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INSPIRATION | CABANA TRAVEL | WORLD OF CABANA
Kenya-based Yaye Kassamali and Harrison Thane take a road trip through the Tuscan countryside, seeing the region through fresh eyes, soaking up the culture and cuisine, and sharing the sights and secrets that enchant them along the way.
BY YAYE KASSAMALI & HARRISON THANE | CABANA TRAVEL | AUGUST 2025
As we began discussing plans for our trip to Tuscany, my phone mysteriously started serving me articles about a “Tuscany untapped”. Harrison [my partner, and photographer] and I laughed at both the fact that our phones were clearly spying on us, and that this was something we’d come to accept. We shrugged off the digital nudges. We were determined to discover Tuscany for ourselves. And that, we did.
What we found between ancient castles and sculpture gardens, lemon trees and linen sheets was a subtle grandeur. A reminder that the most exquisite experiences are often the most fundamental, like gathering food with your hands and listening to people’s stories. Each place told a tale of Beauty and intention, where everything and everyone seemed to be exactly where they were meant to be.
Castello di Vicarello
Our first stop was Castello di Vicarello. We arrived on a rainy, grey day and stepped into what felt like a warm hug. The grey stones, carved and stacked into a monument of memory, towered in contrast to the vivid green rain-soaked lawns.
To get to the lounge we had to pass through the open kitchen where enthusiastic guests were preparing for a cooking class with the chef. The kitchen itself, humble and organized, felt like something out of a fairytale. The castle itself dates back to the 12th century, after all. As we sat on one of the velvetiest of velvet red sofas, the books, the art and the most delicate crystal and string chandelier stirred a profuse appreciation for what the human mind, along with heart and time, is capable of conceiving.
Castello di Vicarello was acquired by the Baccheschi Berti family in the late 1970s after which they spent 12 years restoring it. What began as a family home has grown into a curated blend of history, taste, and comfort. A labor of love. The rooms are exceptional, the service seamless, and the atmosphere relaxed. But the most memorable experience came in the form of an unassuming asparagus frittata.
Corso, the youngest son of the family and our gracious host, invited us to forage wild asparagus. A natural teacher, Corso has been foraging on the property since his childhood. He pointed out the first “mother plant”; where there is a mother plant, there is asparagus waiting to be found. Wild asparagus is long, thin, more delicate than the store-bought kind. It’s also more sweet, almost like green peas. While demonstrating how to pluck our first find, he explains that for him, this is real luxury: taking your time, picking your own food, preparing a meal with care. After gathering a handful of asparagus, we stopped at the chicken coop for three fresh eggs.
Back in the kitchen, Corso and I broke the asparagus with our fingers. Next to a large container of extra virgin olive oil made on site, Corso peeled some garlic. While he did so he explained that as soon as the garlic began to release aroma from the hot olive oil in the pan, he would be removing it. To keep it any longer would be to destroy the essence of the individual ingredients. We watched him move with passion, his hands guided by deep understanding as he spoke of each step. When he finally presented the frittata, its flavor held every part of our morning: the walk, the stories, the perfect blend of fine ingredients, and above all, the love infused into every bite.
Sacro Bosco
We punctuated our leisurely drives through the Tuscan countryside with visits to places that felt like dreams themselves: remarkable, awe-inspiring manifestations of human imagination. Beyond stops on a map, they were portals into minds that dared to see differently. Sculpture gardens, mystical groves, and surreal stone parks pulled us out of time and into something more playful, more sagacious.
Sacro Bosco in Bomarzo was one of them. In the 16th century, the nobleman Vicino Orsini created this wooded wonderland as a place of emotion, contradiction, and imagination. The garden is filled with colossal sculptures carved directly into volcanic rock: a troll-like face with a gaping mouth you can walk into, giants locked in eternal combat, dragons, mermaids, and strange inscriptions meant to puzzle and provoke. Its surrealism felt sacred and satirical, completely unlike the manicured elegance of the classical renaissance.
La Certosa di Maggiano
We wound through the grassy hills of Tuscany toward our next stay, La Certosa di Maggiano. At one point we found ourselves sandwiched between a convoy of Porsches on what must’ve been a leisurely club drive - we were convinced Daniel Craig was in one of them! Eventually, we arrived at the gates of a former Carthusian monastery now reimagined into a wildly unique retreat.
La Certosa greets you with lemon and orange trees. Where Vicarello is classical, La Certosa is playful. Each place masterfully captures its character. A plethora of textures from wallpaper to sofas beg to be touched. The chapel within La Certosa di Maggiano serves as the spiritual heart of the complex, still running Sunday services and open to the public. Inside, marble floors make each step feel sacred, like our shoes should be left at the door, and many details date back to the 1500s.
In a backroom, we marveled at something unforgettable: the restoration of the chapel’s original Jesus centerpiece that was being carried out by a local artist. Cristiano, the manager, informed us it was being moved to a museum. Those were likely its final moments at La Certosa.
The bartender is charming and knowledgeable. He whips us up some classic cocktails that we’ve had several times before but somehow here, they taste how they should, as if the bible of cocktails had been followed to the letter. A sophisticated lounge space just beyond the bar housed a pool table, and every section of the bookshelves and the decor around them were color blocked offering deep aesthetic pleasure. We enjoyed sundowners in the garden as the sun made its descent over the green pastures beyond, our one-year old crawling in the dewy grass with glee.
Villa Lante
Another stop took us to Villa Lante where the garden is the paragon. Terraced with mathematical precision, it spills in a cascade of symmetry and surprise. Sculpted stone gods and creatures peer from fountains and balustrades, while water - always flowing - trickles, gushes, spouts and pours through every level.
The formal hedges are clipped into perfect geometry, creating maze-like paths and hidden corners. Inside the twin palazzina, grotesque frescos stretch across the ceilings, half-myth, half-madness, in harmony with the surreal logic of the garden outside. Every detail feels orchestrated to remind you that nature, too, can be art.
Locanda Sospesa
Our final rest stop, Locanda Sospesa, true to its name the “floating inn” sits perched between sky and valley, as if slightly lifted from reality itself. The architecture is unpresuming but storied: the home has passed gently through generations, its atmosphere preserved in thresholds that seem to remember every footstep.
Unlike grander estates, Sospesa doesn't seek to impress with scale, instead it invites you into intimacy. Rooms flow into each other without fanfare. You stumble into eclectic collections of treasure, a sunlit alcove, the subtle creak of a floorboard. The ambience is one of lived-in elegance, a place shaped by pragmatic preservation rather than renovation.
Il Giardino dei Tarocchi
We visited Il Giardino dei Tarocchi, the vision of French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle. Opened to the public in 1998, the garden bursts with imposing sculptures inspired by tarot cards; symbols of mystery and fate. Covered in mosaics of mirror, ceramic, and glass, each figure invites both reflection and play. Saint Phalle created this fantastical landscape as a personal and artistic sanctuary, a place to heal, imagine, and celebrate feminine power. Walking through it is pure delight: the textures undulate, the colors explode.
Across centuries and styles places like Villa Lante, Il Giardino dei Tarocchi, and Sacro Bosco remind us of the human urge to imagine beyond what exists. Whether through manicured symmetry, surreal creatures, or mirrored mosaics, their creators broke free from convention to make space for wonder, play and expression. They didn’t build for tourists, they built from the inside out, from grief, dreams, rebellion, and joy. In a world where almost anything seems possible, it’s easy to take imagination for granted. But these places prove how vital it is. They urge us to dream.
Along with Beauty, Tuscany exudes devotion. Every accommodation, host, sculpture garden speaks of time, family, craftsmanship, and care. These places were built slowly, without the shortcuts of modern technology, shaped by hand and heart. We’re reminded of the human spirit’s enduring desire to create, to inspire and to leave something lasting.
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Where to Stay in (and near) Tuscany
Checking-in to: Castelfalfi | Checking-in to: Collegio alla Querce
Checking-in to: Tenuta di Murlo
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