Castelfalfi

Why book?

Few experiences can make one feel as good as an upmarket hotel stay in Italy. Beauty, comfort and a vibe of breezy ease are axiomatic. Ditto flattering lighting and delectissimo food. A cosy web of pleasure is spun, encouraging delight from check-in to ciao. It’s only when disentangled, on the way home, that a closer look at the bill may make one groan. How much? How? Perched on the highest hill in Tuscany, Castelfalfi is very expensive. But the billionaire who in 2021 bought this remote medieval hilltop village in its entirety opened it in 2024 with a single aim. To out-luxe every other five-star in Europe, let alone Italy. Game on.

Set the scene

A sprawling, 2,700-acre, 146-room whole-village resort, Castelfalfi looks down over the same vast empty rural landscape the Renaissance-era Medicis would have seen when they occupied the 11th-century castle here. A single main cobblestoned street leads down from the castle to a 15th-century church fragrant with the smell of incense and damp, a little row of boutiques, gelataria and pizzeria, and the two hotels. Opposite the older, a repurposed 19th-century tobacco warehouse, the low-slung, 80s-built main building also faces west, to make the most of the sublime views. This houses the Ecru bar and large terrace, one of the six restaurants, and the indoor pool and spa. Along with several outdoor pools and a children’s club, spread around the resort are clay tennis courts, padel courts, a woodland adventure centre, a tasting centre featuring the products of the resort’s vineyards and olive groves, a 27-hole golf course, and isolated farmhouses now operating as villas and apartments with a pool. Given the resort’s isolation, a key attraction is the programme of around 40 activities, from archery, bee-keeping and cookery to Pilates, yoga, and ice-skating in winter. All are exceptionally well run (and expensive) and varied enough to keep anyone, adult or child, busy for a few days.

The backstory

Castelfalfi is one of many remote villages scattered across Italy that began to be abandoned after World War 11 as inhabitants left traditional farming jobs to work in a city. By the late 1960s, it had fewer than a dozen inhabitants. Throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s, hoteliers explored its potential as a resort, but nothing took off. Even when the giant German tour operator Tui bought the village in 2007 and announced 3,000 Germans a year would soon be flocking to their remote new three-star resort, hoteliers across Italy scoffed. They were right to. But a remote new five-star resort, one combining judicious opulence with eco-mindfulness, wonderful food and a lot to do, is a different matter. Salvation came via Sri Prakash Lohia, Indian-Indonesian and based in Britain, who, having made his fortune as the world’s largest seller of recycled plastic, was blown away by the possibilities Castelfalfi offered once given a few million euros’ investment. He also liked the idea of using the main foyer to showcase some of his collection of antique illustrated books.

The rooms

Transformed by the Milan-based design company Caberon Caroppi, rooms are fragrant and understated, with a mix of textures – velvet, leather, marble - and a muted earthy palette, the silkiest bed linen, and sculptural Paolo Castelli furnishings. Traditional skills are much in evidence (Bisazza’s hand-glued mosaics for the bathroom floors, for instance). The wood-beamed 31 rooms in the old tobacco warehouse are more traditionally Tuscan. The 115 in the main hotel are clean-lined and contemporary, with the loveliest of the four new suites opening onto a patio that lets you look out over that undulating countryside even as you lie in bed. Glamorous large bathrooms come with Dyson hairdryers and straighteners, great lighting, and excellent creams and cleansers by Stefano Ricci, the designer also responsible for the two-storey new suite that has opened at the top of the castle. The villas and apartments conjured out of the once dilapidated farmhouses – so far, seven have been converted, with more to come – give the most privacy, but might feel too isolated. Wherever you stay, you can enjoy it all in peace. Housekeeping checks are frequent but magically invisible; never intrusive.

Food and drink

Breakfast at Olivina, in the main hotel, is superlative. Everything you could conceive of and then more is laid out in an extravagant buffet or cooked to order. Delectable surprises include a vegan organic fig cake, perhaps to have with coffee on the terrace that Olivina opens onto, overlooking that sublime landscape. Blue Sky Hospitality thought of children, too; the sugar fest laid out on child-height shelves even includes great chunks of chocolate they can hack into. Not surprisingly, lunch tends to be a minimal affair, taken by the pool or at the glass-walled golf course restaurant. Olivina doesn’t work so well at dinner, despite its appealing Mediterranean menu, as neither its size nor the concealed lighting is conducive to an intimate atmosphere. The trattoria Rosmarino, with its wood-fired pizza oven and delicious items such as aubergine millefeuille, is cosier, and the castle’s 12-table La Rocca is appropriately grand for tackling a zillion-course Tuscan tasting menu. Executive chef Davide De Simone ensures that all the farm-to-table menus feature ingredients grown on the resort’s own farms – all certified organic. Agronomist Diego Mugnaini (an engrossing mine of information) oversees the resort’s 62 acres of vineyards, production of six organic wines and its own olive oils, and runs tasting sessions of both in the winery.

Spa

While in Bangkok a few years ago, the owner was so impressed by the RAKxa medi-spa that he negotiated to have Castelfalfi ‘s 1500sqm spa as its first European outpost. The spa director makes all treatments available over 60, 90 or 120 minutes, and the two RAKxa therapists who are brought over from Thailand for six months at a time certainly know how to deliver an excellent Tension Release massage, involving Thai massage. But what distinguishes RAKxa is that it operates in conjunction with a hospital. Blood tests, scans, and cutting-edge equipment are hardly feasible in a seven-room spa in Tuscany, however beautiful its Affine Design’s blonde wood and marble setting. Many guests use just the large indoor spa pool, saunas and steam room. Ungratefully, I found the 120-minute hot stone massage so slow I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

The area

Florence, Siena and the beaches of Livorno and Forte di Marmi are all about 75km and an hour’s drive away; Volterra and San Gimignano are 30 minutes away. There are Vespas, mountain bikes, horses and hiking trails for local exploration. The closest international railway station is in Florence, and the airport is in Pisa, 45 minutes away.

The service

Elegant, responsive and cossetting. Energetic Neapolitan general manager, Roberto Protezione, sets the tone, doing his rounds accompanied by his golden retriever, Bianca. Ironically, the star of the show is British – the guest relations manager, Benjamin Bowen. After retiring from years at Claridges, he checked into a newly opened Castelfalfi as a guest, then found the old instincts kicking in. All-seeing, and chat, chat, chatting here, there and everywhere, he’s key to the breezy nothing’s-too-much-trouble vibe that makes Castelfalfi so enjoyable.

Eco effort

With a few exceptions in the kitchens and housekeeping department, the hotel has banned single-use plastic. Wood chips from trees grown on the estate, plus olive seeds, supply the biofuel used for the heating and air conditioning. Rainwater is collected to water the golf course.

Accessibility

All the main public areas and rooms are accessible via wheelchair.

Family

Brilliant. Truly. The shady woodland adventure playground looks so exciting it’s a shame adults can’t also swing from treehouse to treehouse and learn how to make a shelter or fire from sticks and leaves. Falconry with Adam Nazer and Thor, his endearingly nervy Harrier hawk, forever being harried by spiteful magpies, is a big attraction. Truffle hunting in late autumn in San Miniato, 40 minutes away, has everyone falling in love with the shaggy Lagotto Romagnolo dogs. The children’s club crew take entertaining three- to 12-year-olds seriously, with trips to the hen house and rabbits’ enclosure, etc. General manager Roberto’s sparky 11-year-old daughter, Nicole, routinely quality-tests their offerings, reporting back to her father (“Not enough space for the infants”. Eek.)