Borgo Scopeto Wine & Country Relais

It’s not the newest idea under the sun, but when done with even a modicum of skill, a Tuscan country estate hotel is unlikely to raise many complaints. And at Borgo Scopeto Wine & Country Relais there’s much more than a modicum of skill on display. This 14th-century villa, on a hillside overlooking the city of Siena, has held tight to its many historical charms, even as it’s modernized in all the areas that count — while the rooms show the signs of a keen contemporary decorator’s eye, as you roam the hallways and the grounds it’s just about possible to imagine yourself a fourteenth-century nobleman (or noblewoman, who are we to say?).

Every room has a bit of the old villa’s architectural character, especially the ones with original timbered ceilings. The suites, junior, executive and otherwise, quickly grow quite large, and the freestanding villa is something like a presidential suite, occupying an outlying single-story building and sleeping up to five.

The gym, spa and pool see to it that there’s never a shortage of physical diversions, and they’re joined by a pair of tennis courts as well as fleets of touring bikes and Vespas, for charting the Tuscan countryside by road; organized tours and tastings may also be arranged. Meanwhile, back in the hotel’s old cellars, La Tinaia serves the local cuisine, crafted largely from ingredients grown in the hotel’s organic gardens, and accompanied by wines from Borgo Scopeto’s vineyards and beyond.

Please note: Borgo Scopeto Wine & Country Relais is open seasonally from March thru November.