BACK TO LIFE
The straight lines of the motorway from Pisa airport take a more sinuous turn and, leaving the asphalt greys behind, the colour palette softens to a patchwork of restful greens punctuated by sentry-like cypresses. We climb higher into Tuscan hills that ripple away as far as the eye can see, and arrive at our bolthole for a few precious days: Borgo Pignano, an estate and working farm of some 750 acres nestled on verdant slopes between Volterra and San Gimignano.
There is a real sense of permanence in this beautiful place, and indeed the site has been inhabited since Etruscan times.
