Le Chiusure - apartment 'Giardino'

Born in Brescia, I graduated in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florence, but felt unhappy with theory and lectures that never took us out of the classroom and into the fields. I later found that working in the vineyard explained to me why I had thought of studying agriculture in the first place: working in the field was much more satisfying.
In 1989, the year of our first harvest, I moved to Portese where my wife Paola reached me a year later. After some time, besides the wine and oil production we opened a small country restaurant and two comfortable farmhouse holidays apartments. For a few years our simple but distinguished cuisine, carefully matched to our wines, proved an excellent marketing tool for our name. In 2001 we decided to transform the restaurant into a third apartment, thus ending an activity that was very satisfying but too labour-intensive to manage on our own as we had planned. Today we have four holiday apartments, about four hectares of vineyards and two of olive groves, producing around 20,000 bottles of wine and 1,000 of extra-virgin olive oil each year. The small size of our farm and the high value of the land in our area mean we are always striving to improve our products, adding value to everyday work and personal satisfaction, which makes us appreciate what we do far more than profit alone.

Our holiday apartments are part of a large 17th century rural complex, whose architectural and historic value is protected by Italian law. Since we started farmhouse tourism – in 1994 with our first apartment, three others restored in 1997, 2001 and 2014 – we estimate that we have welcomed about 1000 families overall.
The apartments have all been restored and decorated in keeping with the style of the house, and over the years we have enhanced their quality, investing each winter in maintenance and improvements. 

Far away from the main roads, in rooms set in an ancient rural building, furnished simply but with taste, rich in charm and personality, and with the possibility of enjoying a large garden surrounded by a stone wall which guarantees our guests quiet isolation:
three apartments (originally an old loft, a barn and a porch respectively) are located on different floors of the home and each one offers something unique. These apartments may be chosen for their individual features but are all equally comfortable. A fourth apartment, located on the north-side of the property features a private entrance and garden.

From the windows you can enjoy views of the hills, the garden and the inner courtyard. Our guests have at their disposal a portion of the garden and a small library of books and photographs describing the lake and the surroundings.