About the author
A "born and bred Tuscan". My whole family comes from a small village called Civitella Marittima, halfway between Siena and the coast of the Maremma, and to me this is more than just the place I come from, it’s essentially who I am: the way I talk, my habits, tastes, and knowledge depend on the fact that I was born and grew up there. I run a holiday home here - Casina di Rosa.

Luxury travel & local communities

Lately I’ve been thinking about the relationship between luxury hotels or resorts and the local communities.  I read about the famous British chef Gordon Ramsay coming to manage the restaurant of the brand new luxury resort in Tuscany called “Castel Monastero“, just outside Siena.  My first reaction was, are Tuscan chefs so bad that we need to “import” a British one?!

I suppose it’s a marketing strategy. At least that gives me an idea of the type of crowd they want to attract (the Russian version of the website gives also a clue about the audience they’re after!). I went to look at the hotel site and I saw that the cheapest room is almost 400 euros per night, which obviously makes it a luxury place for (maybe) many but (definitely) not for all…

I realized there is something that I really don’t like about this kind of tourism ventures.

Continue reading this article @ At Home in Tuscany

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