Tuscany, Italy

Casa Ruffino Wine Relais

Price per night from$320.42

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR277.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Casa Ruffino Wine Relais Photos

Style

Location, location, libation

Setting

Bucolic Bagno a Ripoli

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It’s always aperitivo o’clock at Casa Ruffino Wine Relais, just south of Florence in the rolling Chianti countryside. This Renaissance villa, on an estate where an enterprising pair of cousins planted their first vines in 1877 (though the Romans technically beat them to it), has just eight rooms for overnighting oenophiles to rest their (likely slightly fuzzy) heads. As villa residents, you’ll have use of the pool, and there’s a refined restaurant on hand for soaking up the alcohol.

Smith Extra

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A bottle of Ruffino wine

Facilities

Photos Casa Ruffino Wine Relais facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Eight.

Check–Out

10.30am, and check-in is from 3pm. Both are flexible on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates usually include a Continental breakfast.

Also

One room at Casa Ruffino has been adapted for guests with limited mobility, though the gravel in the grounds might make it difficult to access for wheelchair users.

Please note

The hotel’s national identification code (CIN) is IT048001B5GBGUCFSI.

At the hotel

Winery, charged laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: smart TV, air-conditioning, Illy coffee machine and tea-making kit, minibar plus some complimentary estate wine, free bottled water, bathrobes, slippers and Dr Vranjes Firenze bath products.

Our favourite rooms

All of the rooms in the villa overlook the estate’s manicured gardens, so you can be sure of a fine prospect when throwing open your windows come morning. For the most space, book a Deluxe Room (Aster, Agapanthus or Helleborus).

Poolside

An outdoor infinity pool is open for swims during daylight hours. Cleverly, the striped sunloungers are Chianti-red should you be concerned about any poolside spillages.

Packing tips

Save some of your suitcase for bubble-wrapped bottles of Ruffino reds, and maybe avoid white clothing with this much red wine around...

Pet‐friendly

Small- to medium-size dogs are welcome in the bedrooms and outdoor area of the restaurant, but not the cellars. See more pet-friendly hotels in Tuscany.

Children

All ages are welcome but there are no special facilities for children.

Food and Drink

Photos Casa Ruffino Wine Relais food and drink

Top Table

The limonaia (a traditional Italian outbuilding, designed to keep citrus trees warm in the winter) is available for romantic private-dinner bookings, or you can sit out on the terrace.

Dress Code

Wine reds to match what’s in your glass and on the walls.

Hotel restaurant

The food at Tre Rane has to compete with the estate’s liquid offerings, namely its delicious wines, which can be enjoyed by the glass, bottle and big bottle (head to the cellar to check out the full selection, including its older vintages and jeroboams), and golden extra-virgin olive oil. But the modern, central-Italian plates put in a good effort — the menu might feature risotto with pink shrimp from the Tuscan Archipelago, lemon gel and black garlic cream; monkfish rolled porchetta-style with capers, olives and tomato sauce; and tuna tartare with tomato jelly, mint and panzanella in gazpacho form. 

Hotel bar

The bar at Tre Rane opens from 11.30am, serving as a coffee station before you’re ready to move on to something harder. Naturally, wine made on the estate is the wise order, though there are cocktails, too.  

Last orders

Tre Rane opens for lunch daily from noon to 2.30pm. Dinner service runs Tuesday to Saturday, 7pm to 10pm.

Location

Photos Casa Ruffino Wine Relais location
Address
Casa Ruffino Wine Relais
Via Poggio al Mandorlo 1
Bagno a Ripoli
50012
Italy

Casa Ruffino Wine Relais is in the glorious Tuscan countryside, surrounded by the vineyards of Chianti and close to the centre of Florence.

Planes

Florence’s airport is a 30-minute drive away; hotel transfers can be arranged on request for an additional charge.

Trains

If you’re arriving by rail from another Italian city into Florence’s Santa Maria Novella hub, the hotel team can arrange a transfer to greet you at an extra cost.

Automobiles

Automobiles A car will come in handy for exploring this rural part of Tuscany, and there’s free parking when you arrive. The hotel is in the comune of Bagno a Ripoli, seven kilometres south-east of Florence, though you’ll probably want to avoid attempting to drive into the historic centre (it’s a traffic-restricted area anyway).

Worth getting out of bed for

There’s plenty to keep you entertained within the Casa Ruffino estate, whether it’s a cookery class, a wander around the grounds, which string together cellars, vineyards and a maze, or a tasting session of the historic Poggio Casciano estate’s much-lauded output. Here on the tenuta in the heart of the Chianti hills, where a wine-making business was established in 1877, you’ll be able to see where the Sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot grapes are grown, and watch as they’re turned into wine on a tour. It’s less than half an hour by car to the centre of Florence, ideal for a dose of urbanity should you need it.  

Local restaurants

The hotel’s restaurant is your easiest route to a delicious Tuscan meal, but nearby contenders include Ristorante Al 588 on the Borgo I Vicelli estate, a modern-minded osteria a short drive from the hotel, where extra-virgin olive oil is the most prized ingredient, alongside vegetables grown in the gardens and handmade pasta. And if you want to try local classics such as the famous supersize bistecca alla Fiorentina, pappardelle with hare, some Florentine tripe or a plate of gnudi, book a table at Trattoria La Gargotta, a 20-minute drive north. 

Reviews

Photos Casa Ruffino Wine Relais reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this wine hotel in Italy and unpacked their cabernets and Chianti, a full account of their bucolic break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Casa Ruffino Wine Relais in Tuscany…

It's not just the neighbouring countryside that’s cinematic at Casa Ruffino Wine Relais, though the hillsides of Chianti are rather photogenic, especially during golden hour. An aesthete-pleasing aspect applies to everything at this wine retreat, from the restored cellars, to the boldly painted communal spaces (in tones that might appear garish with a less-deft hand than this one) and the manicured maze in the grounds. You can now bed down in an eight-room villa, restored alongside the limonaia — a sheltered, large-windowed space typical of noble residences of the period, designed to protect citrus trees. Both were revived during the makeover of this bustling wine estate, established in 1877 by cousins Ilario and Leopoldo Ruffino.

The rooms are simple, with that effortless Italian style, aided along by antiques, statement lampshades and seating, and high-quality homegrown materials. A Florentine studio was drafted in to modernise the interiors and they didn’t exactly have ‘typical rustic villa’ on their moodboard. Instead, they’ve switched it up with some brave palette choices, all-Italian lighting (some of which stylishly looks like headwear) and, yes, the odd oil painting to keep the history alive. It feels secluded in the scenic Tuscan hills, but in reality, Florence is just a short drive away. Cin cin to that.  

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Price per night from $316.95

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