One Night in a Tuscan Estate Reborn as a Hotel With an Artist Residency

After learning about Villa Lena—a rural Italian getaway with converted guesthouses, a farm-to-table restaurant, and creative workshops—I quickly booked my own visit.

Welcome to One Night In, a series about staying in the most unparalleled places available to rest your head.

I always prefer to travel somewhere new. Unless that place is Italy, in which case I’d return a million times over. So this summer, after a road trip honeymoon around Scotland and subsequent girls’ trip in Greece and Albania, I decided to tack on a solo four-day stay at Villa Lena, a luscious Tuscan estate spread across roughly 1,235 acres with converted guest rooms, a farm-to-table restaurant, an organic flower and vegetable garden, and a residency program run by the hotel’s namesake art foundation.

Villa Lena is located in the heart of rural Tuscany. The estate’s 19th-century villa (originally built for an Italian aristocratic family) now houses an artist-in-residence program. Surrounding agricultural buildings—former farmhouses, stables, and hunting lodges—have been converted into charming guest accommodations.

Dan Sauer, Courtesy Villa Lena

Built for Italian aristocrats more than 100 years ago, the villa fell into disrepair until undergoing a six-year renovation by its new owners—art collector Lena Evstafieva, her musician husband Jérôme Hadey, and Parisian restaurateur Lionel Bensemoun—who reimagined it as a decadent hospitality haven. The trio reopened the destination in 2013 as a creative’s oasis, with 74 rooms and private villas for guests across the grounds repurposed from historic agricultural buildings, reserving the showstopping peach-painted villa for artist residents from around the world.

From April through October, the foundation invites a handful of cross-disciplinary creatives to board for free (with meals, sans air-conditioning) for roughly a month and develop new work in their own studios. In exchange, they lead guest workshops like "floral sculpting" and "emotional drawing" and leave behind a creation for the foundation. Besides the resident-led workshops, guests can also book creative retreats throughout the year, like the fall Harvest Festival, which offers workshops in ceramics and floral installations, plus truffle hunting. About an hour’s drive from Florence, the surrounding area offers visitors opportunities for various flavors of adventure, from the scenic on-site park built on the ruins of a medieval castle, to the nearby ghost town of Toiano, largely abandoned by people but teeming with cats. And, of course, in every direction there’s Tuscany, on the off chance you decide to leave this pastoral refuge.

The Villa Lena Foundation operates a residency program that runs from April to October each year. Artist residents live in the estate’s 19th-century villa for four to five weeks and create new work in dedicated studio spaces while also leading workshops for hotel guests.

Frederik Vercruysse, Courtesy Villa Lena

After weeks of searching for a just-right place to spend my short solo week, a florist friend introduced me to Villa Lena. As a terminally online millennial with a closet full of abandoned art projects, the pairing of creative ethos with luxurious lodging immediately stood out to me as a special kind of vacation experience. And as a person enraptured by eating even more than artful living (sorry), it sealed the deal to be able to opt into a half-board food program, which included a daily breakfast buffet and nightly four-course Tuscan dinner. Lucky for me, there were quick direct flights from all over Europe to Pisa—just a 45-minute drive from Villa Lena.

Wednesday

2 p.m.: My cab driver pulls up the twisty road, the abundant grounds of Villa Lena rising into view. It’s the first time in weeks I’ve been on my own. I glance up at the stark terra-cotta villa that I saw in nearly every photo online, its picturesque entryway arches framed by twin cypress trees and a moss-covered fountain. Italy may be in a heat wave, but I have a feeling this will be the perfect restorative jaunt to cap off my travels.

The San Michele building at Villa Lena holds six king-size guest rooms and a farm-to-table restaurant on the ground floor.

Daniele Civetta, Courtesy Villa Lena

See the full story on Dwell.com: One Night in a Tuscan Estate Reborn as a Hotel With an Artist Residency
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