Photo: courtesy of Borgo Santo Pietro
Below the hill town of Chiusdino, near the roofless abbey of San Galgano, a Danish couple has turned a ruined villa into one of Italy’s most romantic country houses, with gardens scented with roses, a farm that feeds the kitchen and Three MICHELIN Keys.
The setting
Borgo Santo Pietro lies in the Valle Serena, in the quiet countryside of the Val di Merse about 36 kilometres south-west of Siena. Once a stopover for medieval pilgrims, it is reached today through iron gates and an avenue of lavender. The Cistercian abbey of San Galgano, open to the sky, is 1.5 kilometres away.
Claus and Jeanette Thottrup, the Danish founders and owners, bought the property in 2001. MICHELIN’s inspectors note that the house was a ruin when they found it. They rebuilt it with antiques and materials gathered across Italy, and it reads like a lived-in country house: leather armchairs by open fires and flowers cut that morning.
“In a manner of speaking, Borgo Santo Pietro could be considered a design hotel. It’s just that the design in question is thoroughly thirteenth-century.”
Around the house, gardens unfold in courtyards, fountains, rose walks and herb beds. Beyond, an organic estate of vineyards, forest and pasture runs down to the River Merse.
The rooms & villas
There are 22 keys, a figure that matches both the hotel’s 2026 fact sheet and MICHELIN. The villa holds the Santo Pietro Master Suite, the house’s grandest room at 175 m², with a bespoke bed of 2.45 by 2.20 metres. It also has two Deluxe Rooms of about 25 m², three Villa Junior Suites (28–30 m²) and three Villa Suites (47–50 m²).
Garden-level rooms trade the villa’s history for privacy and green outlooks: three Junior Garden Suites (40 m²) named for the olive, blackberry and pomegranate, and three Garden Suites (60 m²) named for rosemary, marjoram and basil. Three Ultimate Seclusion Garden Suites, including La Casa dell’Unicorno and Dea Feronia, run from 61 to 75 m².
The most coveted are the four Ultimate Seclusion Private Pool Suites, each of 72–84 m² with its own 36 m² pool. Dina Ferri and Casa Gerda are standalone pool houses; Casa dei Fiori Bianchi holds two suites. Rates include breakfast, minibar soft drinks and the estate’s own Seed to Skin bathing products. The whole villa can also be booked for exclusive use, for a minimum of two days.
Eat & drink
The farm is the larder. About 100 sheep give the milk for the estate’s dairy, which makes robiola, ricotta and pecorino. MICHELIN’s restaurant page says the estate covers around 80 per cent of the kitchen’s needs.
Saporium, led by Florentine executive chef Ariel Hagen, serves dinner only and is closed on Sundays. It holds one MICHELIN Star in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide. Hagen trained under Norbert Niederkofler at St. Hubertus and Gaetano Trovato at Arnolfo, and his tasting menus put plants and aromatics at the centre; MICHELIN’s inspector singles out a seasonal salad of 25 ingredients. The cellar beneath the villa holds nearly 1,250 labels.
For something looser, Trattoria Sull’Albero is built around a spreading oak and serves classic Tuscan dishes and the estate’s own prosciutto all day, overlooking the fields of the Valle Serena. Private dining runs to the candlelit Grotto and the Terrazza Toscana. In summer, Festum Terrae dinners (June–September, selected dates) and the Orto pop-up move the table into the vegetable garden.
Wellness
The stone-clad Seed to Skin spa sits among landscaped gardens, with Moroccan day beds tucked between healing herbs. Treatments use the skincare line Jeanette Thottrup founded and formulates in an on-site lab from estate and ethically sourced botanicals. The menu runs from signature rituals, facials and mud wraps to hot-stone, Ayurvedic and Shirodhara massage. Yoga, forest bathing and gong sound baths round it out. The 100 m² heated infinity pool is freshwater and chlorine-free.
Beyond the resort
On the estate you can milk sheep and make cheese, collect eggs, tour the farm, learn to make pasta or pizza at the Borgo Cooking School, arrange flowers with the in-house florist, or taste Super Tuscans in the cellar.
Further afield, the concierge arranges truffle hunts, horse riding, golf and hot-air ballooning, as well as wine days in Montalcino, Chianti and Bolgheri. Siena is 36 kilometres away, San Gimignano 52 and Florence 89; the beaches of the Maremma coast are about 48 kilometres west. Closest to home is a walk to San Galgano and the Montesiepi chapel, with its famous sword in the stone.
When to go
The hotel opens from May to October. Early summer brings roses, lavender and long evenings in the garden, and June to September is the season for the Festum Terrae garden dinners. September and October bring harvest, truffle season and softer light on the hills. Book the pool suites well ahead for high summer.
Who it’s for
Borgo Santo Pietro is for couples and slow travellers who want Tuscany at its most romantic and most edible. It suits anyone who would rather spend a morning making pecorino than queueing in Florence. Families are welcome, with a playground, babysitting on request and adjoining rooms, though MICHELIN notes that rooms cannot take cots or extra beds. Those who want a big resort with nightlife should look elsewhere.
Researched independently from the property’s published information and independent sources. Our editors have not stayed at the property, and Cosmopolitan Courier was not compensated for this guide.
