- Kate Johnson relishes a session with an instructor from the Royal Drawing School.
- The author resided at the luxurious Borgo Pignano hotel, which is located approximately 30 minutes away from Volterra.
- The price for rooms at the hotel starts from £300 per night with bed and breakfast included.
- READ MORE: Within 'Versailles in the Clouds,' a mountain hotel in Vietnam.
You might be excused for feeling daunted when presented with a paintbrush by an accomplished artist from the Royal Drawing School, all while standing in the lush gardens of a stately villa perched above the picturesque Tuscan countryside, which has long been a muse for many renowned creatives around the globe.
Luckily, Fraser Scarfe is a patient and supportive teacher.
As he gives us a brief tour of almost 500 unique pieces of artwork adorning the halls of the majestic Borgo Pignano hotel, he remains so modest that I find myself asking which ones are actually his creations.
Each piece was crafted by artists and graduates from the Royal School, an institution established by King and artist Catherine Goodman in 2000 with the aim of sustaining the tradition of life drawing. Every year, several postgraduate students spend a few weeks during the summer months painting under the guidance of a mentor, potentially leaving their artwork behind as part of the collection.
Fraser shares some advice—avoid holding your palette like a pizza tray as often seen in movies; instead, rest it on your forearm. He suggests concentrating on a small section of the canvas at a time and drawing large, clear outlines with pencils before setting you up with paints and an easel.
He instills in us the assurance to begin—and importantly, complete—our artwork, monitors our progress frequently, and assists whenever needed.
His basic dabbing and strokes breathe life into my canvas, making three hours fly by. Such a session can be booked privately or as part of a group led by an artist from the Royal School.
It is merely one of the offerings available at the historic Borgo Pignano from the 18th century.
The upscale hotel sits on an organic property complete with its own vineyard, spread across 750 forested acres atop a hill and boasts extraordinarily chic neighbors.
To the west lies Volterra, which is about a thirty-minute drive away; to the east sits San Gimignano at a similar distance. Siena can be reached with a one-hour journey toward the south, whereas Florence requires slightly longer travel time heading northward. This particular establishment known as "Borgo," translating to village, was meticulously renovated by its entrepreneurial British proprietor throughout two decades of dedication.
Despite all its classic elegance—elegant dining rooms, exquisite menus, intricate frescoes, majestic libraries, and spacious billiard halls—it doesn’t feel stifling. Nobody gives side-eye to guests or murmurs about how much better off they’d be without their baseball caps during breakfast.
Horses are available for riding, expansive areas cater to sports enthusiasts, there’s an infinity pool with heating facilities, sessions for yoga practice, workshops on soap-making guided by an herbalist, opportunities for wine tasting, electric bikes for exploration, cooking classes, along with breathtakingly beautiful gardens.
I spend a pleasant hour walking in the morning; no one else is around as nature flourishes with vitality.
Surrounded by such breathtaking landscapes, you find yourself constantly captivated by the scenery. No wonder there are no TVs in the rooms; nobody has ever voiced dissatisfaction over this absence. The beauty outside surpasses anything seen on screens. While my attempts at capturing these scenes through art fall short of doing them true justice, it remains an immensely pleasurable endeavor nonetheless.
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