Castello del Nero, A COMO Hotel ranks #9 on our 2026 list of the best wellness retreat hotels in the world. The case below explains why: the COMO Shambhala spa, the Michelin-starred kitchen, the Chianti-estate setting, and the alternatives we measured it against.
“A 12th-century castle in Chianti, transformed by COMO with a Shambhala spa and Michelin-starred La Torre. Fifty rooms across the castle and farm buildings. Tuscany's wellness benchmark.”
The hotel itself
A 12th-century Chianti castle restored by COMO with 50 rooms by Paola Navone, the Michelin-starred La Torre, and the COMO Shambhala spa. Half-an-hour from Florence; the rest of Chianti at the door.
"A 12th-century castle in the heart of Chianti, polished by COMO into the cleanest, calmest version of countryside Tuscany the region offers."
COMO Castello del Nero occupies a 12th-century castle on a large historic Chianti estate at Strada Spicciano 7, in Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, 30 minutes south of Florence, 40 minutes north of Siena. The property was acquired by Singapore-based COMO Hotels in 2019 and reopened after a multi-year programme of structural restoration and interior reconception by Italian designer Paola Navone. Where the previous owners ran the building as a conventional Italian castle hotel, heavy timber furniture, oxblood walls, framed dynastic portraits, Navone stripped the palette back to pale walls, terracotta floors, monastic linens, and contemporary art. The result is the cleanest, most restrained version of Tuscan-castle luxury currently available.
Why it works for a wellness retreat
A wellness stay here is rooted in place rather than imported wholesale. COMO Castello del Nero is the group's first property in continental Europe, and it carries the COMO Shambhala spa programme into a 12th-century Chianti castle, so the breathwork and bodywork that COMO refined in Bhutan and Bali arrive translated through Tuscan ingredients, Tuscan rhythm, and a landscape of olive groves and vines. That sense of belonging to its own hillside is what separates it from a spa bolted onto a country hotel.
COMO Hotels is the portfolio of Singaporean hotelier Christina Ong, whose wellness identity, the COMO Shambhala name, runs through Como Shambhala Estate in Bali, Uma Paro in Bhutan, and here in Tuscany. The retreat is structured around multi-night Shambhala programmes: bodywork, movement, and nutrition-led dining set against the estate. It is wellness without renunciation, in a region built for the long lunch.
There are 50 rooms and suites across the castle and its restored outbuildings, reimagined by Italian designer Paola Navone, who traded the previous owners' heavy dynastic interiors for pale walls, terracotta floors, and contemporary art. The dining is anchored by La Torre, which holds a Michelin star for contemporary Tuscan cooking drawn from the estate's gardens, and the cellar leans on Chianti and Brunello from the surrounding hills. One honest caveat: this is a 50-key country estate, not a clinical destination spa, so guests seeking a fully medical, results-driven programme will find the wellness offering gentler and more pleasure-led than at a dedicated health resort.
Where it ranks against rivals
For a 2026 wellness retreat at this level, the most direct comparisons are its COMO siblings and the destination-spa benchmarks: COMO Uma Paro in Bhutan (#8 on this list), Amandari in Bali (#10 on this list), and Mii Amo in Sedona (#2 on this list). Castello del Nero earns its rank for situating the COMO Shambhala programme in a living Chianti estate, where the wellness routine is woven into the landscape rather than sealed off from it. The others are not lesser hotels: for a stricter, more clinical programme, Mii Amo is the more focused choice.
Practical: getting in
Address: Str. Spicciano, 7, 50028 Barberino Tavarnelle FI, Italy, about 30 minutes south of Florence. For a wellness stay, the multi-night COMO Shambhala programmes are best booked three to six months ahead, particularly across the gentle shoulder seasons of late spring and early autumn when the estate is at its most temperate. The full review at the hotel page has current rates and the room categories worth paying up for. Use the wellness retreat occasion page for the broader context.