DNP 60th Birthday · Tuscany, 17

You're invited

It begins on a vintage train

We meet in Rome and travel north together through the Tuscan countryside — lunch and music on board — arriving in the Val d'Elsa by late afternoon. From there, a Fiat 500 or a Vespa is yours for the days that follow, and the hills are the itinerary. Expect long lunches in cloisters and vineyards, a whole village throwing a party, hot air balloons at sunrise, and one unforgettable night at the villa.

Day OneVintage trainRome → Poggibonsi, with lunch on board
All weekFiat 500s & VespasYours for four days
MorningsSunrise ballooningThree mornings over the hills
Every dayCloisters & vineyardsPassignano, Torciano, Monteriggioni
Day FourThe big nightGala dinner & concert at Villa Castrum

Practical

Good to know

Everything else is taken care of. These are the few things worth knowing before you pack.

A Fiat 500 and a Fiat 600 parked in the Tuscan hills

Getting around

A fleet of modern Fiat 500s and 600s and a line of Vespa 125s are waiting at Poggibonsi station when we arrive, and they're yours for the whole stay.

Two named drivers per car, one per Vespa
Automatic and manual, petrol, hybrid and electric
Helmets provided; fuel included
Bring your driving licence

A hot air balloon rising over cypress trees and olive groves

Ballooning

On three mornings, two balloons lift off from the grounds of Villa Castrum at first light.

Meet no later than 07:30
Around an hour in the air
Thirty places each morning — do sign up early
Shuttles to the launch and back from the landing field

A red and a white Vespa parked overlooking the Tuscan hills

How far is everything

Short drives, all of them, and shuttles run to every evening event.

Castello di Tignano15 min

Piazza Matteotti, Tavarnelle10 min

Abbazia di Passignano10 min

Tenuta di Torciano20 min

Monteriggioni25 min

Florence1 hour

Your free afternoons

Every afternoon after lunch is yours. If you'd like something arranged — a spa treatment, a massage, a shopping trip to Florence or the outlets, a cooking class, a village to explore, a gelato lesson — just ask, and we'll set it up.

Suggestions and booking in the event app
Personal extras are settled directly by you

What to wear

Nothing that can't handle a cobbled street.

Day 1 — a medieval castle dinner; comfortable and warm for the evening
Days 2–3 — countryside days: flat shoes for the abbey, the vineyards and the truffle woods
Day 4 — the gala: elegant Dolce Vita
Evenings in the hills turn cool in September — bring a layer

The event app

Your programme, your accommodation, shuttle times, activity sign-ups and the day's proposals all live in the app — along with the photo gallery, so everyone's pictures end up in one place.

The places

Where we'll be

Day One

Castello di Tignano

A castle above Barberino, taken over for one medieval evening.

Day Two

Abbazia di Passignano

An eleventh-century abbey among the Antinori vineyards — mass in the church, lunch in the cloister.

Day Two

Piazza Matteotti

The main square of Tavarnelle, turned into a street-food dinner and open-air concert.

Day Three

Tenuta di Torciano

A family wine estate below the towers of San Gimignano.

Day Three

Teatro Nazionale

Dinner on the stage of a Florentine theatre.

Day Four

Monteriggioni

A perfectly preserved walled village — Dante put it in the Inferno.

Day Four

Villa Castrum

Home base, launch pad for the balloons, and the setting for the birthday night itself.

Every day

The Chianti hills

Cypress roads, hill towns and long lunches — the reason for all of it.