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Destinations · Europe · italy · Tuscany · Where to sleep ·

The summer heat is on, and the air is filled with the heady fragrance of cypresses and humming with the cicada chorus. The narrow road end against a time-worn vine-covered gate that opens slowly and with dignity to reveal a picture-postcard landscape featuring an ancient garden-surrounded villa - a genuine grande dame of the real estate world. We are greeted by Francesca, a charming and spirited Italian. Her language is spiced with worldly wisdom and yet she emanates disarming simplicity. It may come as a surprise that you are in fact standing in front of a genuine marquise: Francesca Albergotti, a writer and in her free time also a painter, is a descendent from an ancient Tuscan family of nobility. 'In Tuscany, there has always been a perfect sense of balance to everything. You see it in nature; you see it in the local habits. Tuscany has also always been very self-sufficient: even now, after over a hundred years as a part of the Italian Republic, it is still very much independent in its soul,' Francesca says. The idea of converting the historical family property - the more than 900-year old Villa i Bossi - into a luxury accommodation was her brainchild. The thought made sense both for practical (the maintenance of a property like this is a costly business) and empirical reasons: 'As late as before World War Two the house was always teeming with people: house-guests, servants - at any given moment at least 60 persons were staying here. Places like this are not created to be inhabited by a single family. They would slowly die; historically, stately houses like this one were always abuzz with life.

Built in 1240, Villa i Bossi belonged to the Albergotti, one of the most influential families in the region at the time. You can take a look at a thick volume dedicated to the history of the family in the former wine cellar that has now been transformed into a makeshift reception area. The family tree is reminiscent of a magnificent centenary oak; in keeping with the ancient tradition, it is almost exclusively the male names that are recorded here. In a way, the documents and artefacts that are part of the Villa i Bossi archives are also evidence of the history of the whole region. Incidentally, one of the popes spent a night at the villa; a special room and a small oratory were built above the villa's chapel. A separate room is dedicated to a collection of Vatican relics and indulgences purchased by the family or granted to its members as a gift. Glimpses of the present - photographs of Francesca and her family - are scattered here and there among the countless historical portraits of the Albergotti forefathers and their prominent guests, providing a sense of continuity and, at the same time, contemporaneity: a reminder of things past and yet to come. Surprisingly enough, as you wander through the shadowy passages and the history-steeped rooms where the Middle Ages meet Renaissance and both 20th and 21st centuries, you are never once overcome by a sense of a museum-like moment frozen in time; what you feel instead is the presence of an intangible incessant spark of life that only burns brighter with time.
And staying here, if only for a few days, is a truly aristocratic pleasure - in fact, a luxury that cannot be compared to anything else. By transforming Villa i Bossi into an accommodation, Francesca seems to have brought back the former life to the ancient house. Nothing has been specially adapted to meet the needs of the makeshift hotel: you are simply allotted rooms that were already intended for guests originally. Villa i Bossi currently houses eleven rooms, part of them - in the old building, the rest - in the recently renovated comparatively more modern annex. Each of the rooms is different; the historical building still features both the authentic furniture and the terracotta floor and the historical frescoes, somewhat faded through the centuries.
No five-star luxury here: no excessive pampering and no chocolates on your pillow at night. What the place offers instead is the simply wonderful freedom of just being here: roaming the garden; lounging by one of the pools, either the large one opposite the main building, or the hilltop 'silent pool'; settling down with a book in the cypress shade or lazily play with one of the owners' dogs who love to come out and lie in the sun on the less hot days. There is even a small kitchen where everyone is welcome to cook a meal if they do not feel like eating out - for instance, at the simple yet excellent nearby Italian eatery or at a gourmet restaurant in Arezzo, the medieval gem of Tuscany. Sometimes the owners cook something for dinner and serve it in an intimate family-like atmosphere in the courtyard.
The rooms do not carry either air-conditioners or fans; however, the nights are cool here, and the stone walls do not heat up during the day. In other words, no superfluous concessions to the modern way of life, apart from the one genuine necessity that is the Internet connection, of course. The rest is up to you: feel free to embark on a wine and olive oil tour; explore the most legendary towns of the vicinity or succumb to the sin of brand mania at the nearby world-famous Tuscan outlets (both Prada and The Mall are about a half hour-drive from the villa).

Rates: from EUR 135

44 Localita' Gragnone
52100 Arezzo, Italy
www.villaibossi.com

^08/2012

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