Member Journey
A Week Suspended in Time
Seven days in a 14th-century Tuscan hamlet. Here's what happened when we stopped planning and started living.
Some places change you quietly, between meals. Borgo di Vagli is one of those places — a medieval hamlet deep in the forested hills of Tuscany that has a way of making the rest of the world feel very far away, and very unnecessary.
We arrived as a family of four — two teenagers in tow, the kind who travel with headphones and mild skepticism — and left, seven days later, as converts. My daughter asked if we could come back before we'd even finished packing. My son, who had spent the drive from Rome in near-silence, spent the final morning sitting on the terrace with a notebook, writing. That, more than anything, tells you what Borgo di Vagli does to people.
The Property
Our Destination M residence at Borgo di Vagli is a beautifully restored two-bedroom home tucked within a 14th-century Tuscan hamlet — the kind of place that took a decade to bring back to life, and it shows. Award-winning restoration architect Fulvio Di Rosa oversaw every stone, every beam, every deliberate imperfection. The interiors strike a precise balance: flagstone floors worn smooth by centuries, exposed timber ceilings, a kitchen stocked and ready on arrival thanks to our Mbassador, and views through every window of olive groves, ancient oaks, and the commanding silhouette of the 1,000-year-old Pierle Castle.
The hamlet's pool is an afterthought — you'll barely use it. Why would you, when the terraces offer panoramas that redefine the word sublime?
This is not a hotel. It doesn't pretend to be. What it is, is a home — one with an extraordinary sense of place and no nightly fee eating at your conscience every time you linger over a second carafe of Cortona DOC. That quiet peace is part of the Destination M promise, and here, it is delivered completely.
EXPERIENCE 01 — DINNER
An Evening at La Bucaccia
We arrived as a family who had been to a handful of nice restaurants. We left as people who understood what a truly great one feels like.
Our Mbassador secured us a reservation at La Bucaccia in Cortona — no small feat, as this Michelin-recognised restaurant tucked into the 13th-century Palazzo Cattani fills weeks in advance. Twenty minutes from the hamlet, Cortona rewards every visit, but this dinner was the high-water mark of the week.
The setting alone earns its reputation: gold-stone walls, flagstone floors, the warmth of a room that has been feeding people well for a very long time. Owner Romano Magi moves through the dining room like a conductor — equal parts pride and theatre — steering you toward dishes and wines with an encyclopaedic confidence that makes every recommendation feel personal. We let him guide us entirely.
Pici al fumo arrived first — that thick Tuscan pasta in its signature smoked tomato sauce, which was apparently invented in this very region — followed by a wild boar ragù that reduced my teenagers to respectful silence. We finished with a grappa Romano more or less insisted upon. We did not object. It was one of those dinners you find yourself describing to strangers weeks later.
EXPERIENCE 02 — DAY EXCURSION
Wandering the Medieval Streets of Cortona
We gave the kids a loose agenda and an entire day in Cortona, and it turned into the kind of unhurried, unscripted afternoon that family memories are actually made of. The hilltop town — made famous well beyond Tuscany by Frances Mayes' memoir — is extraordinary precisely because it hasn't been tamed by its own popularity. The streets are still steep and narrow and entirely indifferent to tourist convenience.
We started at the Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca, which delivered more than any of us expected — the kids were genuinely absorbed by the Etruscan artifacts and the breadth of history packed into those rooms. From there we drifted to Piazza della Repubblica for coffee, then spent an hour in the art galleries and leather shops along Via Nazionale before climbing to the Fortezza Girifalco for a late lunch.
Bruschetta with pear, gorgonzola and walnut, a glass of local Vernaccia, and a view stretching across the Val di Chiana that stopped conversation entirely. There are worse ways to spend a Tuesday.
EXPERIENCE 03 — CULINARY EXPERIENCE
A Private Cooking Class in the Hamlet
On our penultimate day, our Mbassador arranged a private cooking class through Locanda al Pozzo Antico — a traditional Tuscan restaurant in the heart of Cortona whose chef, Paola, has been known to teach guests the craft behind the recipes. We took over her kitchen for a morning.
The menu: fresh pici pasta from scratch, a classic ribollita, and a torta della nonna that my daughter has since attempted to recreate at home three times. Paola is patient in the way of people who cook with genuine love — she let the teenagers lead, corrected without condescension, and fed us everything we made for lunch with a bottle of Cortona DOC that seemed to appear from nowhere.
By the end of it, my son had decided he wants to study in Italy. I consider this a success by any measure. What struck me most was how this kind of experience — unhurried, intimate, genuinely local — is exactly what Destination M makes possible. Our Mbassador didn't book us a bus tour. She found us a kitchen.
We've traveled as a family to many places over the years. We've stayed in fine hotels and beautiful villas and done everything correctly. But there's something different about arriving somewhere and simply feeling at home — about a place that has already been thought through on your behalf, where the groceries are waiting, the views are ready, and the only decision is how to fill the day. That is the gift of Borgo di Vagli. That is the gift of Destination M.
We'll be back. The kids have already started lobbying for autumn, when the olive harvest begins.
"The Tuscan countryside has a way of making the rest of the world feel very far away, and very unnecessary."
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