Italy has a season for everything, but autumn belongs to the table. The hills fill with truffle hunters, the first oil of the year comes off the press, and vineyards that spent the summer ripening finally give up their grapes. Meals stretch a little longer, and the produce in front of you tastes like the place it came from.

These six boutique hotels, from the Piedmont hills to the Alps of South Tyrol and down to the plains of Campania, are where to taste it.

La Segreta, Umbria

For estate olive oil and a glass of the house red

La Segreta sits in a 70-acre nature preserve in the Umbrian hills, nearly twenty years in the making. The estate produces its own cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil and an organic, hand-blended red wine from the grapes grown on the land, so the table here is as local as it gets.

Stay in the farmhouse among the cherry groves or in the family-friendly villa with its infinity pool, and let a private chef cook at your door. Nearby are the Sagrantino vineyards for tastings, and trattorias serving homemade pasta and grilled wild boar.

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Susafa, Sicily

For a farm table, five generations deep

In the heart of Sicily, Susafa is an ancient stone farmhouse that has been farmed by the Saeli-Rizzuto family for five generations. Its seventeen rooms were once farmworkers' quarters, and the wooden beams, exposed stone and terracotta tiles still give them the feel of a Sicilian country home.

Dinner is at Semente, the farm's restaurant in the old granary, where the cooking is built on locally sourced ingredients. The bar was once the farm's millstone, and it pours Marsala, the island's fortified wine. Guests can also book wine tastings across Sicily's different territories, or learn to make ricotta and fresh cannoli.

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Palazzo Tiglio, Tuscany

For olive groves, vineyards and a very good wine list

In the Valdambra valley, in the village of San Pancrazio, Palazzo Tiglio is a restored 17th-century palazzo with vineyards and olive groves in every direction. The restaurant, led by Executive Chef Mattia Parlanti, makes modern dishes from the best local produce, and sommelier Danilo Salvi has put together a list of some of Italy's finest labels.

In the village piazza, La Cantinetta di San Pancrazio is the hotel's delicatessen and coffee bar, a good place to pick up Tuscan delicacies, local products and award-winning wines to take home.

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Villa La Madonna, Piedmont

For truffle season and the grape harvest

In the Monferrato hills of Piedmont, Villa La Madonna is a vineyard retreat of just seventeen rooms, run by sisters Marie and Annica Eklund. Autumn is when the countryside here is liveliest, with truffle hunters in the woods and harvest celebrations in the villages below.

At the villa itself, guests can join the grape picking and pressing at harvest, then taste rare Barbera vintages in the intimate cellar. Dinner is under the vine-covered pergola, with each dish paired with wines from the estate's own cellar.

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Giardino Marling, South Tyrol

For new wine above Merano

Set above Merano and surrounded by gardens and vineyards, Giardino Marling is a family-run retreat where the pace is slow, and the mountains are always in view. Autumn is Törggelen season in South Tyrol, when locals head to the farm taverns for roasted chestnuts and the year's new wine, and this is a very good base for it.

Back at the hotel, the restaurant pairs Mediterranean dishes and South Tyrolean specialities with a walk-in cellar of more than 300 bottles. Afterwards, there's the spa and its sky pool, set on a sun-drenched terrace, to unwind in.

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Locanda al Colle, Tuscany

For olive groves, a guided wine walk and a house that feels like home

In the hills above Camaiore, on the Versilia coast, Locanda al Colle is a converted farmhouse that is run less like a hotel than a much-loved home. Its owner, Riccardo Barsottelli, has filled it with vintage and Art Deco pieces gathered in Buenos Aires, Paris and London, and a heated salt-water pool and whirlpool sit among the olive groves.

For the autumn table, join the hotel's own expert guide on a tour of the nearby vineyards and medieval villages, tasting the region's crisp, light white wines along the way. The beaches of Versilia are a short drive away, and every guest has a private gazebo at the beach club.

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Come hungry

The best way to eat your way through an Italian autumn is to stay put long enough to let the table set the pace. Pick a region, book a hotel that grows or presses or pours its own, and let the season do the rest.