Bruno e Marisella Batinti
Owners and hosts of Le Torri di Porsenna
Welcoming someone, for us, means making every guest part of the story of this place.
In 2014 Bruno and Marisella Batinti found the remains of an old Olivetan abbey, founded by seven Benedictine friars from the monastery of San Secondo on Isola Polvese. Sienese red brick, centuries of history and nobody living in it. The restoration kept the soul of the place where it was: exposed beams, terracotta floors, the friars' old cells turned into bedrooms, the refectory turned into the restaurant's Sala Grande.
Today Le Torri di Porsenna is a charme and wellness agriturismo with a spa, pools in the gardens, a kitchen tied to local produce and a park that opens onto the Val di Chiana. Bruno looks after the running of the estate and the projects on it. Marisella looks after the welcome, the feel of the rooms and the details that make guests feel they are in a house rather than a hotel.
L'Almanacco comes out of that. It is the same advice they give guests over breakfast: which island is worth the ferry, which village to go back to, when the lake is at its best and when to stay away. Written down, in five languages, because the audience for an agriturismo on the Umbria-Tuscany border is German, English, French and Spanish at least as much as it is Italian.
The method is the one you use when you live here: write only about what you know first hand, and check every practical detail against an official source before it reaches the page. Where there is no source, the sentence changes.
How we check the articles
- Drive times come from a single table, measured from our own gate, identical in all five languages.
- Opening hours, ferries and festival dates appear only if read on the official source, which is cited at the end of the article.
- No prices: they change, and a stale rate on a page that stays online for years is a broken promise.
- Every article also says at least one thing that is not worth doing, or a time of year when it is better not to come.
Articles by Bruno and Marisella
10 min readAgriturismo with a Pool: Umbria and the Tuscan Border
Heated or not, indoor or outdoor, shared or not: a practical checklist for choosing an agriturismo pool in Umbria, from someone who runs one.
9 min readCooking on the Umbria-Tuscany Border
Tuscan pici, Umbrian cured meats, one board joining both sides: what really changes in the kitchen crossing the Umbria-Tuscany border, minutes from here.
9 min readCittà della Pieve: Perugino, Not Just a Drive-Through
Four original Perugino works in his home town, the area's narrowest alley, old-style saffron, and why most drivers never leave the main road to see it.
9 min readRomantic Weekend in Umbria: A Two-Night Planning Guide
How long a two-night stay actually gives you, how to dodge the Saturday spa crush, what to book ahead and one outing chosen well.
9 min readAgriturismo spa in Umbria: what to actually expect
A shared pool, treatments booked ahead, no thermal cures. What a spa at an agriturismo in Umbria really means, before you book.
10 min readPienza and the Val d'Orcia in a day, beyond the photos
The most photographed landscape in Tuscany, told by someone an hour away: Pienza, Bagno Vignoni, the cypresses, and where it pays to leave the car.
9 min readChianciano Terme: What to See and Where to Stay
The medieval hilltop village above, the twentieth-century spa town below: what still holds up after the cure-tourism collapse, and where to actually stay.
8 min readCastiglione del Lago: Things to Do Beyond the Fortress
Wednesday market since 1548, where parking actually works, the covered walkway above the lake, and how the town changes between August and winter.
10 min readLake Trasimeno Islands: Maggiore, Polvese and the Ferries
Fishing history and lacemaking on Isola Maggiore, what Polvese contains beyond the park, why Minore stays private, and how the ferries really work.
9 min readUmbria in 3 Days, on the Tuscan Border: The Itinerary
Lake Trasimeno on day one, Assisi on day two, Perugia or Orvieto on day three: the real three-day itinerary, written by someone who lives here.
9 min readCortona in One Day: What to See Beyond the Film
The MAEC, the Diocesan Museum, the Fortezza del Girifalco and what is true of Under the Tuscan Sun. A guide to Cortona from 22 minutes away.
9 min readMontepulciano and the Vino Nobile: Thirty Minutes Away
Vino Nobile DOCG, cellars cut into tufa, the Palazzo Comunale tower and the Bravio delle Botti race: Tuscany's wine country half an hour from our door.
8 min readTreehouse Stay in Italy: 22 Minutes from Cortona
Our treehouse is in Umbria, 22 minutes from Cortona: how it is built, who it suits, and what lies within reach between Lake Trasimeno and Val di Chiana.
11 min readAutumn in Umbria and Tuscany: October and November
Autumn colour, olive harvest, white truffle and a pool heated to 35°C: what there is to actually do in Umbria in October and November.
10 min readThings to Do in Umbria, Italy: A Local's Itinerary
Perugia, Assisi and Orvieto are under an hour away; the rest of Umbria is a separate trip. Honest driving times from someone on the Tuscan border.
10 min readWhat to See at Lake Trasimeno: A Local's Guide
Three islands, the villages worth stopping for, Hannibal's battlefield, and the best month to come. Written from ten minutes away.