Overlooking the ochre and green hills of Tuscany - ancient Etruria - Pignano plays with our sense of time, its present tranquility belying a turbulent past. The crenellated ramparts, dating from the 13th century, have witnessed periods of plague, destruction, peace and prosperity, war, decadence and dissolution. In the late 1700s, Pignano was owned by the Incontris, wealthy wool merchants. During the 19th century the Marchese Ludovico Incontri turned Pignano into a palatial country seat. He planted formal gardens and expanded the villa, and out-buildings. Pignano was a borghetto, or hamlet, in which as many as 700 inhabitants looked after the marchese’s family and estate. The upheaval that shook all of Italy from the late 1800s until the second world war enervated the Incontri’s domain. After Guido Incontri's death his two sons quarreled and the estate was divided.

The present owners have reunited the past with the present. The villa and outbuildings have been restored; the land reclaimed according to principles of permaculture and sustainable use of natural resources. Extensive new infrastructure captures and stores rainwater which is recycled through reed beds and used for irrigation. The sun and wood harvested from Pignano’s forest contribute to the community’s energy needs thanks to a solar collectors and a biomass generator. Residents and guests eat fruits and vegetables fresh from the garden, and olive oil pressed from our own trees; eggs and prosciutto come from our chickens and pigs. Seasonally, highly trained spaniels dig truffles - Tuscan gold - from the soil of Pignano.