Borgo Pignano
Tuscany, Italy, Europe
A stay at this grand 18th-century villa (built using locally sourced stone and slate) revolves around the charming estate’s sprawling 750-acre organic farm, where vegetables, grains and flowers are grown for both the on-site restaurant and the natural spa treatments, and the property makes use of swales and solar panels, pioneering techniques the region has never benefited from before.
Bouteco loves: Take a tour of Borgo Pignano’s working estate with Enzo, head farmer and gamekeeper. The fruits of this farm provide 70 per cent of the menu. Powered by renewable energy, from wood chip-fired boilers and solar panels.
Hotel Castello di Reschio
Umbria, Italy, Europe
A rare, and very special destination, this once-abandoned estate has gone through a slow, sensitive painstaking restoration to create this 36-suite stay at the edge of Umbria.
Bouteco loves: Thank heavens this 3,700-acre estate was acquired in 1994 by Count Antonio Bolza, as it’s become a family legacy thanks to London-trained architect, Count Benedikt, and his wife, Donna Nencia Corsini’s loving restoration. They’ve worked with the home owners to breathe new life into the properties’ Umbrian heritage in a great act of cultural conservation.
Forestis
Dolomites, Italy, Europe
Once a summer retreat for prayer-weary pontiffs, this mountaintop property has wellness woven into its every fibre. Expanded and re-interpreted with modern, above-the-trees towers, the hotel's thrilling architecture works in tandem with minimal interiors to embrace the glorious Dolomites panorama. With all that mountain-fresh air, restorative spa treatments and spirit-lifting views, it's little wonder that staying here feels like a brush with divinity.
Bouteco loves: The entire property was built to achieve carbon neutrality — it's powered solely using renewable energy. And we love the spa for only using plant-based ingredients rich in vitamins and minerals. We'll toast that with one of their bark-infused cocktails here on the southern slope of the Ploseberg, please.
Lefay Resort & SPA Dolomiti
Dolomites, Italy, Europe
Sister to Lake Garda’s chi-chi spa retreat, this brand new retreat is just outside Pinzolo’s Madonna di Campiglio ski resort. It’s impressive to see what they call "bio-architecture" exists in such harmony with the wooded mountain landscape. As appealing in summer as in snowy season, hiking, biking and climbing make five-star Lefay Dolomiti a year-round wellness destination.
Bouteco loves: It’s rare to be able to give the assurance that advanced spa, detox and wellbeing programmes (including osteopathy through to Ayurveda) are not just good for you but also the wider world — but having hosts so committed to using renewable energy sources makes that possible.
Villa Lena
Tuscany, Italy, Europe
Here in wild, wild Tuscany — a world away from the genteel slopes of Chiantishire that many tourists know — is this biodynamic farm and artists retreat. Villa Lena Foundation hosts artists every summer season here amid 500 hilly hectares of olive groves, vineyards, vegetable gardens and woodland.
Bouteco loves: Carefully managed on biodynamic principles, the farm managed passionately by Pietro, survives on a closed-loop system — no seeds are purchased with no waste created. Rainwater is collected throughout the estate and irrigation channels help to hydrate the land during dry months.