Need to know
Rooms
20, including 13 suites. There are also three private village houses (a two-bedroom, a three-bedroom and one with six bedrooms).
Check–Out
If staying in the hotel: 11am, but flexible, subject to availability; check-in 4pm. If staying in a private village house: check-out is 10am, check-in 3pm.
More details
Rates usually include a generous breakfast.
Also
Arrange private lessons with executive chef Giancarla Bodoni or one of her talented team and you'll learn to whip up authentic Tuscan dishes, including pici pasta and boar ragu. Afterwards, you’ll enjoy the fruits of your newfound cookery skills in the academy’s indoor or outdoor dining area, and be gifted with a Monteverdi apron and recipe book to take home. Book in advance to attend a session; they’re held at 11am on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The hotel also hosts a musical programme headed by world-class musicians in the old church, gardens or art galleries.
At the hotel
Spa, culinary academy, gardens, gym, library, art gallery with artists in residence, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: flatscreen TVs, bespoke bath products. Private village houses have fully equipped kitchens.
Our favourite rooms
Do you want a romantic private garden, a supply of logs or your own wood-burning fireplace? Book your spacious suite accordingly. The private village houses are an excellent option for families, with plenty of space (ranging from two–six bedrooms), cosy living rooms and neat kitchens. Designed by Ilaria Miani, the rooms evoke rural romance: wood-beamed ceilings, elegant, slender-framed four posters (in some rooms), original artworks and agricultural artifacts hanging on walls, and fresh flowers from the hotel's gardens.
Poolside
The glittering turquoise infinity pool surveys the verdant Val d’Orcia and is surrounded by lavender. There's also an indoor pool with two saunas, plunge pools, a sensory shower and a relaxation area as part of the hotel's water circuit (€90 for 100 minutes; free if a treatment or massage is pre-booked). The pool is open from the end of April until the end of October, but exact dates will depend on the weather conditions.
Spa
The spa brings the rustic surroundings indoors; trees snake through tables, baskets of fruit and fragrant herbs are dotted throughout the lobby. There are soothing treatment rooms, a separate wellness center, underground hot and cold pools, a hammam, countryside-view heated pool and garden-view relaxation lounge. Treatments use natural lotions and potions – herbal unguents sourced from 13th-century Florentine farmacia Santa Maria Novella and Biologique Recherche's Parisian imports. There are facials to soothe and illuminate, rose-scented moisturising treatments, massages, and revitalising scrubs; spring for a signature treatments and you’ll find yourself submerged in a perfumed bath, slathered in Etruscan mud, or de-knotted and pummelled for 75-minutes after a half-hour soak. Although, access to the spa is only possible if you have a treatment booked in. The Technogym kitted-out fitness centre is a four-minute walk away.
Packing tips
Walking shoes and sketch books for afternoons in the Tuscan campagna.
Also
The hotel hosts artists in residence and decorates bedrooms with their work: if you like what you see, buy a print or painting to take back home.
Children
Very welcome: extra beds for under-12s (free) and cots (also free) can be added to rooms. English-speaking babysitters cost €30 an hour (for a minimum of three hours).
Best for
Babies, and older children who can run around in the gardens or splash about in the pool.
Recommended rooms
The houses offer families more space. Two of the village rooms can be interconnected, and some suites have extra space for sleeping.
Activities
Ask staff about organising a trip to one of the local farms included in their culinary tours, where your little ones can pet the animals and learn how cheese is made. Guests staying in a private village house can arrange children’s cookery classes with the hotel's chef.
Swimming pool
The pool doesn’t come with lifeguards, so keep an eye on less confident swimmers. Ask staff for floats and pool toys if you need them.
Meals
The chef will happily adapt menu items for younger palates, or – for Private Village House guests – conduct a cookery class with junior Jamie Olivers.
Babysitting
Babysitting can be arranged with the concierge: sitters are English-speaking and charge around €25 an hour.
No need to pack
Staff will provide games, pool toys, footballs, skipping ropes and croquet kit. Children staying in the villas can borrow a Wii.