The Vibe: Like staying with your best Tuscan amico.
The Area: Located in the foothills of the Apuanian Alps. Arty Pietrasanta (a very attractive small town stuffed with galleries, boutiques and restaurants) and glitzy-glam Forte dei Marmi are around 15 minutes’ drive away. A 15-minute drive will also take you to the Marina di Pietrasanta, where guests enjoy to a partner beach club including gazebo sunbeds, deckchairs, beach towels and private changing room.
The DNA: Locanda al Colle is set in a 17th-century stone farmhouse, set in a beautiful terraced Mediterranean garden scented with rosemary, wisteria and roses. Owner Riccardo Barsottelli, once a globe-trotting fashion exec, is a passionate collector of art and furniture with a penchant for interior design; he has filled the property with items from his private collections bulked out with fabulous finds from antique markets and auctions, and has jazzed it all up with some wonderful fabrics. The look is colourful retro with the odd quirky touch; it’s stylish yet very homely. Riccardo runs a supremely relaxed house where guests are protected from the outside world (the bar and restaurant have a strict ‘residents-only’ policy). ‘Home-from-home’ is a wildly overused term in hotel speak, but in this case, it really does apply.
Suite-Me-Up: Warm, chic rooms feature individual touches such as white, vaulted, wood-beamed ceilings, oak parquet floors, vintage reading chairs, French 19th century cast iron fireplaces, cast iron enamel bath tubs or tubs for tow and 4-poster beds. All come with air conditioning, a minifridge, an iPod dock, and a bathroom clad in local tiles with a bath and/or a rain shower. Some rooms have furnished balconies, while others have terraces and access to the garden.
Your host: Riccardo Barsottelli
✅ free Wi-Fi • size matters: 9 rooms, 3 suites • hotel opened: August 2000 and extension May 2010 • architecture: Marco Innocenti • bathroom amenities: Erbario Toscano ✅ free on-site parking • pets allowed on request • seasonal hotel: open April to November • minimum 3-night stay
