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Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR345.45), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
A dreamily antique 18th-century farmhouse on the outside, Podere San Filippo is a mini-me of Como Castello Del Nero, whose sprawling vine- and grove-clad estate it's tucked into. But, head inside the apartments set in its historic homestead and barn, and you’ll find a modern take on the Tuscan good life, with softly hued interiors by designer Paola Navone, full kitchens (and some local goodies to use in them), and view-blessed bedrooms that sleep up to six. Poolside barbecue parties are held nearby, and guests can pop over to the Castello for Eastern-inflected spa spoiling and elegant evening meals. These are case with the full complement of the region’s charms.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
A bottle of Como Castello Del Nero red wine and a basket of seasonal produce
12 apartment-style stays set over the 18th-century house and its elegantly done-up barn.
Check–Out
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £325.42 (€380), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €1.50 per person per night on check-out.
More details
Rates don’t include breakfast (a buffet of local treats) for €35 a guest, but do include yoga and pilates classes.
Also
Unfortunately, the country terrain and antique structure of the building makes these unsuitable for guests with reduced mobility.
Hotel closed
The hotel opens for the summer season.
At the hotel
Herb garden, alfresco dining area, barbecues, laundry room with ice machine, charged laundry and pressing service at the Castello, concierge, and free WiFi. And guests have access to most of Como Castello Del Nero’s public spaces. In rooms: TV, air-conditioning; free bottle of house wine, olive oil and bottled water; and Como Shambhala bath products.
Our favourite rooms
The farmhouse and barn might date back to the 18th century, but designer Paola Navone has given the apartments within it a more modern Tuscan look, with soft pastel shades and contemporary furnishings alongside wood-beamed ceilings. All come with a full kitchen to feel like a proper pied-à-terre, and sleep two to six guests, so families and groups are welcome. To make the most of the timeless Tuscan beauty surrounding you, be sure to book a ground-floor apartment with a furnished patio.
Poolside
All apartments have access to a shared 15-metre pool surrounded by gazebos and parasol-shaded loungers, with Chiantishire views to sigh over as you swim. (While Como Castello Del Nero has a slightly bigger pool, Podere's guests only have access to this one.) And there are two barbecue pits guests can use for summer eats (staff can provide fuel and food for a charge).
Spa
Guests are welcome to use the Como Shambhala Spa (open 9am to 8pm) at Castello Del Nero. Its name means ‘peace’ in Sanskrit, which it delivers with bespoke massages and Guinot facials, and a hot-cold thermal circuit with a sauna, ice fountain, aromatic steam room, and heated open-air vitality pool. Or, if you’d rather one of the skilled therapists came to you, in-room treatments can be arranged for an extra charge. The gym is 24 hours and has Tuscan views to keep you going, and you can partake in yoga, pilates and meditation classes (some free, some charged) or book a personal trainer.
Packing tips
You’ll get a basket of seasonal pickings from the grounds, plus a bottle of wine and olive oil, but you may want to stop at Florentine delis or farm shops along the way if you’re planning to use the kitchen. Clothes for knocking about in the grounds and swisher styles for evening affairs will both come in handy.
Also
There’s a shared laundry area with washers and dryers close to Podere San Filippo; some soap and softener is provided, but for longer stays you'll need to bring your own.
Pet‐friendly
Dogs (under 10 kilogrammes) can stay in all rooms for €35 a pet, each stay. Beds and bowls are provided, but they must be kept on a lead in public areas and aren’t allowed in or around the pool. See more pet-friendly hotels in Tuscany.
Children
Apartments with two or three bedrooms can sleep families of four or six, and babysitting can be arranged for €25 an hour, subject to availability. Juniors to teens will have more outdoorsy fun here.
Best for
While the privacy and possibility for flexible mealtimes in the apartments makes them suitable for all ages, older kids will make more of the activities on offer.
Recommended rooms
The larger Grande or Chianti apartments.
Activities
Pizza-making, truffle-hunting, hot-air-balloon rides and more will appeal to younger guests too.
Swimming pool
Both pools on-site are child-friendly but unsupervised.
Meals
Pavilion’s more easygoing menu might be better suited to family meals.
Babysitting
Available on request for €25 an hour.
Sustainability efforts
Locality is the keyword here, whether it’s herbs plucked from Podere San Filippo’s garden, or eggs from the chicken coop or ingredients grown in Como Castello Del Nero’s grounds. Anything else needed (including services and tour guides) are sourced within 30 kilometres as much as they can be. Instead of cars, staff use cargo bikes to traverse the property and work with Italian start-up Re-Cig, who recycle littered cigarette butts into virgin material to use for new products.
Each Sunday, between April and September, staff string lights up in a stretch of olive grove, set up a long communal table and fire up the barbecue. And from June to September, you can partake in a traditional Italian festa with street food.
Dress Code
Even dressed-down Italians look perfectly put together, so pull out the light summer tailoring and breezily chic dresses whether you’re in a historic dining room, on a sun-kissed terrace or amid the olive groves.
Hotel restaurant
Each of Podere San Filippo’s apartments is kitted out with a kitchen and all the gear you need to cook just like mamma. The idea is to feel like you own a Tuscan home from home. But, if the thought of washing up puts a damper on your holiday, you can get priority bookings at Como Castello Del Nero’s suite of restaurants, including Michelin-starred La Torre, where the spoils of the estate’s organic garden and pickings from local farms become agnolotti stuffed with Chianina beef, aged parmesan and truffle; pigeon with black cherry; lamb in goat’s milk and chamomile – or whatever the season dictates. Or enjoy more casual Mediterranean fare at Pavilion.
Hotel bar
For classico wines or cocktails, head to La Taverna, set in Castello Del Nero’s original 900-year-old kitchen. With its exposed brick, flagstone flooring, huge hearth (where a fire is lit at chillier times), it’s a characterful space, and wine tastings can be held in the 12th-century cellars on request.
Last orders
La Torre serves dinner from 7.30pm to 10.30pm, Tuesday to Saturday. At Pavilion breakfast runs from 7.30am to 10.30am and then lunch and dinner run from noon to 10pm. And drinks at La Taverna flow till 12.30am.
Podere San Filippo is an 18th-century farmhouse tucked into a scenic corner of Como Castello Del Nero’s vast, vineyard-striped estate, deep in Tuscan countryside.
Planes
You can either fly into Florence’s Amerigo Vespucci Airport (a 40-minute drive from the hotel) or Pisa International (just over an hour’s drive away). Transfers from both can be arranged through the concierge (from €155 one-way).
Trains
The closest is Florence’s Santa Maria Novella station, just under an hour’s drive away. There are direct routes here from all of Italy’s big-hitter cities.
Automobiles
The lack of unsightly traffic is part of the appeal of this green-patchwork landscape, but it does mean you’ll need some wheels to get around. Staff can help with car hire, with sporty little numbers, Vespas and Fiat 500s for you to speed about in. Your own wheels will be handy for popping over to the Castello from your apartment, but staff can arrange pick-ups and drop-offs on request.
Other
If you want to arrive in a whir of blades, ask the hotel for the co-ords of its helipad.
Worth getting out of bed for
There’s enough to do at this Como country estate to occupy you for your whole stay. Trek through forest and olive groves, past lakes and lines of vines, before a picnic (which staff can bring to you); play tennis; see how the house extra-virgin olive oil is harvested and bottled, with samples to try; taste wines, honeys and cheeses; make pizza in a wood-fired oven or more at a cookery class; learn how to make wine ‘pigéage’ style (yes, that means stomping grapes), or hunt black winter truffles with a professional and his dogs (in season). Otherwise, you can see the region laid out from above on a hot-air-balloon ride; join one of Como’s knowledgeable guides on an art and architecture tour through Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa, or Lucca; make sweet treats with master gelato maker Segio Dondoli (of Gelateria Dondoli); or craft ceramics with an artisan in a hay barn. You can ask to be chauffeured around Chianti in a vintage car (or take the wheel yourself), or up the adrenaline by either watching or taking part in the L'Eroica bike race in October – if you plan on the latter, note that you’ll need a road-racing bike built before 1987 and era-appropriate sportswear too.
Local restaurants
Chinati’s countryside is dotted with restaurants proudly showing off the region’s bounty. Just north of the hotel there’s low-key eatery and cooking school Osteria La Gramola, which serves hearty seasonal fare and handmade pastas, such as duck-laden pappardelle and truffle-topped taglierini, alongside bistecca alla Fiorentina, tripe and other local signature dishes. Picò pairs pizzas with quality seasonal toppings (farm cheese, charcuterie and fresh vegetables) with potent cocktails; at Ristoro L'Antica Scuderia it’s all about the beef, served in various locally loved preparations. Ristorante Pizzeria Triocco in Barberino Val d’Elsa has picturesque panoramas from its terrace, plus light pizzas and pici with ragu to enjoy them with; and Michelin-lauded Osteria di Passignano is set between a mediaeval abbey and vineyards, with plenty of charming historic detail in the dining room. The passionate chef primes each course with Tuscan identity, using garden-grown ingredients and following nature’s cycles.
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 fairy-tale historic farmhouse in Tuscany and unpacked their estate olive oils and wines, a full account of their romantico break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Podere San Filippo on the Como Castello Del Nero estate…
A place of your own under the Tuscan sun with wine, olive oil and cheese on tap and acres of that famous painterly greenery unfurling from your doorstep. That’s the dream, but Podere San Filippo, an 18th-century farmhouse and barn on the Como Castello Del Nero estate (which is well equipped to keep you in the region’s edible and drinkable treats) makes it a reality. Within, there are a dozen apartments given a more modern look by designer Paola Navone, fitted out with full kitchens and set in configurations of one to three bedrooms so families can comfortably stay, too. And, the views outside the window or from the dining terraces some have are as swoonsome as they ever were. You have all the joys of the Castello close by – Michelin dining, cellar tastings, poolside feasts, spa soothing – and ample fresh-air fun: hot-air-balloon rides, treks, tennis, truffle-hunting, with Siena and Florence easily reached for day trips. Perfetto conditions for a place to call your own, even if it’s just for a night or two.
