Sunday, December 22, 2024

Inside This New Luxury Travel Company Offering Royal Curated Stays In Florence

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Serving ‘off-menu’ VIP curated stays for the haute traveler from the emerald rolling hills of Tuscany to the suburban souks of Marrakech, This Time Tomorrow is one of the hottest new-to-market luxury travel brands, offering guests a local insider’s glimpse into bustling cities across the globe with expert local curators based at its lavish private residences offering insider access to some of the finest restaurants, galleries and exclusive tours that one can immerse themself into.

Hidden in the neighborhood of Le Cure, This Time Tomorrow’s Florence residences sit within a grand stately townhouse-style Abitazione with rows of Florentine sandstone bricks and dark olive shutters.

Scan your ID card against a high-tech brass intercom and push against its arched oak double doors as you glide along Venetian tiles under an antique brass caged lantern and enter an intimate reception wrapped in pistachio with an onyx stone reception desk and a crystal medieval banquet chandelier hanging above.

Whizzing up a retro brass caged elevator, you can retire to your two-bedroom luxury baroque residence, 1AM, set across 155 square meters, with herringbone corridors weaving between an open-plan living room, full-size kitchen, and two master en-suite bedrooms.

An eighteenth-century Tuscan tapestry marks the centerpiece of its lavish lounge with an aubergine velvet sofa, wicker rattan chairs, and a black granite fireplace guarded by gold-lined mocha and olive green sofa chairs sat under a brass neo-classical chandelier hanging from a grotesque hand painted ceiling – surrounded by orchids, grey soft stone coffee tables, pomegranate curtains, and golden deco mirrors.

Long corridors flow to palatial master bedrooms, bright, rich, and cream, with soaring ceilings, Sicilian vases, Salvador Dalí paintings, mint ceramic teapots, high back royal blue chairs sat at pine writing desks, and a black thin-framed four-poster bed bordered by golden spotlights and velvet ropes snaking down to suspended crystal beside chandeliers.

Terrazzo floors spill into its lavish bathrooms with veined stone sinks, art deco cabinets, thick cotton dressing robes, and a deep soaking tub wrapped in volcano marble.

Whilst floor-to-ceiling pebble doors swing open onto a sweeping courtyard terrace with terracotta tiles, bay trees, and wicker chairs to sink into as you sip a glass of Vin Santo and graze on cantuccini with far views stretching over the Tuscan hills as a starry night sky blooms.

As the sun rises over Le Cure, tiptoe across the street to Cafe Blasio, with mirrored walls, art deco orbital chandeliers, and brass tables where you can exchange a salt sachet from This Time Tomorrow for an espresso and a rich, gooey cornetto al cioccolato or lemon curd croissant.

Back at your residence, you’ll be whisked away in a Mercedes Benz, heading for the rolling hills of Chianti, Tuscany’s famed wine region, stretching 13 miles between Florence, Siena, and Arezzo.

At its heart, home to fortresses, parish churches, and country houses, stop at Villa Degli Dei, owned by Tommaso Cavalli (son of the late Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli). It neighbors the oldest Basilique in Chianti, the Parish Church of San Leolino – tucked away on his San Leolino estate, with roaming trotting horses and vineyards planted in the Conca d’Oro valley.

Its cellars sit inside the 9th-century Tuscan Romanesque Pieve di San Leolino with sandstone columns, glazed terracotta tabernacles, and thirteenth-century artworks – split over two levels, La Tinaia, with beamed ceilings and enormous vats for fermentation and La Barricaia, surmounted by ribbed vaults preserving fine French oak barrels until the wine reaches the perfect maturation.

Complete your visit with a sumptuous tasting session sampling merlot, cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot, Alicante Bouschet, cabernet franc, and Sangiovese.

Journey on to Panzano, a tiny, charming hilltop town with less than 1,000 residents, surrounded by stretching countryside dotted with Tuscan farmhouses, where you explore the Church of Santa Maria and see the remains of Panzano castle or visit a wine bar-come-art gallery, Il Vino dell’Arte.

Head to Officina Della Bistecca restaurant, where you’ll meet world-famous chef, butcher, and star of Netflix’s Chef’s Table, Dario Cecchini, known for his sustainable approach to butchery using as much of the cow as possible, with little waste.

Black Sabbath fills the downstairs butchers with free-flowing red wine pouring out of straw baskets (known as ‘fiascos’) and steep stairs leading up to long banquet tables with exposed terracotta brickwork and an open fire charcoal grill serving beef tartar, seared rump carpaccio, Panzanese steak, and Bistecca alla Fiorentina with braised onions, chickpea tart, baked potatoes, and fresh Tuscan bread in brown paper bags.

Back in Florence, skip the queue with a private visit to Galleria dell’Academia, built to house fine Renaissance masterpieces from Michelangelo’s world-famous 17-foot David, carved from a single block of marble to the unfinished San Matteo of Matthew the Apostle. You’ll also find works by Sandro Botticelli, Taddeo Gaddi, Filippino Lippi, Andrea Orcagna, and Domenico Ghirlandaio.

Downtown, head to the Cantinetta Antinori of Florence, a plush restaurant nestled in the mid-fourteenth century Palazzo Antinori, where you can sample fine wines from the Antinori family estates surrounded by grey suede chesterfield sofas, ceramic vases, potted terrariums, terracotta tiles, and rich oak libraries stocked with ancient books and jars of vegetables marinated in olive oil.

Dark and seductive, its sumptuous drapes hang from high ceilings marked with the Florentine Winemakers Guild crest as gastronomes pass through open glass doorways passing a dark oak bar and walnut wine cellar wrapping its walls.

Feast on stuffed courgettes, cod Panzanella, and raw amberjack in citrus sauce before slurping taglierini pasta with fish ragout and potato ravioli with duck sauce, complete with veal meatballs, Guinea-fowl and the famed Florentine T-bone steak.

Cleanse your pallet with warm pear cake and mascarpone or Grandmother’s cake with lemony, tender shortcrusts filled with luscious pastry cream as you sip Marchesi Antinori wines.

Birthplace of the negroni, complete your evening at Giacosa 1815 with smoked mirrors, golden lamps, black marble tables, and teal velvet sofa chairs where mixologists serve you classical negroni, Gibson negroni, and Garibaldi negroni with Savoia Americano, Chinotto, and cocoa.

Utter Florence chic.

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