Il Borgo di Vescine

Il Borgo di Vescine

A Lombard watchtower in the 7th century, a cluster of peasant farmhouses by the 13th, a deserted ruin by 1958 when Tuscan agrarian reforms pushed the last inhabitants towards Florence and Siena, and then, briefly, a scatter of artists' studios, before Lucia Paladin, born into the Veneto prosecco dynasty that bears her name, found it perched at 600 metres above sea level between Radda in Chianti and Castellina in Chianti and decided to bring it back to itself. The restoration revealed, beneath decades of woodland overgrowth, fifteen hectares of dry-stone terracing that UNESCO would designate a heritage site in 2018; the olive trees on those terraces still produce oil pressed within 24 hours of harvest. The result is 28 rooms and suites distributed across 42 hectares of Chianti Classico country, an hour south of Florence and 12 miles from Siena, the buildings spread through the original hamlet so that arrival feels less like checking in and more like entering a hill village that has, improbably, been kept for you. The rooms occupy the converted grain stores, lavender-drying sheds, and grape-pressing rooms of the original hamlet, each category retaining its agricultural lineage while acquiring terracotta floors, exposed beams, and cotton-embroidered sheets; the suites, averaging 40 square metres, have upholstery, headboards, and curtains made to Lucia Paladin's specification by local artisans using Tuscan textiles, with a sitting room separate from the bedroom. Two restaurants serve the estate's output: La Terrazza del Borgo is the more formal of the two, its terrace looking out over the Chianti Classico vineyards; the Bistrot Toscano is grilled meat, seasonal vegetables from the on-site garden, and the kind of panzanella you eat twice. The estate produces its own Chianti Classico Riserva, Il Passionista, from Sangiovese vines planted from a massal selection of old varietals unearthed during the restoration works. The panoramic pool occupies one of the highest points of the property, which is to say the view in every direction is of nothing but vines and hills. What Vescine does well, and what takes a day or two to fully register, is the specific texture of a place that was genuinely a village and has not entirely ceased being one. The piazza still functions as the centre of gravity: Friday dinners in the square, long tables, wine, stalls, something approximating a medieval market reimagined with good produce. Dinner in the olive grove on other evenings. A glass-walled Orangerie for aperitivos in the last of the light. A wine room with stone walls dated to 1061. A vintage Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider that the hotel keeps for guests. The activities list reads longer than it should, and the "holistic leader" programme is easy to set aside, but the bones of the place are strong enough that none of it feels like gap-filling. You should not come if you need a property that is entirely yours: Vescine does weddings and events, and the piazza and terrace become event spaces in high season, which can shift the register of an evening from contemplative to catered. You should also think carefully without a car, since the hamlet is remote and the Chianti countryside between Radda and Castellina is best understood at low speed with the windows down. You should come if what you want is a week in the Chianti Classico region at a property that produces its own wine, oil, honey, and saffron, that has a pool with an uninterrupted hilltop view, and where the rooms feel like rooms in a village, not rooms in a hotel built to look like one. The short version: A restored Lombard hamlet between Radda and Castellina in Chianti, 28 rooms in converted agricultural buildings across 42 hectares of UNESCO-listed dry-stone terracing, with an estate Chianti Classico and a central piazza that still earns its keep.