Viesca, Tuscany.

Viesca is a restored hamlet in the hills above Reggello, on Florence's quiet south-eastern side where the Valdarno rises toward the Vallombrosa forest. This is the Tuscany of the Florentine weekend rather than the tour itinerary: olive terraces that produce some of the region's most prized oil, the abbey of Vallombrosa in its thousand-year silver-fir forest above, and Florence itself only forty minutes down the valley. The hamlet's modern history belongs to the Ferragamo family, who restored the estate as their own country retreat before opening its houses.

The corner rewards guests who want Florence available but not adjacent. The pattern mirrors our Dimora Ghirlandaio houses: city mornings by car or the Figline train, afternoons back at the pool with the Pratomagno ridge for a horizon. Art in miniature is closer still, the young Masaccio's San Giovenale triptych hangs in its museum at Cascia di Reggello, ten minutes away, and the serious retail of The Mall outlet at Leccio is a fifteen-minute open secret.