What is agriturismo? Did I binge watch Downton Abbey? These questions might or might not be answered as you read this post 🙂 Or you can just look through the photos. Either way, thanks for being here!

While researching ideas for our Tuscany trip I asked a friend (amazing chef Aurelio Barattini) if he would recommend a few historic places that would be a must on this visit. He immediately suggested Badia a Coltibuono (https://www.coltibuono.com), a thousand year old abbey/vineyard/farm which is now also an agriturismo. What does this word mean, you ask? Agriturismo is a very common Italian term (which combines words “agriculture” and “tourism”) used to describe a farm which is also designed to receive guests (for food or stay, or both). Looking at Badia’s website I had hard time processing that it was actually possible to stay at such a place (usually, a thousand year old anything would be a museum, right?). But it was possible and being there in person was even more special than I thought it would be. Oh, and by the way: “badia” means “abbey” in Italian. Coltibuono is the name. Like Downton Abbey, but in this case it’s Coltibuono Abbey! 🙂 And yes, Nick and I did binge watch Downton Abbey last year. It was amazing and we spoke with a frighteningly bad English accent at home for weeks 🙂 Anyway……. back to Italy!

Just an hour South of Florence, seemingly in the middle of nowhere yet in the heart of the Chianti region of Tuscany, while following our GPS instructions we found ourselves driving on a narrow tree-covered road up the hill when all of a sudden the trees gave way to this view (photo below). And, by the way… wow, that was a long sentence! I can’t help the influence of Russian literature 🙂
Anyway, we couldn’t believe this was going to be our home for the next 24 hours!

Sprawling over a spectacular hillside of the Monti del Chianti, the Badia property includes lavish gardens, a farm, wine cellars, cooking class facility and a restaurant. And the abbey itself, of course.

Over the centuries the abbey has witnessed a lot of history. Founded and run by the Vallombrosan monks for most of its existence, in 1810 Badia became occupied by Napoleon’s troops. Decades later the abbey was purchased by a family who restored the buildings and the grounds. They re-planted the vineyards in the 1960s and in 1980 Lorenza di Medici (yes, from THAT family) started the B&B.

While there were other overnight guests at the abbey, we didn’t see a soul until morning (and were surprised to see about 30 people at our breakfast buffet). For most of the evening, Nick & I had the whole place pretty much to ourselves, walked the grounds and explored the gardens, and got some work done in the lounge area (where the WiFi signal was the strongest).

THE ABBEY/OUR LODGING

Click on the first photo and then click “next”. I put captions under almost every photo.

with Patrizia, the hospitality manager

hallway up to our room. Former monk’s quarters on each side

our room entrance is in a library!

room entrance

my artsy shot 🙂

our room (love the ceilings!!)

wine!

our room

our room

our room

mirror selfie in the room 🙂

view from our room

cute little bathroom (I imagined the poor monks not having these facilities back in the day)

shower

Nobody ever takes photos of the toilet. Well, I do! 🙂

our suitcases

love this bed and the stool!!

another mirror selfie

hallway outside of our room, view from the other end

San Giovanni Gualberto, XII cent

lounge!

frescos everywhere

they used to store salt in this safe (back when it was more expensive than gold!)

Hi, Nick!!

They had free grappa in the lounge.

Internet was slow in our room so we came to the lounge at night and worked from here

Breakfast (look at this room!)

Breakfast

it was delicious!

breakfast

my artsy shot

I wish we could have stayed one more day so I could take a cooking class from this amazing lady in this gorgeous kitchen!

the best farm cheese ever!

everything fresh from the garden

A few steps away from our room was the entrance to the gardens which, as we learned, were restored according to the monks’ original designs (aside from the swimming pool area – I am pretty sure that pool supplies were hard to come by in 1,100s, haha).
We walked the tranquil garden paths, watched the butterflies and the bees and imagined the monks walking and meditating, centuries and centuries ago.
Click on the first photo and then go next. I didn’t caption these as they were pretty self explanatory 🙂

Badia a Coltibuono is one of the oldest and most famous wine producers in the Chianti Classico region of Tuscany. Their wine is 100 percent Sangiovese, the signature red grape of Chianti and Tuscany. Nick and I took an hour long guided tour (our guide Giulia was awesome!) which included the history of the abbey, the grounds, the wine and a visit to the cellars (which originally were built as the crypts (and are supposedly haunted!)). At the end of the tour we tasted 4 wines that Badia a Coltibuono produces. One of these wines (Badia’s 2013 Chianti Classico Riserva) was one of the best we’ve had in all of Italy! Click on the first photo and then next. I captioned a few of them.

the wine cellar/crypt!

Giulia, our wine guide, with a replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s flour sifting machine used by monks (I wrote down it’s called Burrato)

some of these wines in the family’s private collection are almost a hundred years old

what a cellar! 1,000 years old, like the abbey itself

another invention by Leonardo da Vinci called colmatore (to refill wine barrells)

happy (before we even tasted the wine!)

with Giulia!

this was my absolute favorite wine. We had it for dinner as well

they make their own olive oil too!

some of the wines in the private collection are 100 years old!

A short walk from the abbey is the Badia a Coltibuono’s fabulous farm-to-table restaurant. Both the food and the views exceeded my expectations. Set in the refurbished stables, the restaurant makes everything from scratch. Its produce comes mostly from the property’s gardens. There was house-made bread, pasta, and olive oil (soooo good!) but the biggest surprise for me was venison tartare (locally hunted). It was divine! And, as I mentioned earlier, the Badia 2013 Chianti Classico Riserva was my favorite wine in all of Tuscany (we did quite a lot of wine tasting in Tuscany). The views were magical (see the photos and my captions below). An evening Nick & I will never forget.

venison tartare… yum!!!!

homemade pappardelle pasta with duck sauce

I love this water bottle!! the water in Tuscany tastes great, by the way!

the black rooster is the symbol of the Chianti Classico wine region

this is my FAVORITE wine of the trip

potatoes…. yummmmm

roasted young rooster (that’s what they said!) on snow peas

fresh salad

vinsanto (typical Tuscan sweet wine) and cantucci (amazing almond biscotti), all made on the premises

gelato!!

these guys were the nicest!!

as we were leaving..

you can’t see the view behind us, but it’s beautiful!!

The verdict? In case I didn’t make it clear, Nick and I LOVED Badia a Coltibuono! I highly recommend this special place, and I will always remember our time here. Oh, and the air was the sweetest, so clean and fresh. I just wish we could have stayed one more day so I could do a cooking class with the renowned chef Benedetta Vitali. Also, I would have loved to swim in that pool (but it was a bit overcast and the water was too cool for me. I am a wimp, what can I say!) 🙂

Our stay at Badia a Coltibuono was complimentary. All views and photos are my own. I stand by every word – as always!

Have you ever stayed at a castle or an abbey or a place that is this old/historic? Please tell me, and I’ll mark it on GoogleMaps for future travels! Also.. if you find any typos, please let me know! I am obsessed with proper grammar and spelling but I also type so fast and sometimes simply space out:)