How an 18th-century boarding school became a luxury Florentine resort
One strategy is to strike it off your list. Just don't go. Another is to brave the crowds, perhaps seeking out lesser-known sights. A third, quite simply, is to splurge – staying somewhere exclusive and extravagant. For that, there's the new Collegio alla Querce, an 83-room luxe retreat tucked behind high stone walls in an 18th-century former boarding school.
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The Age
4 days ago
- The Age
Loire Valley tours, France: Stunning region of chateaus and wineries
August 12, 2025 — 5:00am , register or subscribe to save articles for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Two hours after fleeing the Monday morning rush of Paris – so many commuting cyclists and e-scooters – we arrive in the rather more laid-back environs of the Loire Valley, where France's longest river and its tangle of tributaries weave past a string of majestic chateaus rising from a lush, quilted patchwork of forests, gardens, vineyards and wheat fields. This region south-west of the capital is as alluring for travellers now as it was for the French royals of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance era. We're visiting some of their grand old castles and hunting lodges on our three-night stay in the Loire, the opening portion of a La Grande France tour with Albatross that will end a fortnight later in Nice on the sizzling Cote d'Azur. Whimsical Chateau de Chambord. iStock First to cast its spell is the Chateau de Chambord, whose whimsical, sun-kissed melange of towers, spires and chimneys have eyes glued to the windows of our tour coach, driven by the amiable Laurent (nicknamed 'Lolo'). After time for lunch, we join another endearing Gallic soul, local guide Olivier, in the courtyard of this chateau, the largest in the Loire, begun in 1519 for King Francois I and fashioned by the finest artisans and architects from France and Italy. After Olivier shares some mind-boggling facts and figures, we check out a chunk of the chateau's 426 rooms, 282 fireplaces and 80-odd staircases, the most celebrated of which is the double spiral staircase writhing through the central keep. 'OK, one half of the group come with me,' says Olivier. 'The other half go up the other side.' Serving the main quarters of the chateau, this staircase was designed to enable two people (or two groups of people) to ascend floors without ever having to cross paths. Its rumoured mastermind – never confirmed – was Leonardo da Vinci. Francois I was one of his patrons and notebooks discovered after da Vinci's death contained sketches that bore a striking resemblance to this double helix. A few days from now, we'll call in at Chateau du Clos Luce, where the Tuscan polymath lived out his final years as a guest of Francois (the very king, in fact, who purchased his Mona Lisa , now at Paris' Louvre Museum). Exhibited in the galleries and park at Clos Luce are dozens of machines and contraptions, from weaponry to bridges, that modern-day builders have crafted using da Vinci's original designs. Chateau de Chambord's estate is touted as Europe's largest enclosed park. But, back to Chambord, where our 18-strong Australian gang is reunited after scaling the dizzying double staircase. We follow Olivier through lavishly-decorated bedchambers and apartments, flush with paintings, tapestries, exquisitely-carved cabinets and objets d'art. He shows us the chateau's hidden nooks, too. We navigate narrow spiral stone staircases and creep through spartan attics propped up by an incredible network of beams. 'Oak from the 16th century,' says Olivier, pointing to the ceiling. Halfway down another passage, he pulls out a key from his leather satchel and unlocks a hefty wooden door carved with an image of a salamander. It's the heraldic symbol of Francois I that we'll see time and again, embossed into the walls and ceilings of this and other Loire landmarks. On the chateau's airy rooftop terrace, we wander by the turrets and gaze over the moat towards Chambord's impressive gardens. Cultivated in the late-17th century under Louis XIV, they were restored in 2016 and boast more than 16,000 plants, trees and shrubs, many elaborately woven into parterres and topiaries. From up here, we also get the lay of the wider estate. Touted as Europe's largest enclosed park, it sprawls 5540 hectares, surrounded by a 32-kilometre wall. Where the royals and their courtiers once stalked stags and wild boars, today's leisure seekers pedal and hike through the estate's dense forests, row or ride electric boats along the waterways, picnic on grassy lawns or lunch at the al fresco restaurants in quaint, tiny Chambord village, which also has a shop selling local delicacies such as deer terrine and palets solognots (buttery cookies stoked with rum and raisins). About seven kilometres south of the chateau, as the crow flies, is our Loire base, Le Prieure de Boulogne, a converted former priory, where medieval monks prayed and meditated and chirpy swallows nest by the hotel's guttering during our early June stay. This four-star retreat is blessed with smart contemporary rooms, a heated open-air swimming pool and a rustic-sleek restaurant serving regional fare, from pork rillette and Crottin de Chavignol (a Loire goat's cheese) at the breakfast buffet to dishes such as duck confit and wild mushroom risotto for dinner. Swoon-worthy: Chateau de Chenonceau. We enjoy several other outings to lift the spirits. Eliciting swoons and camera clicks aplenty is the multi-arched, river-spanning Chateau de Chenonceau, where the rivalry between Catherine de' Medici, the Florence-born wife of King Henri II (son of Francois I), and his mistress Diane de Poitiers played out. An audio guide shares tales of their simmering feud and other episodes and scandals from the chateau's past. Both women have gardens in their honour by this richly-furnished property, though none are quite as vast or extravagant as those at our next stop, the Chateau de Villandry, whose multi-tiered, seven-hectare gardens look sublime even from under an umbrella. Slick with drizzle, fragrant rose bushes radiate around fruits, herbs and vegetables in its centrepiece kitchen gardens, which flaunt showy geometric motifs. Other ornamental gardens at Villandry convey the states of love – tender, passionate, flighty, tragic – in box beds shaped like hearts, flames and daggers. Sublime: Chateau de Villandry's gardens. iStock Besides the organised elements of this Albatross tour – which also includes tastings of seven different Loire wines, all made with the chenin blanc grape, at one of the limestone caves gouging this region – we have free time to stroll, eat and drink in the historic riverside towns of Amboise, Blois and Tours. Bistro-fringed lanes and cafe-framed squares draw you in, many backdropped with half-timbered medieval houses or elegant mansions and churches hewn from the same local tuffeau limestone that gleams in the famous chateaux. The Loire has been a pleasure and the good news for us is that it's merely the hors d'oeuvre – the appetiser – for a journey that will take our group through other timelessly charming French regions, with the Dordogne, Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence all on the itinerary. Enjoying one last post-dinner walk through the peaceful grounds of our Loire hotel, I spot a hare dashing into the fields, beavers wading in an algae-clogged pond and those busy swallows criss-crossing a sky that remains bright well after 9pm. Not for the first time on this trip, and it won't be the last, I'm imbued with a feeling of joie de vivre. Forgotten France: 10 stunning regions most visitors overlook FLY Several airlines connect Paris with Sydney and Melbourne, including Emirates, which flies via Dubai. see TOUR The Albatross 16-day La Grande France costs $10,987 a person based on two sharing or $14,087 for a solo traveller. For 2026, the tour itinerary extends to 19 days, including three nights in Bordeaux. Departures are from Paris in May, June, August and September with prices from $15,887 a person (twin) and $20,887 (solo). See MORE The writer was a guest of Albatross Tours. 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AU Financial Review
4 days ago
- AU Financial Review
How an 18th-century boarding school became a luxury Florentine resort
How do you solve a problem like Florence, the alluring Tuscan capital now heaving with tourists who clog its museums and choke its slender streets? One strategy is to strike it off your list. Just don't go. Another is to brave the crowds, perhaps seeking out lesser-known sights. A third, quite simply, is to splurge – staying somewhere exclusive and extravagant. For that, there's the new Collegio alla Querce, an 83-room luxe retreat tucked behind high stone walls in an 18th-century former boarding school.
Sky News AU
08-07-2025
- Sky News AU
Melbourne schoolteacher 'cancelled' after sharing images of Kylie Jenner and son Aire at Italian resort
An Aussie schoolteacher has been "cancelled" for sharing images of Kylie Jenner and her three-year-old son Aire while they were both at a resort in Italy. Brie Price, who is a Melbourne prep teacher, was enjoying a relaxing pre-wedding holiday with her fiancé Dylan at the luxurious Borgo Santo Pietro resort in Tuscany. It's there she spotted the billionaire businesswoman. Seemingly starstruck, Brie took out her phone to film Jenner, 27, standing poolside beside Aire lounging in a deck chair. In clips shared by the teacher on TikTok, Jenner could be seen wearing a loose-fitting cream linen short and white singlet with a bikini underneath. Brie also took to Instagram Stories to share a selfie posing on the resort balcony, with Jenner walking in the background. "The closest I got to a selfie with Kylie," she captioned the shot. More footage shared by the teacher showed Kylie's supermodel sister, Kendall Jenner, 29, joining her famous younger sibling on a resort buggy. However, social media users were less than impressed by the clips, which quickly accumulated more than a million views. Some people even claimed Brie had "stalked" the stars. "Is this where you stalked the icons Kendall and Kylie?" one person wrote, according to screenshots of comments obtained by Daily Mail Australia. "They filmed your other guests and posted it online," another person posted, tagging the Borgo Santo Pietro resort. Ms Price subsequently deleted the controversial TikTok post. Brie still has clips of her holiday which do not feature the Kardashian sisters on her TikTok, and her Instagram account is private. However, it's unclear the switch to private was made before or after the backlash. The prep teacher in a TikTok video in May announced it was her final term as "Miss Price" before her marriage to Dylan, a real estate agent. It comes as Kylie herself shared snaps of her Tuscan getaway on social media. Photos on Instagram show the Kylie Cosmetics founder posing in the gardens, cooking, and swimming with Aire and her seven-year-old daughter Stormi, from her previous relationship with rapper Travis Scott. "Italian summer yes pleaseeee," Jenner wrote in the caption. It's understood Kylie and Kendall's European holiday occurred after the sisters attended the controversial multi-million-dollar wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez in Venice, Italy, in June. Kylie could be seen in photos wearing a Dilara Findikoglu-designed silver sleeveless garment with a bow-adorned strap as she boarded a gondola at the nuptials. She paired the structured dress, which featured a long skirt and a lace-up front, with black sunglasses and large diamond earrings. A-list guests who joined the sisters at the high-profile celebration included actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Orlando Bloom, singers Usher and Ellie Goulding, NFL legend Tom Brady and TV presenter Oprah Winfrey. Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, as well as Bill Gates and Queen Rania of Jordan, were also in attendance. The wedding festivities, estimated to cost around AUD$76 million, culminated in a star-studded party, as many angered Venetians and activists argued Bezos had exploited the 50,000-resident city. has contacted Brie Price and Kylie Jenner for comment.
