Il Sasso - First Class Farmhouse with Garden, Pool & Privacy Chianciano Terme Vacation Rental by Owner Listing 27258
Location: Chianciano Terme, Tuscany, Italy, Europe (Valdorcia - Near Montepulciano - 10 km)
Accommodations: Farmhouse, 7 Bedrooms + Other (See Description), 6 Baths (Sleeps 14)
Il Sasso is a completely restored, comfortable and generous family house, flooded with light, with pool and garden. Living Space 390m2 with 14 sleeps. Additional beds for two children perhaps available on request during summer time.
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 plum trees 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 Today the grapes have been replaced by extensive fields of wheat, sunflowers and rapeseed, bordered by the famous siennese crete, striking geological formations of local clay soil.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 cow barn 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-'60s 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 two columns and flooded with light by seven 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 king-size sofas to lounge in. This room has also been equipped with a refrigerator 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 15th 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 loft-like dependence, with two bedrooms, two 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.
Short description of the rooms:
Ground floor - One large summer room with fireplace (70 m2), one twin bedroom with en-suite bathroom (shower, suitable for disabled people), and one storage room. First floor - One large central living room with fireplace, one dining kitchen with fireplace, two double bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms (showers), two twin bedrooms, and one bathroom (bathtub). Dependence (78 m2) - One living room with fireplace and open plan kitchen, one double room with en-suite bathroom (shower), and one twin room with small en-suite bathroom.
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 alimentary (basic food shop), a bar, 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.
Some places of interest:
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. Moreover: Chiusi, Monticchiello, the abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, the semi-derelict monastery of Sant’Anna in Camprena, Sant’Antimo etc. 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.
Vacation Rental Features
- Activities
- Biking, Golf, Tennis, Fishing, Horseback Riding, Shopping, Restaurants, Cinemas, Museums, Sightseeing, Swimming, Thermal Spa Chianciano 10 km. Hot Springs as Saturnia, Bagno Vignoni, Bagni San Filippo, Montepulciano Thermal Springs.
- Amenities
- Fireplace, Phone, Satellite TV, CD Player, Full Kitchen, Dishwasher, Refrigerator, Cooking Utensils provided, Linens provided, Washer, Private Pool, Shared Tennis Court (6 km). Pergola, Garden, Parking.
Rate Details (In Euros)
High Season .. € 7720 / week.
Off Season ... € 5050 / week.
High Season: Easter and mid May - end October
Bed, bath & kitchen linens, water, electricity, gas, 3 hours house cleaning per
day (5 days per week), final cleaning, pool cleaning service, garden maintenance
all included in the price. Extra services available on request (domestic help,
Tuscan meal on your first evening, cook, first shopping). Baby bed available.
Please contact us for futher information.
Note: Until confirmed, rates are subject to change without notice.
Credit Cards Accepted:
Property Photos
- - Siena/Montepulciano/Contignano, Tuscany, Italy - Farmhouse Rental near Montepulciano!
- - Siena/Montepulciano/Contignano, Tuscany, Italy - Farmhouse Rental near Montepulciano!
- - Siena/Montepulciano/Contignano, Tuscany, Italy - Farmhouse Rental near Montepulciano!
Vacation Rentals by Owner Listing #27258
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This listing was first published here in 2003.
Date last modified - July 04, 2009
