Why Stay?
Florence at its feet and the Tuscan hills at its back, this former boarding school turns Renaissance history, Baroque gardens and Duomo views into a remarkable retreat.
Collegio alla Querce gives Florence room to breathe. Three adjoining 16th-century buildings stand behind wrought-iron gates in the hills north of the centro storico, where generations of Florentines once came to study. Its original chapel and theatre remain, along with five levels of Baroque gardens framed by the oak trees that gave the Collegio its name. Look one way and the Duomo rises above the city’s terracotta roofs; turn the other and the view runs into Chianti.
That history has not been polished out of its 83 rooms and suites. Renaissance art, antiques and coffered ceilings meet deep cabernet reds, Italian tailoring fabrics and contemporary furniture, with tall windows opening the building to Florence, the gardens or the Tuscan hills. The finest add hand-painted murals, generous balconies and personal wine cellars.
The old school has found some excellent new uses. Bar Bertelli occupies the former headmaster’s office, portraits of star pupils still watching over the Negronis; La Gamella brings Tuscan ingredients into the light-filled conservatory, while Il Bosco serves wood-fired lunches beside the hillside pool. Aelia Spa draws on the neighbouring wine country, its four treatment rooms each equipped with a private sauna and steam room. Florence lies close enough for an afternoon among the galleries, but up here, with the gardens below and Chianti beyond, the city feels gloriously far away.
