Meet The Ferragamos

A medieval village in Tuscany provides the private time that nurtures the bonds between four generations of the famous fashion family. Eana Maniebo visits Il Borro and finds out why it’s so important to them

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It rains, then it shines, the weather is playing a fanciful game in the picturesque Tuscan countryside as the waning summer slides reluctantly towards autumn. The unpredictable atmospherics only enhance the charm of Il Borro, a village dating back to 1039, as an impeccably dressed Ferruccio Ferragamo and his equally dapper son Salvatore greet me. The famous family founded by Salvatore’s eponymous grandfather owns this gorgeous medieval hamlet, set in a picturesque floodplain carved by the Arno River and bordered by the Pratomagno ridge, the Apennines and the hills of Chianti.

Ferruccio, the eldest son of the humble shoemaker who started the family business, discovered Il Borro during a hunting trip in 1985, but it was a broken, derelict version of what exists today and its hard scrabble inhabitants were struggling to make ends meet. Ferruccio, however, recognised the potential of the buildings and their lovely setting. He returned in 1993 to buy the hamlet, along with the adjacent grand villa, which was half-destroyed during World War II, and the 700ha of fertile countryside on which they lie.