Two new villas sit a five-minute walk from a tenth-century castle, on an estate wide enough to lose a morning in. They carry Etruscan names. Thesan for dawn, Usil for sun.
Castello di Casole, A Belmond Hotel, Tuscany — Courtesy of Belmond
Castello di Casole stands on 1,300 hectares of Tuscan countryside near Casole d'Elsa, west of Siena. The castle at its centre dates to the tenth century. The estate around it is among the largest in private hands in Italy, a run of vineyards, olive groves and oak woods that carries on past the point where the eye stops following.
The two new villas open a short walk from the hotel. Each runs to 250 square metres and sleeps up to seven, with three double bedrooms, a living room, and a dining room that opens onto the kitchen. Outside there is a private garden, a terrace set for the view, and a wood-fired oven under cover. An infinity pool is shared with four other villas on the estate.
The names
In the 1870s, excavations on the estate turned up a cache of Etruscan pieces. Some sit today in the Essere Spa and the castle library. Others went to the archaeological museum in Casole d'Elsa nearby. The two villas face southeast, into the first light, so they took Etruscan words for it. Thesan means dawn. Usil means sun.
Alessandro Moriconi drew the interiors. He worked from reclaimed materials and regional antiques, and leaned on local artisans for the finish. Terracotta tiles underfoot, exposed brick, wooden beams, wrought-iron rails, lamps cut from Tuscan stone. The plaster was trowelled by hand in the old way.
Colour separates the two houses. Villa Thesan runs to sand and pale ochre, the tones of the light it is named for. Villa Usil goes greener, closer to the woods at its back. The fabrics were made for the rooms, among them a bluette fiammato weave developed with Dedar, alongside cloth from Loro Piana Interiors.
A castle keeps the centuries. The villas keep the afternoon.
The Splendid EditThe days
The estate builds the days around the villa. A guide sets up a solar telescope for sun-gazing, reading the flares off the surface. The spa sends its therapists to the terrace for Etruscan and Tuscan treatments. There are workshops in old cosmetology, the beauty recipes the Etruscans kept.
Food arrives the same way. A barman comes to pour the evening aperitif. A grocery service stocks the kitchen with meat and vegetables cut from the Orti del Castello, the estate garden, and leaves a kit for the wood-fired oven so guests work the pizza themselves. A private chef cooks when called, and teaches when asked.
Beyond the villa the estate keeps going. Guided walks cross the 1,300 hectares of wood at a slow pace. Yoga is private and on request. San Gimignano and Siena are a short drive, and the castle's own tables and cellars stay open to villa guests.
The house
Castello di Casole belongs to Belmond, and Belmond to LVMH. The villas are the newest rooms on an estate that has spent years being brought back slowly. The castle holds the history. The villas hold the view, and the light that gave them their names.
Castello di Casole, A Belmond Hotel, Tuscany runs its 2026 season through late November. Villa Thesan and Villa Usil are available now. Details at belmond.com.
Photography courtesy of Belmond — © Belmond, Castello di Casole, A Belmond Hotel, Tuscany