The Journal
Long-form editorial on the houses in the collection, the sub-regions of Tuscany and the way we think about a week here. We publish when there is something to say.
18 pieces · Last updated · From the founders, in London
Val d'Orcia in April and May is a different region from the August postcards. Wildflowers along the SP146, the lambs, the cantinas at their easiest. The editor's view of the most photographed weeks of the Tuscan year.
Read the piece
Florence as a base, a day trip, and a city to keep returning to. Where to stay, when to go, what to do once you have done the obvious. The editor's perspective on the city you will spend a week working out.
San Gimignano: the medieval Manhattan of fourteen towers, day-tripped to within an inch of its life, and still one of the genuinely remarkable visits in Tuscany if you know how to time it.
How to do Siena properly in one day from a villa base: the Campo before ten, the striped Duomo, a contrada lunch, and back at the pool by four.
Pisa is most guests' first hour in Tuscany and almost nobody's destination. How to use the city properly: the Field of Miracles early, lunch by the river, and the villa by mid-afternoon.
Vendemmia in Chianti is the working two weeks that decide a year. The 5:30am picks, the *cantina* at five in the afternoon, the dinner at the long table afterward. The editor's view of the wine country at work.
Pienza, the planned Renaissance city built in five years between 1459 and 1464. The pecorino, the pope, the perfect piazza, and how to use the town as part of a Val d'Orcia week.
Lucca, the only Italian Renaissance city you can walk around on its own walls. The Puccini birthplace, the rooftop terraces, the *vie* on a Saturday morning, and how to use the city as part of a Tuscan week.
Montepulciano: Vino Nobile, Renaissance hilltop architecture, the cantinas under the town. The editor's view of the steep, serious Tuscan town that is one of the great single-day visits in central Italy.
Food & Wine
From bistecca alla fiorentina to hand-rolled pici, a complete guide to traditional Tuscan food, where to eat each dish, and what to drink alongside it.
Travel Guide
Beyond the guidebook favourites, discover the charming medieval villages that most visitors miss entirely.
Food & Wine
From Chianti Classico to Brunello di Montalcino, a complete guide to the wines of Tuscany, which estates to visit, and exactly what to drink with each dish.
Why the four weeks after the heat are, quietly, the finest of the year — and what to do with them.
At the table
It is not a happy hour. It is not a buffet. It is a quiet hour with a drink, and a few things to eat, and a view.
What a borgo is, what it isn't, and why a properly restored one is among the rarer things you can rent in Tuscany.
What it actually looks like — the appointments, the timing, the meal at the end — when we arrange a day at a small estate.
From the studio
A short note on a question we are asked often, and answered honestly here.
The Maremma and the Argentario in the two months that are, quietly, theirs.