Borgo 69

Style

A private affair

Setting

Vine-serried scenery

Sprung from a love story spanning decades, Borgo 69’s private villas put a modern spin on Italian rusticity. This labour-of-love hotel was restored by owners Philip, former film-set designer, and his partner Paolo (the duo behind next-door Fontelunga Hotel & Villas) with upcycled furnishings, market-sourced antiques and luxe local materials. After games of boules, a swim in the infinity pool or tour of nearby vineyards, let your hosts wine you, dine you and…send you to bed very content.

Facilities

Rooms

12 villas.

Checkout

10am. Earliest check-in, 3pm. Occasionally earlier check-ins can be accommodated, on request and subject to availability. For stays in 2024, any check-ins after 8pm will be subject to a surcharge of €100.

More Details

Rates usually include a Continental breakfast spread of freshly baked cakes, pastries and bread; juices; cereals; yoghurt; granola; coffee and tea. A minimum three-night stay is required, but you’ll likely want to stay longer.

Also

One of the villas is adapted for guests with mobility issues; however the rustic nature of the setting makes public areas tricky to navigate unaided.

Hotel Closed

The hotel closes annually from 6 January to 21 March.

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pet Friendly

Pool

On-Site Restaurant

At the Hotel

Private tennis court at nearby Villa Fontelunga (must be booked in advance), boules court, courtyard, gardens, shop, bikes to hire, concierge, laundry, free WiFi. In rooms: Smart TV, sound-system, coffee machine, fireplace, central heating and air-conditioning, Ortigia bath products. Villas also have fully-equipped kitchens.

Our Favourite Rooms

All of the villa’s have been lovingly tended by interior-design expert and former film-set dresser Phillip, who’s chosen luxe local materials (wood, stone, travertine, marble…), antique and upcycled pieces, and modern furnishings that bring some urbanity to this remote country corner. All villas have a full kitchen and a private terrace (number 11 has two for maximum alfresco time), and they’re all very lovable, but number six wins our favour for its cosiness and number seven enjoys a prime position by the pool.

Poolside

Set in a peaceful grove just beyond the villas, the 20-metre infinity pool (heated during October, November and December when the weather cools) looks out over the edge of the valley to the historic town of Cortona and the run-wild Val di Chiana. There are changing rooms, beach towels to borrow and parasol-shaded sunloungers from which to enjoy the view in repose. There’s some stylish landscaping around the pool area (we enjoy the mini fountain that trickles into the water) and the circular arch that frames the view is the spot for like-garnering Insta snaps.

Spa

No spa onsite but the concierge can arrange for a local masseur to come work out your knots in the privacy of your villa. And yoga lessons in the open-air are planned for the future.

Packing Tips

You’ll need a headscarf for top-down drives through leafy surrounds. And, if you haven’t read Under the Tuscan Sun – Frances Mayes’ memoir that launched a thousand expats – here’s the best place to do it; the movie adaptation was set in nearby Cortona. Beware: may cause emigration.

Also

Alongside fruits and vegetables harvested onsite, the hotel’s boutique sells things Phillip and Paolo love in the area: leather bags by Officine904, bespoke tote bags with the hotel logo and deliciously scented Ortigia bath products.

Children

Very welcome and well-looked after here. The borgo’s privacy and generously sized dwellings make family holidays a breeze (as long as you don’t have to field awkward queries about the name, that is).

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

The world might move at a leisurely pace in these parts, but it’s still wonderful to watch it go by. Sit on the terrace and Tuscany’s greenery unfurls before you.

Dress Code

You’ll clock up a lot of romantic wafting time here, so bring the breeziest of togs.

Hotel Restaurant

Emporio di Ines is named after Paolo’s mother, so there’s a high bar set, but it’s met with aplomb in the delightful Tuscan cookery and Venetian-style cicchetti you’ll dine on here (on Mondays, the restaurant only serves pizza). Some ingredients (rocket, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and more…) are grown in the hotel’s kitchen garden, and most other ingredients are sourced from not that much further away, likely the local farmers’ market. And the organic feel continues in the double-height dining room which is dressed with whitewashed wood beams, natural linens, leather accents and pendant lights in wire frames – it’s all carefully curated: Phillip even spent around six months choosing the cutlery. Large windows frame the countryside, and there are shaded tables on the terrace too. Mamma is undoubtedly proud.

Hotel Bar

The bar is more a state of mind here, so take your pick of pews on the terrace, a gazebo in the grounds, your own living room… Wines, both local and far-flung, biodynamic and natural, are as excellent as you’d expect from this vine-clad region, but the hotel’s list of just five cocktails allows them to focus on making the Italian classics very well: say, a sparkling Aperol spritz or a kick-delivering negroni.

Last Orders

Breakfast from 8.30am to 10.30am, lunch from 12.30pm to 2.30pm, and dine from 7pm to 10pm (closed for lunch and dinner on Wednesdays). The bar is open from 6pm until 10.30pm.

Planes

San Francesco d’Assisi airport that serves Perugia is the closest at an hour’s drive away. Flights from major cities in Italy, London, Brussels and Rotterdam arrive direct here. Otherwise fly into Florence’s Amerigo Vespucci Airport, just over an hour’s drive away, which serves a wider range of European destinations; or Pisa’s Galileo Galilei Airport, a two-hour drive away.

Trains

Unusually for a stay in these kind of charmed rustic surrounds, arriving by train is fairly easy – Lucignano Station is a five-minute drive away, and you can reach it direct from Abrezzo, or from Florence in two hours with a change at Abrezzo.

Automobiles

The hotel makes an easy segue on a grand Italian tour, being positioned just 15 minutes from the well-connected Autostrada del Sole, a road that – while being wigglier than the ancients might like – does indeed lead directly to Rome from Florence. The drive from one to the other takes you through Italy’s most cherished scenery, and there’s private parking at each of the Borgo’s 12 villas.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

When you’re lost in Tuscany’s timelessness, life can’t help but slow all the way down. Borgo 69 may be more modern than other villas in the region, but centuries-old ways of passing the time still hold sway, be it a gentle game of boules, tennis match in the neighbouring court, learning how to make pasta like a true paisan, or simply sitting with a glass of wine and watching the world amble by. Sister hotel Villa Fontelunga hosts a dinner party every Wednesday with plenty of prosecco and canapés to start (booking is required). The hotel uses the Vamoos app to amp up your experience, so download it beforehand to help arrange your Tuscan adventures. But, the Val di Chiana – the largest valley in the Tuscan Apennines – is fertile ground for more adventures than just vineyard hopping – although that’s a deep well to dive right into while you’re here (just say the word and you’ll be off to the Avignonesi Winery – and so on – for a tour in a vintage Italian sportster.) Enjoy the view from on high in a hot-air balloon, follow one of the hotel’s trekking routes, or trot majestically through the fields and forests on horseback; or get acquainted with the local flora and fauna at a falconry or truffle-hunting session. Borrow one of the hotel’s fleet of bikes to head out to one of the many charming villages in the area, starting with Cortona, one of the earliest Etruscan settlements, known for its medieval relics and starring role in Under the Tuscan Sun. Pozzo della Chiana has healing springs and battle reenactments, Unesco heritage site Pienza has sweeping Val d’Orcia views and famous pecorino cheese for the nibbling, Montepulciano is famed for its gluggable vino nobile, and Arezzo is awash with Renaissance fortresses and churches, including the Church of San Francesco with its apse-covering fresco by Piera della Francesca. Plus, this is where you’ll find the antiques market (held on the first weekend of every month) which owners Phillip and Paolo foraged in for hotel statement pieces.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .