Mr & Mrs Smith have just returned from a stay at this boutique hotel in Tuscany, and just as soon as they've unpacked their bags, a full anonymous review of Borgo Santo Pietro will be posted here. In the meantime, just to whet your wanderlust, here's a brief snapshot of this Italian country house hotel…
In the 1400s, pilgrims en route to Rome rested their heads and recovered their spirits at Borgo Santo Pietro in Tuscany. Today, travellers still come from far and wide to give thanks that private estates as beautiful as this one open their doors for weary city folk in need of spiritual succour. Only nowadays, they're more likely to wear Hermès shirts than hair shirts, and arrive in a sleek black Mercedes, sipping chilled Perrier Jouet champagne on the way from the airport.
At first glance, you might be forgiven for thinking Borgo Santo Pietro was a Cotswolds country house hotel: rough-hewn honeyed-stone walls, clipped box hedges and a scented rose garden give the impression that you've wandered into a tiny corner of England on Italian soil. Tell-tale Tuscan touches soon give the game away, though: amber light, serried ranks of cypress trees, a languid infinity pool and splashing stone fountains. Inside, the Borgo is all flagstone floors, huge stone fireplaces and ornate chandeliers; beds are draped in tasselled silks and brocade, and light bounces from gilded baroque mirrors in marble-enhanced bathrooms. Every detail is exquisite and every piece of furniture murmurs classic luxury.
All this quiet splendour makes staying at the villa all day a tempting proposition, but the hotel's holiday-friendly location in the aptly named Valle Serena (literally, 'valley of serenity') means there's dozens of effort-worthy day trips on your doorstep. Renaissance cities and mediaeval towns such as Siena (30 minutes by road), Florence (45 minutes) and Pisa (2 hours) provide cultural highs for art and history lovers, while gastronomers will enjoy exploring the nearby vineyards of the Chianti countryside. Mind you, the talents Santo Pietro's chef Thomas Brieghel can create a bit of an afternoon quandary: have a bicchieri di vino in Siena's Campo and eat at that sweet little trattoria you spotted earlier in the day, or head back to the Borgo for a seven-course sunset supper on the terrace…
