This past weekend me and Frenchy went to the town of Castelfalfi located in Tuscany as part of a blogger event touring the 800 year old village. I was actually really excited to go since I read about this place in The Florentine a few years ago. Previously a ghost town, a German Travel company TUI actually bought the town {you can do that?!} and started a really awesome project to revive this beautiful place and bring it back to life.

 A golf resort, a 3 star hotel that deserves an extra star, swimming pools and over 40 apartments have been created to entice buyers to re-populate the town. Also – they strive to be environmentally friendly via the usage of renewable bio-fuels and conditioned rainwater to meet the town’s demand.

We arrived at the hotel above around 10am to meet up with fellow bloggers Michela, Bonnie, Kristina (Yelp Firenze), Elena Farinelli, Marina, and Simona and have our second coffee of the day (never the last). We met the lovely Cecilia, pr person and coordinator extraordinaire. We went straight to the pool for a few hours of true relax before lunch and wow – were those pools stunning. Open to resort guests and the public {prices range from 16 euros to 20 daily depending on day of the week}. Everything is shiny, bright and new with breathtaking views over the Tuscan countryside lining the pool area.

After sizzling in the sun for a few hours we met up for lunch at on-site restaurant Il Rosemarino where they serve up local Tuscan favorites such as cold-bread salad panzanella, cured meats and cheeses, the best coccoli {fried dough} I have ever eaten – made with chickpea flour, yummy pastas and my favorite – tagliata (steak) with roasted potatoes and the omnipresent namesake – rosemary. Chef Francesco Ferretti met us to chat about the local sapori {flavors} and Castelfalfi itself. We probably spent a good three hours at the lunch table washing everything down with locally produced red wine which, as you can imagine – I was happy about.

Next on the agenda was a tour of the golf course. I haven’t really seen many golf resorts in Italy so this was a real treat. Once upon a time, I used to play (American schools have almost too many extracurricular activities) and their 27 hole course was quite impressive. Immersed in nature and so carefully curated – this is a golfing paradise. I was happy to be in a golf cart again whipping along the hills on a beautiful day.

We headed back to the hotel for wine tasting before starting our pizza-making adventures. I really liked their Chianti DOCG wine and I am a lover of all wines, red – white and rose and I was impressed with this red. We moved into another area of the restaurant where the pizza oven was located and voila – the preparations for a pizza-master-in-the-making were lined up on the table. We got a crash course in how to make pizza dough. Think water, yeast and salt.

We broke into informal teams and some of us learned how to roll out the dough while others spread the sauce and dressed the pies. To be honest, I think I had a little too much fun fanning out my sauce. Thankfully, I was not wearing white that day or it could have looked like a murder scene. We all were challenged by kristina to make the best yelp logo design on our pizzas and I have to say – we did a pretty good job {though of course the professionals kicked all of our butts with their awesome pizza}.

As you can imagine, it was quite a long day – but a wonderful one at that. Awesome people, great food and a stunning location that before I had only briefly read about. Castelfalfi does have a sort of whimsical, disneyland feel to it but make no mistake, they did a great job of restoring the town and making it an attractive place to have a residence. Plus, I really like the idea of reviving pretty Italian ghost towns in a modern, eco-friendly way. It’s sad to see population number declining and any push for the opposite – is quite fine by this girl!

If you don’t like flying or perhaps you’re just looking for somewhere a little closer to home there is a fantastic cotswold golf hotel in Cheltenham called the Tewkesbury Park, it’s a gorgeous hotel with stunning views of the Cotswolds, it’s definitely a must if you want to book a stay and play break in the UK.

Resort Castelfalfi 

Localita’ Castelfalfi
Montaione, Florence
+39 0571 891000