Borgo Santo Pietro

In a manner of speaking, Borgo Santo Pietro could be considered a design hotel. It’s just that the design in question is thoroughly thirteenth-century. Sometimes, it turns out, the old ways are the best ways, and it just so happens that this statement is more often true in Tuscany than perhaps anywhere else. So in spite of the youth of its Danish owners, not to mention the state-of-the-art modern luxuries on offer, the Borgo Santo Pietro, in the countryside outside of Siena, has opted for an atmosphere that’s utterly antique — if you silence your mobile phone and hide the eminently hideable flat-screen television, you could just about convince yourself you’re living in the Renaissance.

Though the house was a ruin when they found it, the Borgo’s owners have done an admirable job of turning back the clock. The antiques are authentic, painstakingly gathered from all over Italy, as are many of the building materials. And the result feels somehow more real, or more fully realized, than many of Italy’s longer-serving luxury hotels, whose owners refuse, in the name of authenticity, to so much as shift a fiber on the carpet.

Perhaps that’s because it’s less a luxury hotel than a country house. The rooms and suites are the equal of any resort hotel in terms of comfort, and in character they’re miles beyond — if you want a taste of old-world Italian aristocracy, this is where you’ll find it. It’s also, incidentally, not at all a bad place to find a (more literal) taste of contemporary rustic Tuscan cuisine at the fine-dining Saporium. Warm up to those culinary fireworks with lighter plates and cocktails at the aptly named Treehouse, a shady poolside retreat with enviably elevated views. Add a gorgeous stone-clad spa, a number of genteel sporting offerings, and the possibility of exploring as much of Tuscany as you’d like to cover, and it’s hard to see how the Santo Pietro experience could possibly be improved.

How to get there: Borgo Santo Pietro is located 55 miles from the nearest airport, Firenze Peretola (FLR). Florence's train station, served by the major train lines, is likewise 55 miles away. Regional trains serve the Siena station (21 miles away) and small local trains serve Chiusdino station, located 4 miles from the hotel.