Over the past few years, even the most ardent Tuscany fanatic may have felt their enthusiasm dim a little. Sure, the Italian region best known as the birthplace of the Renaissance still boasts the same wonders it always has—treasures of art history, hearty pasta dinners, glorious summer weather, and those iconic streets lined with cypress trees—but post-pandemic, not only has “revenge travel” seen the area near-overwhelmed with tourists, but hotel prices have skyrocketed to eyewatering figures. Slowly but surely, the more savvy traveler has begun to turn their gaze elsewhere.
For many, that gaze has settled on Tuscany’s neighbor, Umbria. Sure, the region isn’t exactly an unknown quantity—many will be familiar with the winding streets and architectural marvels of Perugia, or the bountiful black truffle harvests that arrive every fall—but where Tuscany has more than its fair share of dazzling five-star retreats, Umbria has taken a little longer to catch up. The latest arrival to the Umbrian luxury hotel offering? Borgo dei Conti Resort, which opened just a few weeks ago near the charming village of Montepetriolo, and looks (and feels) like a medieval Italian village preserved in aspic.
A few weeks back, on a baking hot summer afternoon (albeit, mercifully, in the air-conditioned hotel shuttle car), I pulled up to the gates of the estate, where the drama begins—courtesy of an imposing gatehouse, complete with portcullis, that could have been plucked straight out of one of the early Renaissance landscape paintings you might find in Perugia’s Palazzo dei Priori. A winding road then leads you up to a pair of monumental Lebanese cedar trees that shade the facade of the main building: an equally striking edifice that may initially appear to be a remarkably well-maintained medieval palace, but was in fact largely built in the early 20th century for the noble Rossi-Scotti family, who wanted the feel of a historic castle but with all the latest mod-cons. First converted to a hotel in the early 2000s—hence the fully grown-in landscaping—the hotel has lain dormant for the past two years while its owners, the group behind the Londra Palace in Venice and The Place in Florence, have given it a head-to-toe refurb, halving the room count to just 40 generously proportioned rooms and suites.
