Restaurant in Castelnuovo Berardenga, Italy
Special-occasion dining, book well ahead.
Il Poggio Rosso holds 1 Michelin Star (2025) and an OAD Top 392 Europe ranking inside the Borgo San Felice Resort. Chef Stelios Sakalis runs a creative kitchen that grounds Mediterranean technique in Sienese-hills produce — the area's highest-credentialed table for a special occasion. Book eight to twelve weeks ahead in peak season; availability at shorter notice is limited.
At the €€€€ price point, Il Poggio Rosso asks for a serious commitment — this is a special-occasion restaurant, not a casual stopover on a Chianti drive. What you get in return is a 1 Michelin Star kitchen (awarded 2024, confirmed 2025) operating inside the Borgo San Felice Resort at Località San Felice, with a creative menu that fuses Tuscan regional cooking with Mediterranean influences shaped by chef Stelios Sakalis's career across France, England, and Italy. For a celebration dinner in the Castelnuovo Berardenga area, this is the highest-credentialed table available.
The editorial angle here matters: Il Poggio Rosso is not a restaurant trying to reinvent itself as something international. Sakalis, an Athenian chef with formative experience across several European kitchens, applies his technical range specifically to what the Sienese hills produce. The result is a cuisine categorised as Italian-Colombian and Creative — an unusual pairing that in practice means local ingredients and regional flavour logic are the foundation, with technique and cultural perspective arriving on leading rather than displacing what's underneath.
This is the distinction worth understanding before you book. At comparable Tuscan fine-dining addresses, the tension is often between the terroir and the chef's ambition. Here, Michelin's recognition and a ranking of #392 in Opinionated About Dining's Leading Restaurants in Europe (2024) suggest the kitchen has found a productive balance rather than an identity crisis. The creative register adds precision and interest without erasing the sense that you are eating in the Sienese hills, not in a metropolitan fine-dining room that happens to source locally.
For guests choosing this as a special-occasion dinner , an anniversary, a milestone birthday, a significant business meal , that coherence matters. The setting inside a historic Tuscan borgo and a menu rooted in place give the evening a logic that more purely experimental kitchens in the region cannot match.
Il Poggio Rosso sits within Borgo San Felice Resort, a converted medieval hamlet in the hills outside Castelnuovo Berardenga. The dining room draws from the stone-and-terracotta architecture of the resort, and guests staying at the hotel have a natural advantage on access and atmosphere , dinner here works leading when it is not bracketed by a long drive. That said, it is not an exclusively residential restaurant; outside guests book regularly.
The guest profile skews toward couples and small groups marking occasions. A Google rating of 4.8 across 537 reviews places it among the most consistently well-received restaurants in the area. For solo diners, the experience is possible and the kitchen's quality holds, but the room's romantic register and the per-head cost make it a harder case to make than it would be for two or more.
If your benchmark for a special dinner in Tuscany is something like Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence or Dal Pescatore in Runate, Il Poggio Rosso plays in a related register , starred, serious, and occasion-appropriate , but at a scale and intimacy that larger urban addresses cannot offer. If you have already eaten at restaurants like Le Calandre in Rubano or Osteria Francescana in Modena, you will recognise the ambition and the format; Il Poggio Rosso is a quieter, more pastoral version of that conversation.
Booking difficulty is rated Hard. A 1 Michelin Star restaurant with strong reviews, inside a destination resort, in one of Italy's most-visited wine regions , the reservation window is longer than most travellers expect. If your travel dates are fixed, book as soon as they are confirmed, ideally eight to twelve weeks in advance for peak season (April through October). Waiting until three or four weeks out is a gamble; the most desirable sittings (Friday and Saturday evenings, in particular) fill early. Off-season travel in November or February offers more availability, but confirm hours directly, as a resort restaurant of this type may operate a reduced schedule outside peak months.
Within the Castelnuovo Berardenga area, Il Poggio Rosso occupies the top tier by credentials. Il Visibilio is the closest peer in ambition , also €€€€ and creative in orientation , and worth considering if you want a more urban, contemporary room rather than a resort setting. For a lower-stakes, lower-cost evening that still delivers quality Tuscan cooking, L'Asinello at €€€ is the practical alternative, and Contrada at €€€ offers modern cuisine at a similar price point with easier availability. If budget is the primary filter, Il Convito di Curina at €€ is the accessible Tuscan option , good food, no Michelin pressure on the wallet.
For a full picture of dining options in the area, see our full Castelnuovo Berardenga restaurants guide. If you are building a longer itinerary, our hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide cover the broader territory. For Italian fine dining at the two- and three-star level, Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico and Enrico Bartolini in Milan are the relevant reference points if you are calibrating expectations across the country.
Il Poggio Rosso is a 1 Michelin Star restaurant inside a resort, which means the experience is more immersive and less urban than most starred city restaurants. Chef Stelios Sakalis runs a creative kitchen rooted in local Tuscan produce, inflected with Mediterranean technique from his Greek background and European training. First-timers should know: the €€€€ price point is for a full tasting or multi-course dinner format, not a quick à la carte stop; the resort setting rewards arriving with time to spare rather than rushing in from a long drive; and booking well in advance is not optional in peak season.
At €€€€, it is priced at the leading of what Castelnuovo Berardenga offers, and the Michelin Star, the OAD #392 Europe ranking (2024), and a 4.8 Google rating across 537 reviews collectively support that price. The question is not whether the cooking merits it , it does , but whether this format suits your trip. If you are staying at Borgo San Felice Resort, the answer is almost certainly yes: dinner here is the most natural extension of the property experience. If you are driving in specifically, the case is strong for a special occasion but less obvious for a casual meal. Compare it against Il Visibilio (also €€€€, also creative) if you want an alternative before committing.
It is possible, but it is not the natural fit. The room is geared toward couples and small groups marking occasions, and the €€€€ price point is easier to justify when shared across a table. That said, if you are a solo traveller staying at Borgo San Felice and the creative Italian-Colombian kitchen is your primary interest, there is no reason to avoid it. Counter or bar seating availability is not confirmed in our data, so contact the restaurant directly if format matters to your solo experience. For a lower-pressure solo option in the area, L'Asinello at €€€ is worth considering.
Eight to twelve weeks ahead in peak season (April to October). This is a 1 Michelin Star restaurant inside a destination resort in one of Tuscany's most-visited territories , walk-in availability is effectively zero on weekend evenings. If your travel dates are fixed, book the moment they are confirmed. Off-season (November through March) offers more flexibility, but verify directly that the restaurant is operating, as resort dining rooms sometimes run reduced schedules in quieter months. Booking difficulty is rated Hard.
For a direct creative-cooking peer at the same price tier, Il Visibilio (€€€€) is the closest comparison. For a step down in price without a significant step down in quality, Contrada (€€€, Modern Cuisine) and L'Asinello (€€€, Tuscan) are both solid options with easier reservations. If budget is the priority, Il Convito di Curina (€€) delivers Tuscan cooking at a fraction of the cost. See our full Castelnuovo Berardenga restaurants guide for a complete comparison.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Il Poggio Rosso | Italian-Colombian, Creative | €€€€ | Hard |
| Il Visibilio | Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| L'Asinello | Tuscan | €€€ | Unknown |
| Contrada | Modern Cuisine | €€€ | Unknown |
| Borgo San Felice Resort | Italian Cuisine | Unknown | |
| Il Convito di Curina | Tuscan | €€ | Unknown |
Comparing your options in Castelnuovo Berardenga for this tier.
This is a destination meal, not a drop-in. Il Poggio Rosso sits inside Borgo San Felice Resort outside Castelnuovo Berardenga, so you're committing to the journey as much as the table. The kitchen runs under chef Stelios Sakalis, whose background spans France, England, and Italy, with the menu pulling Tuscan ingredients toward Mediterranean technique. At €€€€, come with an occasion in mind.
For a special-occasion dinner in the Sienese hills, the 1 Michelin Star (2025) and 'Opinionated About Dining' ranking (#392 in Europe, 2024) give you real credential for the €€€€ spend. The value case is strongest if you're already staying at Borgo San Felice Resort; if you're driving in purely for dinner, factor in the remoteness. For a lower-commitment Chianti fine-dining option, Il Visibilio is a closer peer but without the same accolades.
Solo dining at a €€€€ Michelin-starred resort restaurant is a legitimate choice if you're travelling alone through Tuscany and want one serious meal. There's no data on counter or bar seating here, so contact the resort directly before assuming flexibility. Couples and small groups are the format this setting is built around.
Book as early as possible, especially for summer and harvest season in Chianti. A 1 Michelin Star restaurant inside a destination resort fills from both hotel guests and outside diners, which compresses availability fast. Six to eight weeks ahead is a reasonable minimum for peak months; shoulder season may offer more room, but the restaurant is rated hard to book regardless of time of year.
Il Visibilio is the closest peer in ambition and price (€€€€), worth considering if Il Poggio Rosso is fully booked. L'Asinello and Contrada step down in formality and price point, better suited if you want a strong Tuscan meal without the special-occasion commitment. Il Convito di Curina offers a more agriturismo-style experience in the same area for a different type of evening entirely.
Location
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