There are always a few blank squares left on one’s yearly calendar. A long weekend that never quite materialized. A week you promised yourself you would use. And with Labor Day arriving particularly late this year, there is even time for one last trip before summer officially gives way to fall.

Consider Fiesole: high in the hills above Florence, Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, reopened this spring after an 18-month restoration. Early September is particularly good there. The days remain warm, the evenings begin to cool, and Florence slowly emerges from the crush of high summer. From the villa, the city is close enough for an afternoon at the Uffizi and far enough to leave the crowds behind for a cocktail overlooking the city as the sun goes down.

 

 

People have been making essentially the same calculation for centuries. Fiesole was long a place for otium, the Renaissance idea of leisure devoted to contemplation. Villa San Michele’s story on this hillside dates back to the early 15th century, when it was a Franciscan convent built on land donated by the Davanzati family and dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel.

The friars remained for roughly four centuries, until Napoleon dissolved the monastic orders in 1808. Napoleon himself is said to have used a room here as his headquarters. Today, it is the Grand Tour suite.

 

 

The building’s Michelangelo-inspired façade remains, but behind it, Luigi Fragola Architects has reworked the hotel from top to bottom. There are now 39 rooms and suites, including the two-story Limonaia with its own plunge pool and the garden-inspired Botanica. Impruneta terracotta, Cipollino marble, antiques, and bespoke furniture appear throughout, while original frescoes have been restored and stone fireplaces recalling the friars’ cells reinstated in several rooms.

 

 

The building’s monastic past also finds an unlikely second life in its new approach to wellness. Villa San Michele Spa by Guerlain, the maison’s first in Florence, occupies the first floor of the former convent, with three treatment rooms reached through a frescoed “Secret Garden” painted by artist Elena Carozzi. Guerlain has created treatments specifically for the property, including Floral Delight in Tuscany and The Art of Renaissance, as well as an Iris di Grazia facial inspired by the flower on Florence’s emblem.

Beyond the treatment rooms, the approach to wellness takes a more unexpected turn. The hotel has partnered with JJ Martin and La DoubleJ on an Energy Raising Programme, centered around a former chapel now equipped with a gong, meditation cushions, and a light and sound installation. There is also a Sungazing Lounge overlooking the Florentine hills and an open-air yoga deck. The timing is particularly good for an early September escape: from September 3 to 6, Martin will co-host the property’s inaugural four-day Embodied Presence retreat devoted to breathwork, somatic practice, and guided meditation.

 

 

Outside, more than 10,000 square meters of gardens have been redesigned by Luca Ghezzi according to Renaissance principles of geometry and framed views. Lemon, bitter orange, citron, and chinotto trees line the terraces, alongside a new iris garden, an expanded herb garden, and a 42-meter rose path overlooking Florence.

Dinner provides yet another reason to remain within the villa’s sanctuary. Alongside San Michele Restaurant and San Michele Grill, executive chef Alessandro Cozzolino has opened Antesi, an eight-table restaurant set in a 16th-century loggia. Its three tasting menus are organized around time: Attesa (Waiting), drawing on Cozzolino’s own history; Ora (Now), responding to the surrounding landscape; and the vegetable-driven Traccia (Trace). The premise is to serve an ingredient at precisely the point when it is at its best, rather than impose too much upon it.

 

 

For those tempted to extend the escape, Villa San Michele has introduced a new offer for stays of two nights or more. The package includes private return transfers from Florence airport or railway station, a guaranteed room upgrade upon arrival, early check-in and late check-out, and a €200 spa credit to put toward the villa’s new approach to wellbeing. Find out more about the offer here.

Florence hardly needs another argument in its favor. There’s always something left unseen, somewhere new to eat, a beautiful palazzo to discover, an exhibition worth seeing, and enough beauty to warrant returning again and again. Now, there’s a newly restored sanctuary waiting in the hills above.

And for those last unclaimed days of 2026, that sounds like a fairly good use of otium.