Start in Rome...
Stay at: G-Rough
Business partners Gabriele Salini and Emanuele Garosci (the iconoclasts behind Venice’s PalazzinaG) are again shaking up notions of luxury with their ten-suite hotel, G-Rough, just behind Rome’s Piazza Navona. Original tiled floors, immense shuttered windows, sanded walls, and frescoed ceilings are the backdrop for covetable pieces from Italian design greats and contemporary artists—like the oak and brass bar trolley from Giò Ponti or the transportive beachscapes by photographer Massimo Vitali, which we wish we could take home. THE ROOM TO BOOK: The Pasquino suite, on the fifth floor, has postcard-worthy views of the 17th-century Baroque church of Sant’Agnese.
Head around the corner...
...to the ivy-draped Bar del Pace at aperitivo time for a Campari and soda and some of the city’s best people-watching.
Hit the Road
Rent a car and drive three hours up the peninsula to the tiny Chianti town of Ama.
En route
Midway into your drive, stop in Orvieto, magnificently perched on a butte overlooking the Umbrian plains. Check out the historic town’s Etruscan tunnels and the Fra Angelico frescoes in its cathedral; then go for a long lunch and a passeggiatabefore hitting the road.
Arrive in Ama
Stay at: Castello di Ama
In welcome contrast to the cookie-cutter resorts that have cropped up in Tuscany of late, this three-suite villa on a 200-acre wine estate is all about standing out. First, there are the excellent wines (our favorite: the San Lorenzo Chianti Classico). Then there’s the stellar collection of site-specific contemporary art: An Anish Kapoor light installation holds center stage in the estate’s tiny chapel; an 82-foot-long mirrored wall by Daniel Buren separates the castle complex from the surrounding vineyards; and a Louise Bourgeois sculpture is hidden in the property’s cellar (the reveal happens when you peer through a grate in the floor). __THE ROOM TO BOOK:__The two-bedroom Bellavista, the only suite on the second floor, looks out onto the surrounding vineyards and gardens.
Head around the corner...
...for pool and spa access. The Castello di Ama doesn’t have either, but you can use both at nearby Borgo San Felice.
