Mr & Mrs Smith

Monteverdi

Tuscany, Italy

Monteverdi isn’t just a hotel, it’s a village: with cobbled mediaeval streets, an ancient church, and a peaceful pool. Flowers bloom prettily in the sprawling gardens, where guests loll by the pool and chef Paolo plucks spices, herbs and vegetables to serve up in the little enoteca. As if this weren’t traditionally Tuscan enough, there’s also a fully excavated 12th-century castle, discovered by the owner.

Need to know

• Rooms Seven rooms, including three suites. There are also three self-catering villas (a two-bedroom, a three-bedroom and one with six bedrooms).
• Rates Double rooms from $417.27 (€325), excluding tax at 10 per cent.
  The price shown represents the lowest nightly rate for a double room available at this hotel over the next 21 days. Any price conversions from the hotel's local currency (€325) have been conducted using today's exchange rates from xe.com.
• More details Rates usually include a generous Continental breakfast.
• Facilities Gardens, gym, library, stash of CDs and DVDs, Wii consoles (on request), free WiFi throughout. In rooms: flatscreen TVs, iPad (on request), locally made bath products.
• Poolside The glittering turquoise infinity pool surveys the verdant Val d’Orcia and is surrounded by lavender.
• Check-out 11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 4pm.
• Children Very welcome: extra beds for under-12s (free) and cots (also free) can be added to rooms. English-speaking babysitters are around €20 a night. More...
• Also The hotel hosts artists in residence and decorates bedrooms with their work: if you like what you see, buy a print or painting to take back home.

Food and drink at Monteverdi

• Hotel restaurant

  Monteverdi’s Italian chef, Paolo Coluccio, has worked across the world, delighting diners in London, Mumbai and now Tuscany. Every day, Paolo scours the local markets for ingredients from nearby farms; herbs, fruit and vegetables hail from the hotel’s gardens. Expect simple but elegant food – the signature dish is lavender risotto, flavoured with lavender picked seconds before the dish is served – enjoyed in the cheery little café (at least until the formal restaurant is unveiled). In August, creamy burrata is served with whisper-thin capocollo (salami) and in autumn, when mushroom season begins, there’s a flavoursome porcini carpaccio.

• Dress code Linen; leather sandals; an unbuttoned shirt.
• Top table Sit at one of the little tables out on the patio, with the Tuscan tapestry of fields and valleys stretching beneath you. For sociable meals with other guests, there’s a communal wooden table in the pretty gardens, which are lantern-lit by night.
• Last orders Caffè Monteverdi is open every day from 7.30am until 10.30pm.
• Room service Items from the café’s main menu can be brought to your room. There’s also a comprehensive bar menu featuring fresh garden salads, regional meats and cheeses, bruschette, pastries and just-baked panini and crostini.
• Hotel bar

  Poppy-red Caffè Monteverdi has a fridge full of wines from the Val d’Orcia: these are some serious grapes, so pay them the due attention (Tenuta del Trinoro and Passopisciaro are particularly good). The barman will also mix you up a drink or introduce you to the hotel’s latest smoothie or juice blend.

Monteverdi Via di Mezzo, Castiglioncello del Trinoro, Sarteano, Tuscany, 53047