Experience the luxury of a Private Estate in Chianti with Abercrombie & Kent
Featuring restored farmhouses, ancient towers, wine estates and charming manors, these five Private Estates are the most desirable country houses in Chianti.
Book by Feb 28, 2025
Your Own Secret Corner of Tuscany
The wine region of Chianti stretches between Florence and Siena, its gentle green hills threaded with rows of vines and studded with cypress and olive trees. It’s crowned with medieval castles and hilltop villages whose winding stone streets are home to tasting rooms, superb restaurants and chic boutiques.
Abercrombie & Kent has sought out the region’s most sensational private estates to rent. Each of these Private Estates is beautifully designed, with heated pools and outdoor kitchens, and state-of-the-art features – including, variously, yoga studio, gyms, games rooms, tennis courts, and wine cellars. Gardens and grounds are glorious, and at every turn, soul-stirring views of Chianti’s gentle hills and vineyards.
PRIVATE ESTATE SAVINGS.
Save 20% on new Private Estates stay from the Chianti Collection when you book by February 28, 2025.
YOUR STAY COMES WITH A HOST OF ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCES, SERVICES AND TREATS, INCLUDING:
- A case of Tuscan wine and a welcome basket of specialty foods from local producers
- Welcome and farewell dinners at the villa, prepared by a highly esteemed local chef
- Wine-tasting at the villa or in the winery on your estate
- Cooking class with a local Italian chef
- A session with a professional photographer
- Exclusive goodie bags for gifts children and adults
- A dedicated local host who serves as your concierge 24/7
- Private round-trip airport transfers
- Daily housekeeping
This gives you all the advantages of a hotel along with the freedom, privacy and space of a private house.
Villa Castiglioni
Chianti, Italy6 Bedrooms | Sleeps 12
Set on a working wine estate, a country mile from the medieval hilltop town of Radda, this villa has sensational views of Chianti’s olive groves and vineyards – especially from the terrace of the tower at one end of the property as the sun sets. It’s ideal for families and friends travelling together, with several terraces for outdoor dining, including one overlooking the pool and children’s play area beyond. There’s plenty to keep all ages entertained, from billiards and foosball to pétanque, plus a yoga studio (on request) and hammam.
Owned by the Austrian family behind the Tenuta di Carleone winery which has been producing Sangiovese wine for over a decade, this six-bedroom villa is surrounded by olive trees, vineyards and rolling hills. The glorious rural landscape is typically Tuscan and so too is Borgo Castelletto’s stone building, terracotta-tiled roof and medieval tower that has been turned into a billiards room and bar. Inside, contemporary furniture, bold abstract art and flashes of colour (geometric cushions, cosy rugs, painted sea-green wardrobes) are juxtaposed with exposed stone walls, beamed ceilings and wooden floors. The accommodation is split between two buildings.
The ‘Owner’s Wing’ has a kitchen and conservatory, along with a dining room, drawing room, a TV area with a fireplace, and a library; on the first floor are two lovely bedrooms. The Guest Wing has another four bedrooms, all ensuite, split between the main floor – which has a pair of sitting rooms, two dining rooms and a fully-equipped kitchen made by artisan kitchen-makers in Florence – and the lower garden level. For chilly evenings, there is underfloor heating and a fireplace; for balmy summer nights, a wood-fired pizza oven, barbecue and multiple terraces for supper outdoors. The outdoor pool and wellness spaces are the final stand-out touch.
Villa Il Cellese
Chianti, Italy10 Bedrooms | Sleeps 19
Owner Sergio Sardelli’s grandfather planted the first vines at Il Cellese in the Sixties, and his aunt was one of the first women in the region to produce Chianti Classico. A 20-year restoration has transformed the ruins of this family-run private wine estate in Castellina into a drop-dead gorgeous villa that sleeps 19, a vision of Tuscan tradition given a cool, contemporary twist. An immersive way to experience one of Italy’s finest wine regions.
Il Cellese is one of the most sensational country houses in Italy. With interiors of terracotta tiles and exposed beams, and bold abstract art on the stone walls, it fuses quintessential Tuscan charm with state-of-the-art modernity. Headline acts include the indoor and outdoor pools; an open-air yoga sala and indoor wellness area with gym, sauna and steam room. In the estate’s winery there is a private restaurant space, which invites oenophiles to sample wine produced by the villa’s own vineyard, where custom barrels are painted by artists Santiago Ydáñez and Miki Leal. (Take home your favourite bottles in the villa’s custom-made crocodile leather trunk.) In the beautifully landscaped gardens is a wood-fired pizza oven and barbecue for those who love to cook, with a terrace for under-the-stars suppers overlooking Chianti’s hills and Il Cellese’s rows of vines. The house sleeps 19 in 10 en-suite bedrooms (all but one with kingsize beds), which are all lovely, so nobody gets the short straw if they’re last to arrive.
Vill Il Santo
Chianti, Italy8 Bedrooms | Sleeps 16
This tranquil retreat is like a Tuscan hilltop village in miniature. The owners – a hotelier and an antiques dealer – have sensitively restored the traditional honey-hued sandstone buildings, retaining original features while giving the interiors a contemporary shake-up with Salone del Mobile statement pieces. Set high in a secluded spot between Florence and Siena, the location makes for utter privacy, peace, and spirit-lifting views across Tuscany’s vine-threaded hills from verandas, garden terraces, and a sensational infinity pool.
Originally built in the 11th century, Podere La Gloria has aged beautifully, like a fine Chianti wine. It’s a light-filled hilltop hideaway conjured out of a medieval tower and an old barn, and blanketed in Boston ivy, which was sensitively restored in 2023 in a top-to-toe makeover by owners Jane and Steven Collins (she is an antiques dealer, he a hotelier), who also run Henry’s Townhouse in Marylebone and Cotswold estate Temple Guiting. Their taste is exquisite. Clean, elegant interiors embody Italian quiet luxury, the earthy palette injected with fun points of focus thanks to abstract art by Peter Haigh, vintage Giotto Stopino furniture and statement seating by Pierre Paulin. Light, open living spaces foster connections, designed for eating, drinking and hanging out, from laid-back breakfasts and espressos in the well-equipped kitchen that opens up onto the garden, to chef-prepared feasts beneath the vaulted ceiling of the dining room, with its great wooden table for 16 – the perfect place to fill with your favourite people.
There are eight fresh-faced, elegant bedrooms. Some have living spaces with fireplaces, some open onto gardens, two have free-standing bathtubs, and all but one have en-suite bathrooms kitted out with Dyson hairdryers, Frette bathrobes and bathroom products from Florentine institution Santa Maria Novella, the world’s oldest pharmacy. A separate studio by the pool is perfect for extra guests or round-the-clock staff. At every turn – from bedroom windows, verandas, various terraces, gardens – are sensational views of the green patchwork hills stretching out below. Outside there’s an outdoor kitchen (complete with Fontana pizza oven), dining areas, seating nooks for beating a retreat from the crew, and the most beautiful hand-tiled infinity pool, lined with parasols, that feels suspended mid-air, high above the Tuscan landscape.
Villa Pianvecchio
Chianti, Italy5 Bedrooms | Sleeps 10
Just 3km from the medieval town of Radda in Chianti, this sensitively restored Tuscan farmhouse sits on a family-owned wine estate. Perfect for multi-generational gatherings and groups of friends, it has masses of space, from the contemporary living areas to the children’s playground and outdoor pool with panoramic views of the olive groves and vineyards. There’s also a gym and steam room, and for alfresco dining, a pizza oven, barbecue and well-stocked wine cellar. The region is renowned for its pretty historic towns, plus it’s an hour’s drive to the blockbuster cities of Florence and Siena.
It was while holidaying nearby that an Austrian family stumbled across a pair of ruins on the other side of the valley. Having purchased them both, along with 100 hectares of land (part of which is now the Tenuta di Carleone winery), they tasked a local architect with their restoration. Five-bedroom farmhouse Podere La Piana, which is surrounded by olive trees, vineyards and rolling hills, was completed in 2019 (sister property Borgo Castelletto followed a year later). Rustic-modern interiors marry exposed stone walls, vaulted ceilings and vintage wooden furniture with bold colourful artwork, velvet sofas and shimmering statement lighting. The ground floor living room, kitchen and dining room all open out onto the garden where there’s a shady loggia for eating outside; upstairs, the bedrooms are all ensuite (the largest have walk-in wardrobes). The lower ground floor houses the gym, steam room and wine cellar, which is stocked with buyable bottles from the winery. Games for all ages, such as table tennis, boules and table football, provide fun entertainment during downtime.
Villa Tavernaccia
Chianti, Italy8 Bedrooms | Sleeps 16
This historic villa, with its sun-baked ochre walls and panoramic views of the olive, vine and chestnut-clad Tuscan hills, works both as a secluded retreat for family and friends and a peaceful base for exploring the Chianti wine region and nearby Florence. Restored and furnished by interior designer Ilaria Miani, it has eight elegantly colourful en-suite bedrooms and refined reception rooms including a converted dovecote with views to the Apennines; outside, sunlight slants through cypress trees and umbrella pines onto a heated outdoor pool in 14 hectares of lawns and wooded grounds. The nearest village, Chiesanuova, is 2km away.
This 18th-century villa is owned by an Italian sports agent who fell in love with the place long ago when he holidayed here with his grandparents. Now it has been renovated by his sister, Rome-based Ilaria Miani, mixing family antiques with swathes and stripes of colour that reflect the local landscape: the silvery-greens of olive trees, the rich reds of ripe tomatoes, the cool blue of a cloudless sky. Comfortable sofas, black-and-white engravings, freshly cut flowers and open fireplaces in the dining and living/TV rooms enhance the effortlessly elegant feel. The bedrooms are more theatrical and come with queen- or king-size beds, en-suite shower rooms and air-conditioning; the ground-floor double has a four-poster bed and another double is squirrelled away on a mezzanine beneath the tower. The six first-floor bedrooms include two twins, one double with a four-poster and two doubles with bathtubs separate to the showers. All look onto the poetic grounds where white canvas chairs and loungers frame a 100-year-old swimming pool lined in pietra serena, mossy statues gaze over an antique amphitheatre, and a kitchen garden produces vegetables for cooking classes in the all-white kitchen with its marble worktops and antique cabinets.
Find Your Dream Private Estate
Abercrombie & Kent began 60 years ago on the plains of Africa, where Geoffrey Kent and his parents, Valerie and Colonel John Kent, pioneered a new style of luxury adventure travel. From their first journeys in 1962, A&K grew into a globe-spanning network of companies, opening destinations previously inaccessible to visitors and establishing a new benchmark for experiential travel.
Today, Abercrombie & Kent has grown into the world’s leading experiential travel company, creating agenda-setting adventures in more than 100 countries, with a portfolio of places to stay encompassing safari lodges and mobile camps in countries across Africa, Private Estates to rent in Tuscany, elegant riverboats on the Nile and the Amazon.