Villa Marchese: A Tuscan Wedding with Kaltrina and Braiden
Kaltrina and Braiden kept it simple. Their closest people, good food, and a tenderness between them that made beautiful photographs at Villa Marchese feel inevitable.
Villa Marchese is an eighteenth-century estate sitting in the hills of Sinalunga, in the south of Tuscany. Sun-warmed stone, cypress trees lining the driveway, terracotta and shadow and an open sky that glows well past when you’d expect it to. August in Tuscany is its own thing. The heat sits in the stone all day and doesn’t leave until well after dark. The light in the late afternoon turns everything gold, rust, and a shade of green you don’t see anywhere else.
The Estate
Villa Marchese is old in the way Tuscany is old. The age is everywhere and it adds to things rather than asking you to work around it. Wrought iron. Carved stone. A façade that reads completely differently depending on where the sun is sitting. The grounds stretch in every direction: olive trees heavy with fruit, dry summer grasses, a long driveway that goes copper at the end of the day.
From a photographic standpoint there is almost too much to choose from. The olive grove alone is worth the flight. Textured, earthy, the light filtered in a way that digital sensors have spent decades trying to replicate. Add the pool, the villa walls, the cypress-lined paths, views extending all the way to the Val d’Orcia on clear days. You genuinely don’t need to leave the property to find something worth photographing.
Which is useful, because you probably won’t want to.
The Ceremony Space
Ceremonies at Villa Marchese happen outdoors, typically in the estate’s gardens or beneath the shade of old trees with the villa behind. There is no stage-set quality to it. No arch that could belong to any other wedding anywhere else. The setting does the framing without trying.
Intimate ceremonies work particularly well here. Twelve people standing in a Tuscan garden with someone they love carries a weight that 200 guests in a marquee rarely matches. Kaltrina and Braiden understood this. So do most couples who find their way to Villa Marchese.
Portraits are where Tuscany Does the heavy lifting
Very few venues offer as much natural photographic range within one estate.
Some of the most evocative portrait locations include:
- The olive groves: textured, earthy, timeless
- Stone pathways lined with cypress trees
- The villa’s façade at sunset: warm, sculptural light
- The pool area at blue hour: modern, cinematic tones
- Dusty driveways that glow at golden hour
This is where Villa Marchese truly shines: you never have to leave the estate, yet every photograph looks like it belongs to a different part of Tuscany.
The Reception
As the sun sinks, the estate shifts. The heat softens, the shadows deepen, everything moves a little slower. Long tables set for dinner. Linen and candlelight and bottles of local Chianti. Speeches drifting out into the warm night air.
The architecture handles the theatre on its own. Stone walls and festoon lighting and the kind of sky that turns colours you forget exist when you are not in Tuscany. What I love about photographing receptions here is how quickly people stop performing. By the time dinner is well underway, nobody is thinking about how things look. Those are the images worth making.
Late nights at Villa Marchese tend to end with bare feet on terracotta, music spilling from somewhere inside, and the last few guests reluctant to call it. A good sign.
My Advice for Villa Marchese
Plan your ceremony time around the light, not the logistics
In August, golden hour arrives somewhere between 7 and 8pm. If the ceremony ends two hours before that, there is time for aperitivo, a natural transition into portraits, and nobody has to squint. Build the timeline backwards from sunset if you can.
Arrive a day or two before
Villa Marchese has accommodation on-site, and using it properly changes the energy of the whole wedding. A welcome dinner the night before, a slow morning on the day itself. The couples I photograph across multiple days are almost always more relaxed and less aware of the clock. That shows in the photographs.
The olive grove in the late afternoon
Save it for portraits. The light there in the hour before golden hour is something I have not found many equivalents of. Soft, directional, warm without being harsh. It photographs beautifully.
Getting Married at Villa Marchese
Villa Marchese is run by a small team. The experience of planning with them tends to feel personal and considered, which suits the kind of couple who would choose this estate over a larger, more polished venue.
For couples coming from Australia, it is worth building extra days into the trip. Sinalunga sits within easy reach of Siena (around 45 minutes), Montepulciano, Pienza, and the Val d’Orcia. If you are travelling this far, the landscape deserves more than one day.
I have been returning to Tuscany for three consecutive years now. If you are planning a wedding at Villa Marchese, or anywhere across this part of Italy, I would love to hear about it.
Villa Marchese at a Glance
- Venue: Villa Marchese
- Location: Bandita Fraz Bettole, Sinalunga, Tuscany, Italy
- Season: August (peak Tuscan summer: heat, golden hour, deep colour)
- Ceremony space: Outdoor, within the estate gardens and grounds
- Reception vibe: Long-table dinner under an open sky with candles, linen, local wine
- Best portrait locations on-site: Olive grove, cypress driveway, villa façade at sunset, pool at blue hour Ideal for: Intimate weddings and multi-day destination experiences
- Nearest towns: Siena, Montepulciano, Pienza, Val d’Orcia
Villa Marchese: Frequently Asked Questions
Villa Marchese is in Sinalunga, in the south of Tuscany. Roughly 45 minutes from Siena and within easy reach of Montepulciano, Pienza, and the Val d’Orcia. Accessible from Florence or Rome by train to Chiusi-Chianciano Terme, then by car.
It suits intimacy well. The property does not need a large guest count to feel full or alive. Kaltrina and Braiden had a small group, and the photographs from their day are some of my favourites from any wedding I have shot in Italy.
Villa Marchese suits intimate to mid-size celebrations. The estate works particularly well for weddings under 80 guests, where the property can be used fully without the day requiring a marquee or additional infrastructure. Smaller groups of 20 to 40 guests tend to get the most out of the estate’s character and pace.
Late spring and late summer tend to offer the most favourable conditions. May, June, and September have softer heat and reliable light. August is peak summer with long golden hours and saturated colour, but genuine warmth. If you are marrying mid-summer, build shade or cooling into the reception setup.
Working with a local Italian wedding planner is strongly recommended. A planner based in Tuscany handles the logistics, vendor relationships, and on-the-ground coordination that are difficult to manage remotely across time zones. Kaltrina and Braiden found the estate’s team responsive and personally invested in the experience. For photography, bringing a photographer you already know and trust, rather than hiring locally, means the relationship and the results are consistent with what you chose from the start.
Villa Marchese is located at Località Bandita, Sinalunga, Tuscany, Italy. For bookings and enquiries, visit ilcasaledelmarchese.com.
Evelina Katarzyński is a wedding photographer based in Adelaide, Australia, available for weddings nationally and for destination weddings worldwide. She shoots on both digital and 35mm film, and intentionally works with a small number of couples each year. If you’re planning a wedding and want photography that feels considered, honest, and entirely yours, get in touch here.
