Tuscany vacation: Between luxury and high-tech winery

It takes less than half an hour by car from Florence-Peretola airport and my Tuscan dream begins. It’s almost a postcard theme of cypress trees, Mediterranean flair and Chianti vineyards.

In the midst of the olive groves and rolling hills, there is an imposing, ocher-colored property whose impressively long history is actually revealed at first glance. An extensive park and garden landscape encloses the Castello del Nero, which originally dates from the 12th century.

The property is managed by the US hotel group “COMO”. This hotel group is largely unknown to us, but in my opinion one of the best hotel groups in the world. In return, guests are willing to shell out almost $1,000 a night for a double room in peak season. In bad times, rooms start at $400.

The evening in the La Taverna – highest quality without chichi

The evening was reserved for a stay in the restaurant, or rather in the restaurants. On the terrace, with the wonderful view over the cypresses, there is what is described by the term fluid: the smell of roses, pines, lavender and herbs in the air creates a different attitude towards life. This is what the best way of life could look like for me: Il modo migliore di vivere.

The more casual La Taverna occupies the old kitchens with roaring fires and bar. No matter where I’ve dined – you can feel the deep connection to this landscape. Everything seems authentic right down to the waiter, everything is genuine and, of course, every offer is of the highest quality – but everything without chichi.

Winemaking today – and streams of tourists. Nothing works here without pre-registration.

The Bottega is already considered a new tourist attraction in Tuscany. You can see several groups of visitors and the guided tours are all sold out today. Anyone who can attend a tour will finally find themselves in the brave new world of modern wine production: the fermenting cellar is conveniently located below the vat cellar. Glass blocks protrude from the vaulted ceiling into the room and offer a clear view of the neatly stacked barrels: There is no better way to taste wine!

Locanda Rossa – Stone longings from Tuscany in ox red color

We continue to the south of Tuscany – and it is only an hour’s drive from the capital. The Locanda Rossa is more for Europeans and therefore also for me. Although both hotels take on the longings of Tuscany friends, they could not be more different and yet they meet.

I immediately fell in love with the landscape of the Maremma hills. Far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the only thing here is to relax. Certainly also a reason why the elite of Roman society had their private houses built here.

The Locanda Rossa now offers a total of 10 rooms, 18 junior suites in different categories, 6 suites and 4 villas of 110sqm.

The Larossa restaurant offers both poolside tables and in a glass-enclosed lounge. The menu varies – depending on the availability of locally produced products. Speaking of ecology: around the Locanda Rossa a fruit and vegetable garden has been planted, from which guests can help themselves. Baskets are available in the rooms.

I actually find it difficult to leave the Locanda Rossa and its beach. A real recommendation for a trip to the extreme south of Tuscany.

The “Monteverro” winery and the success of a German visionary

I’m just in heaven with an air that takes your breath away in the best sense – with aromas.

As a German, can you feel like God in France and still feel the flair of Tuscany? Yes, and even more: you can breathe it here! At least here the idea of ​​a European Union works. Admittedly – ​​here, too, the wish is the father of the thought. To complement Tuscan wine art with French wines and German thoroughness.

Everything goes back to the thoughts of a real visionary: Georg Weber was already enthusiastic about wine during his student days in Switzerland. Originally Georg wanted to buy a winery in France because of his love for Bordeaux wines – but at the time this was not possible – at least not at affordable prices. Here, in the southernmost part of Tuscany, he finally found what he was looking for.

The olive trees are of course much older than twenty years. “If the good Lord with the weather helps, we fill up to 170,000 bottles and in 2025 we will have reached the 230,000 bottle limit,” summarizes Andreas Comploj.

RESCHIO. The hotel of the year 2022

For the end of my round trip through the southernmost part of Tuscany I had saved something very special: a very special kind of luxury hotel.

The exciting thing about a cultural landscape is always the variety in the community. The Castello di Reschio is, as the name suggests, also a castle and the site is also almost 1000 years old. It has also been extensively restored and rebuilt in recent years and now houses a top-class hotel. However, that is where the similarities end.

In Reschio I am almost in Umbria.

Count Benedikt Bolza and his wife Nencia have lovingly restored and decorated their 10th-century castle – once a romantic ruin – with great taste, turning it into a place of dreams and one of the most beautiful hotels in the world. Reschio is a poem of loveliness: the castle adorned with the finest Italian linens, antiques and vases of wild flowers.

The pool is so skillfully carved into the lawn that the scenery looks like a lake created at the dawn of time. The equestrian facilities are exceptional, as is the beauty of the estate’s Spanish horses.

The Reschio also offers a truly romantic spa and a dreamy bathhouse that houses a hammam, sauna, and large plunge pool. Exceptional therapist Maria performs the most exceptional lymphatic drainage massage and treatment, with guests tossing and turning in a bathtub filled with chamomile flowers and other herbs collected by the Countess.

Time spent here is magical; there couldn’t be a more enchanting place to sit on a terrace overlooking the Umbrian hills and tuck into tagliolini with white truffles – the latter also to be found in autumn. This is a place literally handcrafted with love.