Italy Tuscany, Borgo Santo Pietro

The Relais & Châteaux Borgo Santo Pietro celebrates the high art of the Tuscan way of life. Gourmet cuisine and world-class spa treatments included.


Lively 1930s jazz drifts through the wide-open double doors of the Tuscan manor house. In the garden, the sun is just sending its last, weak rays over the stone balustrade and bathing the citrus trees on the lawn in front of the veranda in golden light. There's a spicy Mediterranean scent of lavender, rosemary and immortelle. In my hand is a glass of sparkling wine, at my feet the green, gently undulating forests of the Valle Serena. I arrived at the luxury hideaway Borgo Santo Pietro less than an hour ago, but I already have an inkling of why this corner of the world is known as the "Valley of Tranquillity". There is a time-forgotten magic about it. The villa, the garden and the fantastic natural scenery all around - everything looks as if it has always been there. But the impression is deceptive. When Jeanette and Claus Thottrup discovered the country estate, located around 35 kilometers south of Siena, almost two decades ago, it was still in a completely desolate state. The only remaining visitors: a flock of pigeons - despite the fact that the history of hospitality in this stone house can be traced back to the 13th century. Thanks to extensive restoration work carried out over many years by the Danish entrepreneurial couple with a keen sense for historic buildings and Italian garden architecture, the estate, including its 13-hectare garden and the accompanying 93-hectare organic farm, now shines in its former glory. For connoisseurs of Italy, Borgo Santo Pietro has become the epitome of "dolce vita" and "benessere" in Tuscany.

A refuge for pilgrims - then as now
While in the Middle Ages it was mainly pilgrims on their way to Rome via the "Via Francigena" who came here to recover from the stresses and strains of their journey, today it is Italophile gourmets and spa connoisseurs from all over the world who follow the hotel's excellent reputation and make a pilgrimage to this rural idyll. The resort has a total of 20 completely individual rooms and suites, some furnished with antiques, two of which have their own swimming pool. My exclusive accommodation, the "Casa del Unicorno", is just a few steps away from the main house. Its velvety interior impresses with a muted grey-white color palette. In addition to a king-size four-poster bed, open fireplace and nostalgic free-standing bathtub, the 75 m2 suite has its own secluded garden.

For the elegant furnishings of their charming boutique hotel, Claus and his wife Jeanette, as they tell me during our tour of the property, spent years scouring countless flea markets throughout Europe and, among other things, "almost bought Paris empty-handed when it came to historic crystal chandeliers". All for their grand, shared vision of creating a hideaway in which every detail, no matter how small, is just right. This starts with the ingredients for the Michelin-starred "Meo Modo" restaurant and the "Trattoria Sull'Albero". Much of the food, including eggs, vegetables, fruit, herbs, lamb and cheese, comes directly from the hotel's own organic farm. And it ends, for now at least, with a pioneering natural skincare line called "Seed to Skin", which is handmade in a purpose-built laboratory a few hundred meters outside the resort using ingredients cultivated on site. The exquisitely fragrant formulations and highly effective recipes were created by Jeanette herself, together with a pharmacist from Siena. Five long years of development work have gone into this, her "youngest baby". Quite simply because she was not completely satisfied with the products used in the spa and the rooms up to that point.

And if you listen to Claus, when he talks about the implementation of the next plans, such as making their own wine in Borgo Santo Pietro in just a few months and keeping the hotel open all year round with an enlarged spa area in a maximum of two years, then the question arises as to where the two of them get their seemingly tireless energy for all of this. Quite simply: "When you have found such a wonderful place, you can't keep it to yourself, you have to share it with the world, give something back to the country and its people, find a sustainable way to preserve it," says Claus. "It is a project close to our hearts". A luxurious gem with a deep green soul to which, I am sure, many more generations will make a pilgrimage.

Seed to Skin Signature Treatments
The Thottrups have little time for half measures. So it's no surprise that the spa treatments I was able to enjoy at the Borgo are in the absolute top class. Firstly, there is the incredibly relaxing "Tuscan Candle Massage", in which warm wax enriched with avocado oil and coconut extract is carefully dripped onto the entire body and massaged in using circular movements. A heavenly experience. The "Vitamin Infusion Facial" brings together the best of two worlds: a high-tech device that uses gentle electrical impulses to open up the cell membrane of the facial skin. And pure vitamin cocktails extracted from various medicinal plants in the on-site laboratory, which are then infused deep into the skin. The effect afterwards: The facial features are visibly firmer and refreshed. Small wrinkles? Have completely disappeared! This is also part of the special magic of Borgo Santo Pietro.

www.borgosantopietro.com