Italy: A Villa in Tuscany
Our home away from home: Il Borghetto, a restored villa located between Poggibonsi and San Gimignano in Central Italy.
Il Borghetto, once a part of Villa Pietrafitta, sits atop a hill at the end of a long, winding gravel road.
From the moment we enter through its gates, we seem to be in another world, yet we are close enough to make day trips out to visit Siena, Lucca, Pisa, Volterra, and Florence.
The Bimbi family owns the villa, and they are most gracious, courteous, and friendly to all of the guests. Mamma Silvanna and her assistant chefs prepare outstanding Tuscan specialities for our special candlelight dinner outside under the pergola. On cold and rainy nights, dinner is served in the elegant La Stanza del Duca (the Duke’s Room). For one of the dining evenings, the menu featured a variety of bruschetta, a delicate green lasagna with delicious pink cream sauce, pork loin and sauteed fresh vegetables, and tiramisu and coffee. Patrizia, one of the chefs, offers cooking classes for anyone interested in learning to cook Tuscan recipes.
Il Borghetto staff photo by Il Borghetto.
The scenery around Il Borghetto is incredible. The views from our windows are spectacular, especially in the early morning mists.
Morning mists photo by Christine Kolstad, fellow traveler.
Hiking paths through the olive groves beg to be explored.
One path leads to an excellent view of the medieval hilltop town of San Gimignano, only a forty minute walk down a country lane. (“Tea with Mussolini” was filmed there.)
At the end of our hike, the villa pool invites us to cool off with a late afternoon swim.
All this and we have been in Italy only one day!
Next post: The Il Borghetto Story: Before and After Restoration
Janice Hall Heck 
This post made me so hungry…!!
I was getting hungry just writing about the food we had. That green lasagna was light and delicious, unlike any other lasagna that I have ever had. Homemade pasta.
Oh, how wonderful! The menu sounds delicious. My daughter is leaving for Italy today for two weeks. I would have given her the name of this inn!
Oh, I am sure your daughter will have a great time. Italy is so fascinating and beautiful. The only problem is that there is so much to do that you run out of time and energy.
You are forcing me to spend inordinant amounts of time revisiting my own Italy photos and daydreaming of a time when I can return. *sigh* (again) The place you stayed at sounds soooo wonderful and I love that you can take cooking classes. Did you take advantage of that while you were there?
How about sharing some of your Italy photos on your blog? I would love to see them. I wanted to take the cooking classes, but we had planned activities for every day and just could not fit the classes into our schedule. We loved the dinners at the villa though. I’d love to explore some other areas in Tuscany. Maybe….
I plan to share my Italy trip on my blog in the very near future. Just finishing up sharing about my European adventures with my daughter, then maybe a post or two about a trip I did with my younger daughter in NYC, then I’ll do Italy. And then I’ll have to go on a new adventure so I can blog about that!
Tuscany has so much to do and see, doesn’t it? Some day, I’d love to be able to spend a few months there exploring things off the beaten path and really getting a sense of what it’s like to live there.
Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.
Ah Jan, you are one blessed lady! My husband and I were in Rome, for one short week many years ago. Enjoy! And thanks for sharing the wonderful pictures!
Thanks, Glenda. Hope you’re having a great weekend. I’m still catching up on email and blog reading.
jan, I enjoyed your pictures, too. You and Chris are very diligent with your downloading. I still have my pictures in my camera.
I still love my shoes from Rome. I’ve given away almost all of the little gifts I bought and they were well received, especially the rosaries from the Vatican.
Are you going to be able to save your purchases until Christmas? I’ll bet your honey was glad to get you back. Mine was, too.
Carol, Thanks for your note. I am working another Il Borghetto posts now. I got permission to use some of the pre-restoration photos of Il Borghetto. I’ll post them along with a little history. Fascinating place. We had a great time, didn’t we!
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