Accommodation review:3 villas in Villa Saletta in Tuscany, Italy

Wealthy financier and Italy lover Guy Hands and his wife Julia bought the abandoned Villa Saletta estate more than 20 years ago and set about revitalizing it, reviving the tradition of wine and olive oil production and restoring the villas for luxury vacations. Villa Valle, an hour and a half's drive east of Pisa, offers three country retreats with their own secluded terraces and pools where summer days can be enjoyed. But for the more energetic guests, there are opportunities to hike and bike through the hills, search for truffles in the forests, tour vineyards and wineries, and pick olives in the fall. Art lovers will delight in the hilly villages and historic Tuscan towns such as San Gimignano, Volterra and Lucca, which are all in close proximity.

Casolare villas are very private. Retaining wooden ceilings and terracotta floors, and decorated with warm wooden antique furniture and elegant fabrics, the villas combine Tuscan rustic simplicity with English country house style. Bathrooms have rain showers and/or large bathtubs with modern fittings. The two large villas have seven rooms for up to 14 people and are ideal for family reunions (children allowed) or parties. Villa Valle has a magnificent large kitchen, an enviable guest room and separate accommodation in a converted hayloft, while the small former "Casanare" hunting lodge, tucked away amongst the sun-dappled woodland, will make a romantic hideaway in the forest.

My favorite villa is "Fagnana", with a spacious terrace overlooking the distant hills, an inviting pool and a living room with comfortable sofas and a crackling fireplace. Guests are greeted with a basket of homemade products, including award-winning wines, olive oil and honey from Villa Saletta. Fresh produce, a small box of artisan chocolates next to your bed and a rich, beautifully illustrated book about the estate's history await you.

The Villa Saletta estate has a rich past. The name of Villa Saletta's most exclusive wine, 980 AD, refers to the first written mention of the estate and its wine production. It was home to ancient aristocratic families, including the Riccardi family of Florence, who were bankers to the House of Medici. In the 16th and 17th centuries they transformed the estate into a prosperous and profitable working estate, with nobles and laborers living side by side in a medieval village. The village today is a charming but faded cluster of buildings with peeling pinks, reds and colors. Highlights include the clock tower, the church, the Riccardi chapel, the loggia with beautiful views and the frescoed palazzo where the Riccardis lived and hosted receptions. The entire development of the village is now abandoned except for one house where a woman lives with her cats. Guy and Julia Hands bought Villa Saletta in 2000 and saw the potential to revitalize the tradition of a diverse farming community, run sympathetically and self-sufficiently. Their plans for the village are "a luxury hospitality experience, with authenticity and history at its heart".

Since 2016, the affable David Landini has become head winemaker, experimenting with different grape varieties, working with consultants from Bordeaux, and overseeing the construction of a new state-of-the-art cellar. Landini was impressed by Hands' personal wine cellar at his home in the UK and agreed to be part of the exciting new vision for Villa Saletta Vineyards. As well as the classic Tuscan variety Sangiovese, he has installed a range of grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, ideal for the site. Landini gives us a tour of the state-of-the-art cellar, explaining the careful selection of grapes, fermentation in stainless steel tanks, and aging processes in French (and some Slovenian) oak barrels. Then comes the much anticipated wine tasting. We move from a refreshing, Provence-like Spumante Rosé, through high-quality Chianti, to a deeply spicy Chiave di Saletta 2018 and finally the estate's flagship wine: the Giulia 19, named for Giulia Riccardi, who conveniently has the same name as Guy Hands' wife, Giulia.

This gastronomic region has many top-notch local chefs who can be hired to prepare a high-quality Tuscan lunch or dinner in your villa. Those who want to fully immerse themselves in the gastronomic experience can choose a different chef each night during the week. One of our chefs comes from Papaveri e Papere restaurant in the nearby town of San Miniato, famous for its white truffles and the largest truffle festival in the region. Even more truffles can be found at the very friendly Osteria del Sole, an inn in nearby Capannoli, where juicy and tender steaks reign supreme. They pair perfectly with a bottle of Rosso di Montalcino, the younger sibling of the more famous Brunello di Montalcino, both hailing from the timeless Tuscan hill town.

Back at the villa, it was time for our cooking class led by the delightful Erika Elia. We sat at the dining room table, kneading pasta dough and then shaping it into snake shapes and cutting off small pieces to create orechette (little ears). Our chef was very patient with my sticky dough and misshapen pasta, adding it to the pot with the more properly made "ears". After preparing all day, we finally enjoyed the fruits of our labor: a three-course meal of pula pasta, Tuscan hunter-style chicken, and Venetian tiramisu.

The best came at the end. The hills around Villa Saletta are one of the rare regions in the world where black and white truffles (tartufi) abound, with the white ones being the most valuable. These mushroom tubers grow from spores living on the roots of oak, hazelnut, poplar and willow trees in certain soils and conditions. Without faithful truffle hunting dogs, truffle hunters would not be able to travel far; they are trained for at least four years to detect their scent. A favorite breed is the Lagotto Romagnolo, or "water dog," with a curly poodle-like coat, which originates from the Po Delta and was used as a hunting dog, especially for pulling prey out of the water. No truffle experience would be complete without sampling tasting the prized mushroom, so we sat down at a table at Tartufi Savini and enjoyed truffle flavored crumbles, tagliatino pasta with generous shavings of white truffle, eggs with even more truffle shavings and in dessert, truffle chocolate ice cream! As we were enjoying the truffle sky, Andrea, a long established truffle hunter, showed up, camouflaged in his fatigue and wielding a basket of white, mud-covered beauties. The basket is to be shipped to Qatar, sold for the symbolic price of 12,000 euros. The dirt goes too, because two days of the truffle's life are lost after cleaning. The Savini family has been in the truffle business for four generations and today they ship them all over the world from their headquarters in Montanelli, near Villa Saletta. Tartufi Sav store

Having had our fill of truffles, we head deep into the forests of Saletta in search with the help of Andrea and his sweet dog Giotto. There were no guarantees of finding "white diamonds", but after a few false starts, Giotto gets very excited by the smell under a tall oak tree and starts digging furiously. Before he can damage the tuber, Andrea lures him in with his favorite dog cookies and finishes the job with his special sharp vanghetto tartufi tool that cuts through the clay. Andrea tells us that a small truffle costs about 200 euros. By this point Giotto is more interested in cookies and a walk in the woods. We return to Fagnana, sink into the sofas and dream of being the lucky owners of a part ofTuscany, with vineyards, olive trees and a forest of white truffles