Italy
Working estates, hill towns, and the long light between Florence and the Val d’Orcia, held as one journey, not a catalogue.
Now in Tuscany
From Choose a departure city Approx. flying time, non-stop equivalent
Italy
Tuscany is not a list of villas. It is a rhythm: a morning that starts in a working estate, an afternoon in a hill town that still keeps its own hours, and a table that tastes of the same slope you walked. Exclusive Villa Collection keeps this selection short on purpose. We would rather know five houses well, and the roads between them, than open a catalogue of everywhere.
Near Volterra, Borgo Pignano keeps nine private villas on a 750-acre organic estate, and Florence, a little over an hour away, is the city we pair with it, where Hotel L’Orologio Florence looks onto Piazza Santa Maria Novella. On the Maremma coast, Argentario Golf Villas brings the sea into the picture, on Monte Argentario above Porto Ercole. Outside Lucca, Villa Marie is an estate taken whole: six suites for up to twelve guests, or eighteen with its guesthouse, with chef service for lunch or dinner included. In Chianti, just outside Castellina, Villa Gran Sogno is an adults-only house of five king rooms, kept by its owners.
Further south, our Capri and Cilento Coast guides bring the same house-first approach to the sea, and our Italy guide joins every region we hold.
Why visit
Featured properties
Houses we know by name, each one we would send you to first.
Pignano, Volterra · Tuscany, Italy: nine private villas on a 750-acre organic estate
Nine private villas, each with its own pool and garden, on a 750-acre organic estate outside Volterra, Tuscany.
Porto Ercole, Tuscany · Argentario Golf & Wellness Resort, Autograph Collection
Private villas of three, four and six bedrooms on a hillside above the Argentario Golf Club, with the five-star services of Argentario Golf & Wellness Resort, on Tuscany’s Monte Argentario.
Castellina in Chianti · Tuscany, Italy: an adults-only villa of five king rooms
Five king rooms, a private pool and the vineyards of Chianti Classico all around: an adults-only house outside Castellina in Chianti, kept by its owners like a home.
Piazza Santa Maria Novella · Florence, Italy · 55 rooms and suites
A house devoted to fine watchmaking on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, with breakfast in a Renaissance loggia facing the basilica and the Duomo a short walk away.
In the quiet village of Vorno, Capannori, 7 kilometres from Lucca, Tuscany · 40 kilometres from Forte dei Marmi · 70 kilometres from Florence
An exclusive-use, fully staffed villa near Lucca, with six suites for up to 12 guests, a private spa and two hectares of gardens.
The house
A first reading of the stay: rooms, light, and the quiet between them. Each still is a note, not a catalogue.
Sub-destinations
Towns, islands, and smaller landscapes that sit inside this one.
Tuscany
The Renaissance city on foot, from Piazza Santa Maria Novella to the Ponte Vecchio, with Hotel L’Orologio Florence on the piazza and the Tuscan hills an hour away.
Tuscany
Etruscan Volterra and the wooded hills around it, where Borgo Pignano keeps nine private villas on a 750-acre organic estate, curated by Exclusive Villa Collection.
Tuscany
The Argentario promontory on Tuscany’s Silver Coast, between Porto Ercole, Porto Santo Stefano and the Orbetello lagoon, where Argentario Golf Villas keeps private villas above the golf course.
Tuscany
The Chianti Classico hills between Florence and Siena, where Villa Gran Sogno keeps five king rooms among the vines outside Castellina in Chianti.
When and how
Each season keeps its own calendar. We plan the transfer around it.
Best time to visit
Late April through June, and September through October, when the light is long and the roads are still civil. July and August hold heat and more company. Winter in the countryside is quieter; many estates run a shorter calendar, so your advisor will confirm which houses are open before dates are held.
Seasonality
The cities stay open. Countryside houses often work a spring-to-autumn calendar. Confirm each stay. In 2026, Belmond’s Tuscan estates announced seasonal windows rather than year-round operation.
Airport / logistics
Florence Airport (FLR) is the usual arrival for this cluster; Pisa (PSA) is the western alternative. Rome Fiumicino is a longer transfer when the itinerary begins further south. Private cars are arranged with the stay. Florence to Chianti is under an hour; Casole d’Elsa and Montalcino ask for more of the afternoon: that drive is part of arriving, not an errand.
Month by month
Seasons follow the notes above. Average daily high and monthly rainfall for 2015 to 2024 from ERA5 reanalysis, via Open-Meteo.
Luxury experiences
Suggested journeys
Days held in sequence, not a list of nights.
From the Journal
Where we write about this place: the seasons, the houses and how the days are best arranged.
Journal · 6 min read
Nine villas in a restored hamlet near Volterra, three houses above the sea on Monte Argentario, and the weeks when Tuscany brings in its grapes and olives.
Read the storyJournal · 6 min read
A lake house in Austria, a hilltop Residence on a Fijian reef, a staffed villa in Bali and a house on the Maasai Mara: where three generations travel well together.
Read the storyRelated destinations
Landscapes that sit well beside this one.
Destination
Italy house by house: Florence on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, Tuscan estates from Chianti to Volterra and Monte Argentario, a villa near Lucca, chalets above Merano, sea-view villas on Capri and the Cilento Coast, and a family farm estate in Sicily.
Tuscany
The Renaissance city on foot, from Piazza Santa Maria Novella to the Ponte Vecchio, with Hotel L’Orologio Florence on the piazza and the Tuscan hills an hour away.
Destination
The island at the mouth of the Bay of Naples: the Faraglioni, the Blue Grotto and the quiet lanes of Anacapri, where Villa Giada keeps four sea-view suites.
Plan My Trip
Tell us the season, the company, and the feeling you want to keep. We will write back with a considered path, not a link to a search.
Write to an advisor
