The problem with Italy is that it makes you feel things.
For the last twenty years I have been travelling to this pretty Peninsula and I don’t think I can recall one trip that hasn’t moved me in some way. Even when I’ve sent friends here, unaccompanied or indeed chaperoned, there have often been tears. Not fat, ugly ones, as was recently the case for me, but happy ones too. Emotions here are charmingly, freely entertained.
Fortunately there are places that not only allow the awakening of these senses on a deeper level, but places that encourage these connections too. Last October I arrived at The Sense Resort in Tuscany to open up this world for 48 hours. To uncover all aspects of sensory feeling and experience, so often neglected in day-to-day life, under the gentle and warming, ebullient, Tuscan sun.
In this part of Italy – coastal, upper Maremma – a place lesser known and often lesser discovered by the regular Tuscan tourists, you flank the Mediterranean Sea that looks out onto the majestic island of Elba. This rising landform on the horizon has attracted those with a thirst for sensory and emotional exploration for decades – writers the likes of Hervé Giubert and Dylan Thomas who have crafted great works of fiction and prose, by immersing themselves in the great nature of this corner of the world. Away from ‘the madding crowd’ who more ordinarily flock to the cities to marvel at architectural masterpieces, this instead is a place of natural rhapsody, inviting you to dive underneath the man-made, to a destination far more ethereal in essence.
The Sense Resort was formally opened in 2021, a time during which the world perhaps craved ever-greater connection to the roots of existence while still working through the effects of the pandemic. The five hectare site is built on the until then, more familiar 1960s Cariplo holiday camp footprint, marking a time and place in leisure-led activity that defined a generation. Today the spirit of this still remains, particularly in the hotel’s swimming pool and on the tennis courts, but the much-upgraded now four-star resort offers minimum impact, eco-focused stays where alongside healthy high-end hospitality, the local surroundings still govern your overall itinerary.
An hour or so south by car from Pisa airport, we check in to glorious, white, low-rise buildings, ours a two-bedroom junior suite with sea view and outdoor jacuzzi – the doorbell reading ‘charme’. As with the beauty of all things Italian, there is something here for everyone, the 112 rooms range from ‘comfort’ for the more budget-conscious, and upwards. We begin our stay sipping signature hotel spritz’s from the regards of sun loungers that face the lapping tides of the refreshing early autumnal water and slowly lowering sun, before making our way a little later to the recently Michelin-rated Eaté fine dining restaurant for dinner.
Here, continually alfresco, even towards the end of the season, we brush past The Sense gardens, where more than 7000 named shrubs and 80 different species have been planted. These have been specifically chosen for their resistance to salty winds and lower water requirements, bolstering a visual commitment, as much as one of ethos throughout the resort, towards the local environment.
This commitment is further mirrored on the restaurant menu, highlighted by icons that include ‘maremma autentica’, ‘regional’ and ‘slow food’ (indicated by the iconic red snail mascot), across dishes such as ‘The sea in a jar’, Raw red prawn risotto, Wild Gnocco with aged Pecorino Nero di Pienza DOP cheese, and Beef Cheek Peposo. The wine list draws on the fruits of nearby and a little further afield within Italy, focusing on long-time custodians of the soils that they tend: ‘Luce delle Vite’ from Frescobaldi, Vermentino from Poggio al Tesoro and ‘Solaia’ feel like lucid choices of name on a complementary theme. As the breeze whips through a gentle chatter from Italian, Swiss and German guests, a musician punctuates the evening air with more mellow notes under nature’s darkening blanket of inky-blue sky.
Strolling back to our room and conscious of our limited time here, we choose to test out the hot tub, complete with sensory-programmed coloured lights, while watching the stars above. This is quiet luxury at its most hedonistic.
The following day our explorations of the complex are guided by white signs headlined by arrows that read ‘bright beach, adventure, emotion, freedom’ along with the more practical, ‘dogs area, fitness trail’ and all-important, ‘pool’. We explore the high line board walk that incorporates white mushroom style lamps that shade and protect from the sun in secluded lounging spots and pass electric bikes that can carry you further along the strip and into the town of Follonica.
We consider a hotel-organised boat ride as we walk back down towards the beach, nestled in the Mediterranean scrub and staccatoed by large broccoli-like pine trees that provide a hedonistic scent-scape as much as a beautifully framed view. With toes in the water once again, watching kite surfers duck and dive over the occasional wave, in a mere few hours we are grounded, warmly reminded of our re-connection to nature. To feel our skin against the elements and to indulge in a feeling that Italy, and Tuscany, throughout hearing, seeing, touching, smelling and tasting, absolutely brings best.
For more information about The Sense, including details of its Beach Club and its Green Hotel credentials, please visit www.thesenseresort.com.
