Tuscany · Italy
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.
Now in Volterra
From Choose a departure city Approx. flying time, non-stop equivalent
Tuscany · Italy
Volterra rises nearly 1,800 feet above the valleys of the Era and the Cecina, an Etruscan town that still keeps its Piazza dei Priori, its Medici fortress and a living tradition of alabaster carving. The Etruscan Museum alone rewards a morning.
Fifteen kilometers away, in wooded hills beside the Berignone and Castelvecchio nature reserves, lies Borgo Pignano, a restored hamlet whose nine private villas each come with their own pool and garden. We hold Volterra for travelers who want Tuscany at walking pace, with Florence and the coast still within reach.
The town rewards an unhurried day. Walk the walls to the Balze, where the land falls away in clay cliffs; look down into the Roman theatre from the ramparts; and stop in one of the alabaster workshops still working in the lanes. In August, the medieval festival of Volterra AD 1398 fills the streets with costume and music.
Borgo Pignano suits families and groups of friends who want their own villa within a larger estate, couples who like to ride, walk and eat well, and anyone who wants Tuscany in the countryside rather than the city. Read more on our Borgo Pignano page. It is part of our Mediterranean Hills collection and of Houses for Generations. For more of the region, see Chianti, Florence and our Tuscany guide, or follow our Florence and Tuscany journey.
Why visit
Featured properties
Houses we know by name, the ones we would open for this landscape.
The house
A first reading of the stay: rooms, light, and the quiet between them. Each still is a note, not a catalogue.
When and how
Each season keeps its own calendar. We plan the transfer around it.
Best time to visit
Spring and autumn bring long light, Villa Pignano open for lunch and dinner, and the fire lit at Il Camino. June to August is the season for open-air dinners and sunset rides; picnic rides into the woods keep to the cooler months.
Seasonality
Spring and early autumn are the most requested weeks, and the villas for larger families go first. Some estate restaurants keep seasonal hours.
Airport / logistics
Florence (FLR) and Pisa (PSA) are the nearest airports, each a little over an hour by road, and Rome is about three hours. Many travelers begin with a few nights in Florence and continue by car.
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
Traveler questions
Ways of traveling
Begin with the collection that holds these houses and shores.
Collection
Whole houses for the whole family: a hilltop Residence in Fiji, an exclusive-use villa in the Maasai Mara, a 1930s lake house in Austria, staffed villas in Bali, a Tuscan estate of private villas, a staffed sea-view villa on Capri, pool villas of four and five bedrooms on Hvar, three-bedroom Reserves on a Vietnamese bay, a four-suite villa above Lake Wakatipu, a sole-use house between Lake Hāwea and Lake Wānaka, and a garden haveli in Rajasthan.
Open the collectionCollection
Hillside houses in olive country: above the Argolic Gulf and the Aegean at Bodrum, in the hills of Volterra and Chianti, on Monte Argentario, above the sea in Anacapri on Capri, and among the pines of Maslinica Bay on Hvar.
Open the collectionCollection
Weddings, vow renewals, milestones, reunions and retreats at the houses we know best: a forest wedding in Phuket, a Tuscan hamlet, a lodge beneath the aurora, or an island with no other guests.
Open the collectionFrom 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
Working estates, hill towns, and the long light between Florence and the Val d’Orcia, held as one journey, not a catalogue.
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.
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.
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