Inside the romantic Tuscan retreat owned by the Ferragamo family

Дата публикации: 06-08-2026 22:00:21

After a decades-long restoration, the medieval village is now a haven for harried visitors in central Italy

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Lying down on a massage table, I quickly tune into Il Borro’s special frequency. The spa therapist gently places a Tibetan bronze bowl on my tummy and soon my muscles and fascia feel like they’re singing wildly — the Tuscan retreat’s new mesmerizing sound harmonization resonating through that vessel and six others she plays on the floor.

It’s a good vibration that threads throughout my stay at the 2,700-acre regenerative hotel and vineyard near Arezzo — an hour or so away from the magnet of its showier cousins, Florence and Pisa. The owners, Ferruccio Ferragamo (son of Salvatore, the late, great global designer once known as ‘Shoemaker to the Stars’) and his children Salvatore and Vittoria started with a restoration of a majestic villa, Dimora Storica, in the early ’90s — complete with a stylish, engineered-with-precision Italian garden.

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The view of the ornate Italian garden at Il Borro with the medieval village in the background. Photo by Francesca Pagliai /IL BORRO RELAIS & CHATEAUX

Then came the serious sprucing up of an entire medieval village. Burying electrical wires underneath the roads and repairing all the roofs and walls, the place was transformed into 38 elegant, generous hotel rooms where you can still feel the soul of the past. Indeed, each suite is often named for former residents’ occupations: Scrittore (author), Poeta (poet), Soprano …

Arriving here is most romantic. We bounce across the arched stone bridge of this former fortress high on a rocky spur. It’s the only way to reach the ancient houses that unfurl as we head up a steep narrow, cobbled lane. Bordered by the deeply forested Pratomagno mountain ridge above the Valdarno Di Sopra river (borro roughly means ravine in the Tuscan dialect), the next morning’s short but heavy June thunderstorm is an even more dramatic reward for living virtually in the clouds.

It’s almost impossible to think of this vibrant spot as once being a dilapidated hamlet. Today, it walks a fine line between being relaxed and approachable (like the other villas, Mulino and Casetta) and its uber-five-star luxury status with Relais & Chateaux and Michelin Two Keys among its laurels. The countryside haven appears to attract long-standing staff too, with many having more than a decade of service under their belts (a sure sign that an estate’s vibe is thriving).

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Tuscan light on the medieval village. Photo by Il Borro Relais & Châteaux

With noble families such as the dynastic Medicis as previous custodians, Il Borro’s storied lineage oozes out of each earthy stone often with little ledges dedicated to statues such as the Madonna. We stride — or jump in Fiats and buggies when feeling a little lazy after tennis and golf (OK, it’s only a three-hole course) — to a flurry of charming quirks.

Want to see the Pinocchio story told with puppets inside disused TVs, or the recreation of the Bible’s nativity scene? Pop into cavelike spots along the streets that are also home to stores with jewelry, shoes and the Tuscan textile mill Busatti, whose historic fabric decorates the rooms. Want to see a backlit, full-scale replica of the Shroud of Turin? (The length of linen believed by some to be the burial garment of Jesus Christ was owned by the Savoys, Italy’s former royal family, who also held Il Borro before the Ferragamos.) Simply swing open the wooden door of the tiny village church, Chiesa di San Biagio. It still holds services once a month for anyone in the area.

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Il Borro horses. Photo by Lucy Hyslop /POSTMEDIA

From the twit-twoo chit-chat of a pair of tawny owls to the busyness of nightingale calls, there’s a constant mixtape to our nature-immersed trip with wafts of jasmine at every turn. That archetypal Tuscan light, like a healing orange hue, dances among the grand column-like Cypress trees along with the striking colours of hoopoe and bee-eater birds guiding our long treks around the estate. We’re also joined by sprightly, inquisitive mares and their foals at the estate’s equestrian centre and oversized Chianina cows, all against the backdrop of the mountains.

The infinity pool by the Tuscan Bistro at Il Borro. Photo by Francesca Pagliai /IL BORRO RELAIS & CHATEAUX

Beside the infinity pool sequestered inside the Tuscan Bistro and overlooking the forest or the other at the newly renovated Le Aie del Borro, food and wine are, of course, also part of any Tuscan estate’s heartbeat. From sending one of his chefs foraging for creamy-white delicate sambuca flowers, fig leaves and herbs to harvesting vegetables from a well-stocked kitchen garden, Osteria del Borro’s chef de cuisine Andrea Godi enthuses, “We produce everything here; I only have to step outside. It’s magical.”

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He also revels in epicurean alchemy in his ‘Tribute to Il Borro’ menu with the freshest ricotta and pecorino cheese, thanks to the estate’s 300 sheep, and the most delicate olive oil from its own harvest — and uniquely, its own press. Then there are chickens for its eggs and honey from hives that pepper the estate.

“The colours and presentation of each dish are very important,” he adds.

Chef de cuisine Andrea Godi shows writer Lucy Hyslop around Osteria’s kitchen garden. Photo by Lucy Hyslop /POSTMEDIA

Time working in Michelin restaurants across Italy and France pays off: that night Godi cleverly uses everything in his dishes in the former schoolhouse, including the traditional leaves of an artichoke, for example, before creating a tea with “the beautiful parts which we don’t typically use.”

Along with a tour of the family’s enviable private art collection (Michelangelo, Monet, Warhol, Picasso, Rembrandt, Morandi … much with a wine or ‘elixir of life’ theme), checking out the giant clay pots and French oak barrels of the cavernous cellar seals the deal on being here. I’d met Salvatore during a work visit to Vancouver with his wines, which are sold throughout Canada, a few months earlier, so there’s an added frisson to walking among those vines and old bottles.

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The new tunnel at Il Borro winery. Credit Il Borro Relais & Cha^teaux Photo by Alexandra Korey /IL BORRO RELAIS & CHATEAUX

From its traditional Sangiovese grapes to Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, his wines include plenty of high-quality Super Tuscan wines and a regenerative production approach that’s become a game changer in Italy. Situated in the Valdarno di Sopra, one of 300-plus winemaking regions governed by DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) rules, it’s the country’s only spot where every maker is either organic or converting to organic.

Feels like life high above a ravine has never thrummed in such a groundbreaking way.

Lucy Hyslop was a guest of Il Borro, which did not preview this story before publication.

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