny village of Mensano, which, as it happens, we could see from our room.
Slow-cooked wild boar is the speciality here, but it’s the sort of restaurant where you let the waiter (in this case the brother of the chef) decide what you should eat. A triumph.
The same can not be said for our sojourn to famous San Gimignano. We think that going at 6pm might avoid the hordes. No chance. Even finding a car park with spaces is laborious. And discovering mobile burger stalls and ice cream vans in the main piazzas makes us realise why everyone returning to the car park had looked so miserable.
We do, however, enjoy a venture to beautiful Arezzo, where on the first Sunday of the month, the town centre becomes one huge antiques market. We buy a heavy marble font that raises eyebrows at Pisa airport.
We also make the pilgrimage to Siena, where, because it is a few weeks before the annual Palio (the bareback horse race around the plaza), medieval pageantry is brewing nicely, including a hostile-looking marching band that drums its way through the narrow streets carrying heavy flags.
Most of all, we love sleepy Casole d’Elsa, which you can also see from the hotel. It has a butcher and grocer — and manages a perfect balance between visitors and full-time residents.
What strikes us about Tuscany in peak season is how if you avoid the superstar towns, there’s space for everyone and it’s remarkably unspoilt.
Italy has its problems, but the fierce planning laws in this part of the country should be applauded and admired.
TRAVEL FACTS
CASTELLO di Casole (castellodicasole.com, 0039 05779 61508) offers studio suites from £397 a night. EasyJet (easyjet.com, 0330 365 5000) flies from Gatwick to Pisa from £75 return. Car hire through Avis (avis.co.uk, 0808 284 0014) costs from £61.05 for a weekend.