A weekend at Hotel Le Fontanelle, Siena
Theme From A Summer Place by Percy Faith & His Orchestra
The Perfect Song
Best For
Families and Couples seeking for an authentic Tuscan Stay
Best Room
Deluxe Rooms 38 & 39
As the main stop for our trip, we decided to bed our heads in the sweeping hills of the Chianti region. Just behind my favourite town of Castelnuovo Berardenga, right between Siena and Arezzo lies the pretty under-the-radar Fontanelle Estate. Once founded by a Swiss family, the head called “La Signorina” was personally responsible for the entire interior and furnishing. And let me be clear, this is not a design hotel nor a perfectly styled Tuscan Disneyland property. Hotel Le Fontanelle is designed to be an authentic cosy countryside home giving the feeling of being in a real Tuscan dream throughout the entire experience. People come here to relax and enjoy the outdoors but still want to have the real Tuscan touch in terms of interiors. When we arrived, the staff was super surprised that our arrival was as easy as it could be – there have been troubles with previous guests finding the right road to the hotel as they must have taken a very dirty road. Luxury Executive Travel Hack: Never trust your GPS when in Italy.
After the town of Pianella, we continued the main road until a few signs indicated the hotel and started to turn left at a bridge. So did we and after a scenic drive uphill, we arrived at a beautiful area with a gate to ring the bell. Soon after we informed the hotel about the reservation, the gate opened and our heartbeat went up. We began driving along an alley with olive trees overlooking the wine hills that lead upwards to a picture-perfect stone house in a truly unbelievable Tuscan setting. Even the cloudy weather didn’t hinder us from truly enjoying the drive with a music classic: “Theme From A Summer Place” by Percy Faith – perfectly in line with the iconic Instagram Reel of a Tuscan Roadtrip. I would say that this moment was when the main part of our trip started, after two days of wine tastings and mixed weather. It hardly gets better than staying in the real heart of Tuscany - just a short drive from Siena and Villa a Sesta which is known for having more Michelin starred seats than inhabitants. After we arrived at the main entrance of Hotel Le Fontanelle, an array of staff was welcoming us. From this moment onwards we realized we were in good hands.
Having parked the car and unpacked the trunk, the bellman brought our luggage to the room while we were accompanied to the lobby lounge. We were offered infused water while doing the paperwork. One thing that immediately came to our mind was the service level of this property. While service might feel hesitant and a bit old-school to some, they are trained on a super professional level. As a guest you get to experience that within the team they have a very respectful and friendly attitude – I feel everyone loves to work at Hotel Le Fontanelle. I was told the staff comes back working here for many years even though it is a seasonal resort. Especially at the restaurant, you can feel the old grand hotel splendour with head waiters being responsible for taking the orders, customer relations and wine service while the young waiters were just here to bring the food and take away empty plates. It was very interesting to see, even though it would match better to a lakeside property in Northern Italy rather than a casual countryside retreat in rural Tuscany. Overall we loved the professional approach of the team.
When we finished doing the paperwork, we were shown our room. Located right across the lobby, our Junior Suite Number 19 measured roughly 40 square meters and came with a separate living- and bedroom. Upon entering there were the living room with a sofa bed (that can be converted into an extra bed), two armchairs with a coffee table, and a sideboard with a television and minibar. As a welcome gift, every room receives a bottle of Chianti Classico by the hotel’s winery Vallepicciola along with biscotti and almonds. While the minibar had all classics, we missed an additional choice of wine from the own winery. On our first night, we had to order a second bottle of wine from room service, while there would have been plenty of space to provide a bottle of sparkling wine along with white and red wines. Talking about the first night, we very much appreciated the terrace with two chairs and a table – perfect for warm summer nights to enjoy a few more bottles of Chianti Classico post-dinner. Walking further around our Junior Suite we discovered the bedroom which came with twin beds (as requested), a traditional wardrobe and another television on top of a sideboard.
When travelling, I love to stay at individual boutique hotels for their unique charm and personalized experience. Sometimes there is a price to pay as they do not have standards like the big brands. At Hotel Le Fontanelle, this was the shower-tub combo. All those following our travels know I am not the biggest fan of showering while standing in a bathtub. However, this time I was perfectly fine since Hotel Le Fontanelle offers unique and wonderfully smelling Diptyque bath amenities which are among my favourites in the world. Let me say that the hotel is aware of this problem and already implemented walk-in showers during their last renovation in a majority of the rooms. Overall, housekeeping did a good job and replenished the array of towels whenever we left the room. It was great to see the traditional style of the bathroom comes with luxe amenities and plush towels. Everything felt of the highest quality and the level of comfort was definitely on point.
During our stay at Hotel Le Fontanelle, we had the pleasure to dine at the hotel’s La Colonna Restaurant. Having discussed the first class service, the food was as good as the service. We went for a three-course menu without dessert. For starters, we had a warm beef flank with bitter almonds and chard as well as the cuttlefish with coconut and salsify. Both were great in terms of taste, however, didn’t make us feel like we are in Tuscany. We continued with “Primi Piatti” (first courses) for which we chose the Tortelli filled with rabbit that came with a Zabaione and cheese cream as well as Tagliatelle with scampi, rhubarb and roses. These two dishes were wonderful and matched the sophisticated ambience of the dining room. As far as the main courses are concerned we decided to try the seabass with capers and garlic as well as the turbot in clay with sour butter, caviar and asparagus. At this point, we have to mention that none of the main courses came with a classic side dish and was just the fish with sauce or none (as for the seabass). To justify the price of 42 and 45 euros, all, that is to say, is that the portion of fish was not small at least.
Breakfast was served on their Belvedere terrace and is fully a la carte which I adore. The problem with a la carte breakfast is that orders get lost or it takes ages for the food to arrive. Not so at Hotel Le Fontanelle: it was indeed one of the best breakfast experiences I have had in my life as a travel author. You can choose between a salty or sweet breakfast and while I went for the salty one each day, I had different dishes every morning. Even though their daily changing juices by Van Nahmen are great, you can still order fresh orange juice without any additional surcharge – a lovely touch. The coffee was really good as was the bread selection with jams and butter. What’s left to say is that you have to pay attention to the selection of your room at Hotel Le Fontanelle: rooms are located either in the main building or at the villa. Depending on if you seek privacy (then you should book a room at the villa) or you appreciate short walks (in which case you should head for a room at the hotel).
Overall we had a truly great time at the hotel Le Fontanelle. Even though the weather wasn’t that good on the first day, we could spend some time at the indoor pool before the sun came out and we could move to the pretty outdoor pool with amazing views of the Tuscan hills. Service is really friendly and attentive plus the value for money is among the best in the area. Since you can inform the hotel about your preference of room location, Hotel Le Fontanelle is ideal for couples and families alike. I can recommend this property to anyone looking for the authentic Tuscan feeling with charming interiors and service as you would expect it from an Italian five-star hotel.
We stayed at Hotel Le Fontanelle for editorial purposes. However, the above written has not been influenced and represents our own opinion of our experience at the hotel.
