'La Bandita is right in the heart of wine country and only 25 minutes away from Montalcino (the home of Brunello – one of the world's best wines). There is an amazing visit to the family that run the Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona (+39 0577 835 616) vineyard, which is well worth a trip to taste their glorious wine and only a stone's throw away from the 12th-century abbey, Sant'Antimo, one of the prettiest in Tuscany, sitting impossibly white in a hidden valley. In Montepulchiano, only 20 mins from La Bandita, Acquacheta Trattoria (22 Via del Teatro, +39 0578 758 443; closed Tuesdays) is beloved for its steak (especially the thick Fiorentina, which you’ll see being prepared on a giant chopping block in the back. They only serve the meat rare.'
read more…La Bandita
Tuscany, Italy[view map]
Reviewed by Mr & Mrs Smith.
Mr & Mrs Smith have just returned from an anonymous review trip to this boutique hotel in Tuscany, and as soon as they've unpacked their limoncello and Chianti Classico, a full account of their stay in Italy will be with you. In the meantime, just to whet your wanderlust, here’s a brief postcard from La Bandita…
A boutique hotel with personality stamped all over it, La Bandita takes full advantage of the vast and rolling Tuscan landscape that could have come straight from a compendium of ‘Archetypal Vistas to Blow the Mind’. Once a derelict farm, La Bandita has been lovingly and laboriously restored and reimagined by John Voigtman, whose 10 years in the music-management business live on in the prodigious vinyl collection he makes available to his hotel guests – just one of the little gestures that make the place seem more like an especially generous friend’s home than a luxury boutique hotel.
A huge farmhouse kitchen gives you the chance to rustle up your own Italian banquets (although family-style feasts are served three nights a week), and John and his wife are always eager to share insider restaurant tips for the nearby hill towns (we wouldn’t have found some of the great eating and drinking places listed here without them). Located on a sheep-dotted hillside in the beautiful Val d’Orcia, La Bandita is the perfect base for exploring the Italian wine country – if that is, you can bring yourself to leave it.