Villa Fontelunga

Thank the Virgin Mary for Villa Fontelunga, a designer den near Cortona in Tuscany. I first visited the hotel when it opened in 2001 and I was a little worried about going back – not because it was bad, but because it was so wonderful. Like a first-time encounter with a new lover, the pleasure of a first visit to a great hotel can rarely be matched. But, with hotels as with past passions, there is comfort in knowing what to expect when you revisit them – especially when the hosts welcome you with open arms and actually remember you from all those years ago.

Crafted from a traditional padronale, the villa is a marriage of traditional Tuscan style and contemporary design. It is homely and stylish, and the personalities of owners Paolo and Philip (film-set designer), Simon (landscape gardener) and Paolo’s Mamma (domestic goddess) combine to make guests feel like part of an extended family. The cosy atmosphere is also heavily indebted to a troop of dogs who scamper around the terracotta house and rambling grounds, occasionally taking a dip in the swimming pool. We fell in love with Dylan, a black scottie, now almost entirely deaf and blind, who bumbles along in carefree bliss, occasionally colliding with guests and revelling in the attention of his new friends.

The guests eat together, either outside on the terrace or in the main dining room. When we arrived at the end of a meal, an intimate gang of ten were already a few sheets to the wind and had clearly bonded (Germans, Americans, French and Brits all getting on swimmingly). Sleepy and hungry, we settled into a gazebo-style nook outside to dine by candlelight. All the stress of a cancelled flight and our tiring two-hour drive from Bologna quickly floated away over lasagne and a lovely bottle of local red wine.

Well-travelled fans of contemporary cool will appreciate that Villa Fontelunga has had a flavour of the locale injected into its decor: think Starck and Jacobsen mixed with vintage Italiana. It’s always a shame to stay in a hotel and feel you could be anywhere in the world. Here, you are firmly embedded in Tuscany, but without the clutter and fuss that often weigh down more traditional Italian hotels. There are nine rooms, each individually designed. Ours had a double aspect and, as I discovered when I flung open the shutters on our first morning, the stunning views across the Val di Chiana provided a perfect start to the day.

We spent our time being gloriously decadent by the pool, occasionally knocking a ball about on the tennis court which, thankfully, is hidden from view by an olive grove. We planned jaunty outfits, attempting to capture some sort of Mr Ripley look with white deck shoes, preppy pastel Ralph Lauren polo shirts and cashmere jumpers thrown nonchalantly across the shoulders. The ball rarely went over the net, but we looked the part, at least.

The gravelled terrace was the perfect spot for an alfresco Tuscan lunch, prepared by Mamma’s own fair hands. We were served the crostini Toscana, a mixture of minced meat, chicken liver, onion, carrot and celery cooked in olive oil on a very slow heat and served with bread. We found ourselves back on the terrace for early-evening cocktails with the pups before heading out to one of the twinkling hilltop villages for supper. The drinks situation at Villa Fontelunga is characteristically relaxed and generous; low-maintenence types will love the absence of highfalutin pomp and ceremony. I enjoyed making us G-heavy G&Ts at the self-serve bar.

Paolo and Philip are chatty and treat you like a special guest in their home (which, of course, you are), but they have also perfected the art of knowing when to back off and give you space. It’s a skill I greatly admire, staying so jolly and always having something to say beyond ‘Ooh, looks like it’s going to turn out nice again.’ I respect their ability to be intimate and personable without getting too up close and personal – there needs to be some distance between guest and host, after all. At Villa Fontelunga, there is no hint of an upstairs/downstairs boundary; rather it's a seamless guest/friend/owner dynamic.

So if it’s a ‘I vant to be alone’ hideaway you’re after, this may not be quite the place for you. If you’re on a romantic escape, however, you might benefit from the group dynamic here. On my previous visit, it all went horribly wrong for my partner after a day in the sun without protection, causing inflammation of skin and tempers. The most soothing aftersun treatment for me was to retreat to the company of new friends downstairs while things cooled down a little in our boudoir.

If you tire of sun-worshipping, Villa Fontelunga is less than an hour by car from some of Italy’s most beautiful cities: Florence, Siena, Arezzo and Cortona. You can indulge in another kind of worship too, at the shrines of Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and Jil Sander, which all have shops nearby. I found my way to the Mall, which offers discounts of as much as 70 per cent off last season’s lines. This region is home to the Italian textile industry, and the major labels have their factory outlets here, so you can pick up some astounding bargains.

Togged up to the nines in our newly purchased white Prada jeans (somehow this homage to Elizabeth Hurley works on Italian soil), we returned to the homely charm of Fontelunga and realised that rolling around in the gravel with the puppies while sweet smells wafted from the kitchen, where Mamma was cooking up a feast, far outshone the high-octane thrill of a retail relay. Many hotels claim to be a home away from home. This really is one.