July 2010, Christopher Petkanas - For years, tourists have demanded nothing more from Tuscany than its brightness and landscapes, its Renaissance heritage, its food and wine. If the hotels had few comforts, if the person who prepared the pasta in the kitchen was the same person who made your bed, you still had an ambience full of enchantment and animated by goodwill. A trip to this region was in itself an extraordinary reward.
The Tuscany has become one of those rare, iconic, inexhaustible destinations to which people return. Thirty years have passed since Tuscany and Provence became real rivals. But while the south of France can sometimes be guilty of forgetting what brought people there, Tuscany has never sold its soul for popularity. Icon yes, diva no.
Today, a new generation of hotels has arrived in the region, which can still be described as young. This includes the 'borgo' phenomenon, i.e. the transformation of old country cottages into 'all-in-one' properties, which include restaurants, shops and vineyards. Another type is the 'villa', with rich histories and important architecture.
All offer sublime comfort and aspire to an excellent level of service. They are so sophisticated that they would not be out of place in the elegant setting of the Amalfi coast. Tuscany grows by going back in time.
Banfi Castle, The Village
Castello Banfi - Poggio alle Mura is one of the largest estates in Tuscany and, since its opening, its new hotel, Il Borgo, is probably also the most elegant.
Just as Federico Forquet has won the most important awards for style, the Mariani family has done the same with wine. Among them the two most important Brunellos, the Poggio all'Oro Riserva and the cru Poggio alle Mura. Forquet began his career as an assistant to Balenciaga, launching his own home line in Rome in 1962, when he was nicknamed 'the Italian Dior'.
At this time, every Italian princess wished to have the precious Buccellati objects designed by Forquet. After ten years he left the fashion world, moving into garden design and, following his Neapolitan origins, decorating houses with Visconti splendour, for clients such as Marella Agnelli and Oscar de la Renta, known for their inflexibility.
After these achievements, Forquet only accepts jobs that he finds compelling enough to take him away from his home in Cetona, an hour's drive from Banfi. Sometimes it is the interiors of splendid hotels: the Caruso, in Ravello, Villa San Michele in Fiesole. And now Il Borgo.
The property
The 14-room property at the top of the hill is a hamlet built in the 1700s to house farm workers and servants in service to the castle, located just above. The population grew to around 300 in the decade leading up to the First World War and remained stable until 1950, when the land reform introduced by the Italian government dismantled the entire old sharecropping system.
The hotel reception occupies the shop and post office, which closed shortly before the Mariani acquired Poggio alle Mura (historical name of Castello Banfi) in 1984. By that year, the number of inhabitants had dropped to less than 20.
Today, the old school is room number 37. Nothing transpires of the use that was made of these spaces, but the mere knowledge of it adds to its uniqueness. The hotel's hilltop location loses itself in extravagant views giving a sense of privileged isolation. Inside there is a very comfortable reading room, a museum with the world's largest private collection of ancient Roman glass (plus works by Dali, Cocteau and Picasso), and a spectacular courtyard where jazz concerts are held in summer. [...] One of the five buildings surrounding the castle walls houses La Taverna [...].
Next door is a large, beautiful wine shop that also sells ceramic coats of arms and other wine accessories, Banfi olive oil, colourful ceramics made by local artisans, handmade soaps, and real wine service jewellery [...].
A condiment that is not, rightly, called Balsamic Vinegar, since we are not in Emilia Romagna, but Salsa Etrusca, made in a dedicated room, following the traditional Solera method used to make authentic balsamic. [...] Banfi is one of the few estates in this area that encourages cellar visits, for which reservations are required.
It is five minutes by car or a 20-minute walk through vineyards. According to Forquet, many people wouldn't give a lira for rattan furniture and checked fabrics. So what's the secret? Well, the big secret is the way he manages to 'casually' combine modest and rich elements, such as Austrian hot air balloons and orchids in silver vases so clean you can mirror yourself in them. Fanciful walls painted with latticework wrapped in wine, a faux-bois masterpiece sculpted with bunches of grapes is another ingredient of Forquet's best work. [...].
