The Lavender Havens of Italy

One of my favorite parts of our Herbal Tuscany journey (open for registration now) is meeting and learning from “the mad scientist” Dr. Lorenzo Domini. His lavender farm and laboratory tour is mesmerizing, scented, and surprising.

Chianti Lavender

After a 45-minute drive through the center of the Chianti wine region, we arrive at the picturesque Chianti countryside estate of Lavanda Del Chianti in Casalvento. This region is known world-wide for its Chianti wine and is also a paradise of essences and perfumes. Our host, Lorenzo Domini, is a medical doctor by profession who operates this estate with his wife Donata, a medical doctor, and his son Alessandro, a pharmacist. As a family, their management of the essential oil farm and distillery is unparalleled in modern aromatherapy or herbal activity.

Lorenzo’s father Giovanni, a Siena University professor, acquired the estate in 1950, and in 1962 began the cultivation of lavender, helichrysum, roses, iris, and many other medicinal plants which today also includes fields of licorice. The family is an early essential oil and hydrosol manufacturer, possessing the region’s first distiller to extract essential oils and hydrosols. In Casalvento’s special Galestro soil, which is a clay-and-limestone mix that makes their Sangiovese wines famous, the Dominis cultivate nine types of lavender, as well as thyme, rosemary, sage, helichrysum, hyssop, broom, Damascus rose, and the iris orris root.

My husband and I get a kick out of Dr. Lorenzo: he is funny, generous, and eager to share the fruits of his labor. He and his son will guide us through his fields of medicinal plants, into the distillery and present fascinating demonstrations in his dedicated classroom.

David and I purchased several hydrosol sprays, the purest lavender essential oils, combination oils, soaps, and balms and even purchased an extra suitcase to bring everything back with us. I adore these scents and the time we spent at this incredible farm and distillery.

Assisi Lavender

And then on to Assisi! Next to Tuscany lies Umbria, a glorious stretch of Italian countryside studded with ancient basilicas, cathedrals, and horticulture gardens. In addition to a historic garden at Perugia, our Herbal Tuscany tour visits the Lavender Farm known as Il Lavandeto Di Assisi. It spreads out in the valley directly below the mountain-cliff-top city of Assisi with gorgeous distant views of St. Francis’s basilica and the city’s stone walls.

Here, we are hosted by farm and nursery owner Lorena Fastellini, who generously shares his sprawling acres with us along with stories, gardening lore and advice, and the opportunity to smell and wander through lavender fields and gardens filled with poppies, ornamental grasses, cornflowers, sages, water lilies and aquatic plants, and astonishing Mediterranean perennial beds. In town, we get to purchase lavender bouquets, fragrant gifts, and skincare products made by Lorena and his staff using the vibrant herbs grown here on his farm.

Our herb walks on the Herbal Tuscany 2027 journey will include lavender and many other herbs, edibles, medicinals, shrubs, ornamentals, hot-house plants, Mediterranean icons, and ancient trees as we visit farms, botanical gardens, university gardens, arboreta, essential oil production farms, and greenhouses—strolls and meanders that leave us nourished and inspired.

Learn more and register here