Il Sasso

Flooded with light

Il Sasso is a rectangular building with regular features. As you reach the house on a 2 km private gravel road you will be enchanted by the large shady trees surrounding the farm. Loosely set, spreading oak trees, as well as almond, nut and plumtrees filter the sun, creating an immensely pleasant mixture of light and shade. Sasso means stone. Due to the stony soil of this part of the estate was known to have the best vineyards until the wine production was discontinued in the late '70s. Today the grapes have been replaced by extensive fields of wheat, sunflowers and rapeseed, bordered by the famous siennese crete, striking geological formations of local clay soil.

The lay-out of the house follows a plan designed in the 1930s by the well-known British architect Cecil Pinsent, who had already worked for the lord of the manor on the nearby renaissance villa and the garden of the estate (5 km). Pinsent was asked to rebuild several farms, adopting the traditional features of Tuscan farmhouses, where the cowbarn and the storerooms were on the ground floor, while the family life took place on the first floor. A family of 11 lived here until the traditional sharecropping system -mezzadria in Italian- ended by the mid-sixties and the inhabitants moved to the village or the city. During World War II four English soldiers found refuge here, working on the fields in return for the shelter they were offered. Il Sasso has now been completely restored and turned into a comfortable, generous and sunny family house.

On the ground floor what used to be the cow's barn has been converted into a spacious summer living room divided by 2 columns and flooded with light by 7 large windows. The cow's mangers have been converted into benches with cushions along three sides of the room, which otherwise has been kept purposely bare apart from a fireplace, a carpet and two kingsize sofas to lounge in. This room has also been equipped with a fridge and a washbasin. A bedroom with en-suite bathroom on the ground floor was built to allow access to the disabled. The ground floor and the first floor are connected by characteristic outside stairs and by an internal spiral staircase which is based on a fifteenth century model that was found in the nearby Renaissance town of Sarteano.

The central room upstairs is a living room which looks out over the trees through windows on both sides of the room, with additional sunlight pouring in through a skylight. The kitchen/dining room next door has a typically Tuscan kitchen range and fireplace covered by local travertine, a stone pinkish-gold in colour. The walls have been painted with the light blue chalk wash which is characteristic of the old kitchens in the peasant houses. Two bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms, and two further bedrooms share a bathroom.

Next to the main house, a lower building has been converted into a loftlike dépendance, with two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a large living room with an open space kitchen and massive antique beams running from one end of the house to the other. The garden plan was designed by the landscape gardener Peter Curzon. Climbing roses, hydrangea petiolaris (climbing hydrangea) and honey-suckle as well as lavender, different types of sage, rosemary and cistus mix well with the old local oaks and fruit trees. Meals can be taken under the large pergola covered in wistaria, roses and grapevines. A little further away lies the 10 by 5 metre pool.

The closest village is Contignano which lies on the other side of the Orcia river at a distance of 7 km from the house. Here you will find an alimentari (basic food shop), abar, a butcher, and a fruit and vegetable shop. For a larger choice of shops or a supermarket Chianciano Terme is at a distance of 10 km.

The property's location makes excursions to Siena, Assisi, Orvieto, Perugia, Arezzo and Florence an easy day trip. But the area below Siena, stretching from the monastery of Monte Oliveto to Montalcino and Montepulciano offers some rewarding sites that are well worth a visit.

In San Quirico d'Orcia make sure you see the Horti Leonini, an early Renaissance garden, as well as the western door in the city wall and the Collegiata (main church).

Montalcino is beautifully situated on a hill inhabited since Etruscan times, swathed in vineyards and olive groves. It is a quiet, affluent, attractive town with pretty buildings and flower-filled squares, and many shops selling the Brunello di Montalcino.

Montepulcino is a graceful Tuscan hill town, best known for its Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which was being praised by connoisseurs over 200 years ago and can certainly contend with Italy's best today.

Pienza, the unfinished 'utopian' city, was commissioned by Pope Pius II in 1459.

Chiusi is one of our favourites because of its unpretentious liveliness. Compared to Montepulciano it is uncontaminated by tourism. Chiusi has a railway station - from here it is a quick ride to the city center of Rome.

Monticchiello is a pleasant walled village, whose crooked watch-tower is visible from afar. Next to the church is a small shop which sells local linens (towels, bedspreads) and materials in pure linen. They use traditional methods and patterns and the results are extremely attractive.

Visit the abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore and the semi-derelict monastery of Sant'Anna in Camprena - a very romantic setting which served as location for the film The English Patient.

Sant'Antimo is surely one of the loveliest Romanesque buildings in all of Italy. It is hard to imagine a more sympathetic combination of architectural grace and natural setting.

Sarteano fits our picture of an unspoilt Italian village. The main square has a nice bar where you can sit outside. On the square below, in the afternoon a different bar serves excellent take away pizza.

And last but not least the landscape in this region of Tuscany is spectacular: The Crete Senesi are the eroded clay hills in the Orcia valley. These strange, pale, barren looking slopes, with their bare cliffs, broken gullies and white Jurassic limestone, look altogehter more lunar than terrestial.

Pool in winter?

Tuscany is famous for its Hot springs, belonging to a geothermical system that more or less encircles Monte Amiata, the most spectacular being Saturnia in the south west of the region. Steaming water collects in a number of white limestone basins - a rare natural spectacle and great fun to bathe in! Swimming possible both in the natural basins and in smart thermal baths. Saturnia offers a wide range of comforts and even a sauna.

Close to the property is Bagno Vignoni which has been popular since Etruscan times. St. Catherine of Siena is said to have appreciated its thearpeutic qualities, as is Lorenzo the Magnificent, whose family built the splendid arcaded pool - a kind of flooded, bubbling piazza, famously used by Tarkowsky for some of the more surreal passages of his film Nolstalgia. Not far from this antique piazza there is a hotel with a lovely open air swimming pool, fed from hot springs. This is also available to external guests.

Bagni San Filippo may go into the books as the world's smallest thermal spa - a telephone booth, a few old houses, outdoor spring in the middle of the woods with glistening limestone formations and one small hotel with a public pool.

The Montepulciano thermal springs can also be enjoyed in an indoor thermal swimming pool.

Just 10 km from the property you will find the thermal spa Terme di Chianciano with a highly modern health and thermal centre. Those wanting to combine holidays with a wellness break can enjoy fango baths, cosmetic and therapeutic treatments, solarium, massages and hydromassages. Have yourself thoroughly pampered! Just relax here!