Dimora Ghirlandaio, Tuscany.

Impruneta and Its Terracotta

Impruneta's cotto has floored Tuscan buildings since Brunelleschi used it on the Duomo's dome, and the kilns still fire. The town keeps a real weekly life around the Basilica of Santa Maria, an easy first outing from the estate, and the terracotta workshops welcome visitors who call ahead, which we do. In late September the Festa dell'Uva turns the main square into the Chianti's most cheerful harvest festival.

Florence Without Staying in Florence

The estate's guests do Florence the civilised way: in by mid-morning after the tour groups have queued, two hours for one thing done properly, the Uffizi or the Bargello rather than both, lunch across the Arno among the Oltrarno workshops, and home to the pool by four. Twenty-five minutes each way makes a second or third city morning easy, which is the real luxury: Florence in doses, never Florence fatigue. For timing the city days, Florence weather month by month is the guide.

When to come

April to June and September to October, when city mornings and pool afternoons both work. The Festa dell'Uva makes late September special; high summer is for the pool, with Florence kept to early mornings.

Towns worth knowing

Impruneta

The estate's town: the Basilica, the terracotta kilns, a real Saturday market.

Greve in Chianti

The first of the wine towns, twenty-five minutes south; start the Chianti Classico day here.

San Casciano in Val di Pesa

Machiavelli wrote The Prince in exile just outside it; good osterie, few tourists.

Florence

Twenty-odd minutes north. Go in doses: one museum, one lunch, home by four.

Best for

• Splitting a week evenly between Florence and wine country
• First trips to Tuscany that want both city and pool
• Renaissance history sleeping where it happened
• Chianti Classico days without a Chianti Classico drive home

Practicalities

Florence is twenty to twenty-five minutes by car; guests headed for the centre park at Piazzale Michelangelo or take a driver and skip the ZTL entirely. Greve and the Chianti Classico wine road begin twenty-five minutes south.

Frequently asked

How far is Dimora Ghirlandaio from Florence?

Twenty to twenty-five minutes by car, on the first ridge of the Chianti hills by Impruneta. City mornings and pool afternoons fit in the same day.

What is the Ghirlandaio connection?

The estate grew around the country residence the Ghirlandaio family of painters kept five centuries ago; Domenico Ghirlandaio trained the young Michelangelo in his Florence workshop.

Is the estate in Chianti?

On its northern edge. Impruneta sits on the first Chianti ridge; Greve in Chianti and the Chianti Classico wine road proper begin twenty-five minutes south.

How many houses are on the estate?

Six, from the intimate La Bottega and the converted lemon house Suite La Limonaia to Villa Ghirlandaio itself. They can be taken individually or combined for larger parties.