Tavarnelle Val di Pesa
COMO Hotels · 12th-century castle · One MICHELIN Key
A twelfth-century castle on a 740-acre estate outside Tavarnelle, with Renaissance frescoes upstairs and interiors by the Milanese designer Paola Navone. It is COMO’s only hotel in Tuscany, and the MICHELIN Guide gave it one Key in 2024 and again in 2025. Beyond the castle, the estate holds Podere San Filippo, a farmhouse of twelve self-catering apartments, and Villa San Luigi, a five-bedroom villa with its own infinity pool.
Most people come for two things. The COMO Shambhala spa has a thermal suite, treatment rooms for singles and couples, yoga and Pilates studios and a 25-metre heated outdoor pool. And La Torre, under executive chef Giovanni Luca Di Pirro, holds a MICHELIN star. The estate produces its own olive oil, wine and flour and keeps a chef’s garden; a shuttle runs to Florence and Siena every other day.
Historic restaurant · Passignano
The name tells its history: this was once the place where riders rested and changed horses, in the shadow of the ancient abbey of Badia a Passignano. The Puliti family has run it for decades with the quiet conviction of people who know exactly what they are doing.
One MICHELIN star · Antinori estate · Beside the abbey
1 MICHELIN StarUnder the walls of the medieval abbey of Passignano, on the Antinori estate, the Osteria has held a MICHELIN star every year since 2007. Chef Matteo Lorenzini cooks from the Tuscan repertoire with a light, precise hand and is not afraid of fish; the inspectors single out a crab salad with caviar and citrus from the estate’s own trees. Much of what reaches the plate grows in the Orto della Badia beside the abbey walls.
Bib Gourmand · Family trattoria in a medieval village
Bib GourmandInside the walls of San Donato in Poggio, one of the best-preserved medieval villages of the western Chianti, La Toppa is a family trattoria that has no interest in fashion. The MICHELIN Guide gives it a Bib Gourmand for good cooking at fair prices: mixed crostini, ribollita, pici all’aglione and slow-braised beef with vegetables, with game in season, wild boar stew above all.