An Italian Fairytale, Courtesy of Fashion Royalty

TUSCANY, Italy — When Salvatore Ferragamo left his home in Bonito, Italy, to seek his fortune in the United States, the European shoemaker quickly turned on his (well-made) heel. American manufacturing in the 1920s, he found, was too cut-and-paste, too impersonal for the craft that he loved. The budding entrepreneur wanted to create high-quality custom footwear that would be both excellent and durable. Fit for a king. One only needs to look at the massive global brand that Ferragamo is today to know that the guy had the right idea.

Salvatore’s myriad relatives have since pursued all kinds of high-end ventures beyond shoes, including fashion (his wife Wanda’s inspired idea), wine, and hospitality (see Lungarno Collection, including Fathom Favorites Portrait Milano and Portrait Firenze). In 1993, his son Ferruccio purchased a 13th-century medieval village in Tuscany near the family’s former summer estate (Viesca Toscana, now a property for travelers), a village and surrounding land that had fallen into disrepair. That is, until the family restored it to create what has become the 2,700-acre luxury resort Il Borro.

While guests can purchase Ferragamo shoes and apparel on-site, that’s not the point. What guests find here is a palpable love of Italian land and culture and history. Il Borro is a sumptuous act of passion that has translated into a five-star fairytale escape in the hills of Valdarno di Sopra.

Fit for a King (and Queen)

My husband and I arrived at Il Borro on a drizzly autumn Tuesday. We’d hoped to arrive under the Tuscan sun — as the fantasy goes — so it was a bit of a letdown after our time in sunny Manarola, a seaside village on the Italian Riviera. But Italy is a kaleidoscope of magical metropolises and villages, so the grey skies didn’t bog us down for long. There was too much history (and food and wine) to explore. Weather be damned.

Because Il Borro, which means “the bed of an ancient river,” is tucked deep in a Tuscan forest, it was considered an unconquerable stronghold during many battles in Roman times. The first written account of the castle dates back to 1254, when a Milanese nobleman purchased the property. It changed noble hands many times over the centuries, ending up in the 1950s with Duke Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta, who owned Il Borro unitil Ferragamo took the reins and refurbished it to the stunning paean to Italian craftsmanship that it is today. Il Borro joined Relais & Châteaux in 2012, enshrining its excellence as a luxury stay for discerning travelers.

The core of the property, once a working village in the medieval era, has been charmingly revived with 38 suites spread, albergo diffuso style, across several buildings where guest can also sip cappuccino in the “town” café, purchase a handmade watercolor by a local artist, sort through gold and silver baubles at the jewelry shop, and interact with wooden shadow boxes in a room entirely dedicated to the story of Pinocchio, a tale conceived not by Walt Disney but rather Tuscan writer Carlo Collodi. Families and groups, or anyone who wants more privacy among the trees, can stay in Dimora Storica, Villa Casetta, Villa Mulino, and the new Aie del Borro. There are never more than 105 guest at any time across the 2,700-acre property.

Our suite in the medieval village was a two-floor affair. The bathroom had a clawfoot bathtub perched next to a window with a view of the undulating green hills. The living room was set with Villeroy & Boch porcelain cups and a superior-grade Nespresso that trounces the dregs they ship to their New York shops. In our sumptuous bedroom, the shutters opened onto cobblestone paths.

Il Borro does offer room service, but this is Italy, after all, where it’s better to treat food with more respect than what you can manage on a tray while laying horizontal. A quick walk (or golf-cart ride) will whisk you away to the estate’s elegant and excellent dining options.

Let’s Order Italian

Tuscan lore is nothing without the history of its rich terroir and resulting food and wine. Il Borro’s three restaurants are overseen by executive chef Andrea Campani. From pizza to pheasant, the food in every dining room honors local culinary traditions and aims to use as close to 100 percent of ingredients grown on-site.

The big show happens at the fine-dining restaurant Osteria del Borro, listed in the 2025 Michelin Guide. Access to the main dining room is by a glass elevator that opens dramatically onto an open kitchen fortified by stainless steel refrigerators, tables and shelves, chefs in white hats and aprons intently producing the evening’s meal. The night we dined there, it felt very much like a romantic couples’ secret.

Our four-course tasting menu featured fried egg with basil olive oil and tomato sauce; beef tail tortello with parmesan and truffle; beef cheek peposo style with potato puree, horseradish and swiss chard; and spelt crumble, ricotta cheese mousse, Il Borro honey, sheep’s milk ice cream for dessert. Everything was exquisite, timed perfectly and worthy of the environment.

Vittoria Ferragamo, Ferruccio’s granddaughter and the resort’s Head of Sustainability, is involved in the development of most of the agricultural products (except wine and olive oil). In 2015, Il Borro became organic and began producing its own grains, vegetable garden, honey and eggs the following year. They offer a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program to area residents, stretching delivery as far as Florence, about 35 miles away.

It’s impossible to go to Tuscany and not consider wine. The region’s predominant grape is sangiovese, so maybe it was no surprise that my favorite wine Il Borro was their Petruna in Anfora, made with 100 percent sangiovese grapes. This wine is crafted using terracotta amphorae, an ancient winemaking technique that employs these porous vessels to allow wine to breathe without imparting flavor or tannin. It paired successfully with various lunch and dinner items throughout my stay.

On the final day, as we sipped our final glasses of Petruna, the Tuscan sun broke the clouds apart. Il Borro isn’t merely a high-end resort, it’s a place to experience the essence of Italy itself: timeless, authentic, and exquisite. As we departed, a thought lingered: This wasn’t a fairy tale; it was a living, breathing piece of history, one we’d carry with us long after the rolling hills disappeared from view.