フィレンツェに近いプール付きのプライベートプライベートトスカーナヴィラ絶景の眺めロケーション

It really gives us great joy to try to achieve the breathing of life back into a building that had obviously been neglected for at least a century. We try to follow a personal aesthetic of what is for us a Tuscan ideal of combining modern needs with the intrinsic beauty of old stone Tuscan houses, which in this case was made by Tuscan peasants who obviously were not expert builders. So when we put in new windows we had the builders ‘wonkify’ them, using as a model, a window in the house with an uneven arch. The builders laughed when we asked them to please not make the plaster on the walls perfect, because to make it perfect would not be ‘in keeping’. Some of the artisans, particularly a wonderful local carpenter always takes our ideas very seriously and assiduously follows requests like finding old glass (replete with bubbles and deformations) to put in hand crafted furniture and windows for us, so they are ‘in keeping’.

We love Italian demolition yards and we appreciate the local artisan’s skills. We love the mark of an artisans hand to be apparent. We found an incredibly beautiful fireplace lying broken on the ground in a demolition yard near Carrara on the Tuscan coast. The owner assured us that they would fix it and that I would hardly see that it had been cracked in half, but for us, this made the piece more beautiful and authentic. The crack visible enhanced and aged the piece rather than detracting from it. It was carved by a young French sculptor from French limestone. In depth and very serious discussions followed about exactly what the appropriate aesthetic and placement of the fireplace should be with the passionately concerned owner of the demolition yard. That’s another thing we love about Italy; a deep respect for doing things well. I prefer not to use the local pietra serena for architectural features such a fireplaces as I find its greyness and texture depressing. So we raised some local artisan’s eyebrows choosing to use another stone.

Our country house is surrounded by and overlooks the stunning estates of Prince Corsini and vineyards of famous superb quality wine producing estates such as Villa le Corti- a magnificent Corsini villa from the sixteenth century. Close by are fabulous restaurants, wine estates and historical monuments as well as Etruscan ruins. The wines of the Gabbiano Castle estate close by are also superb, as are the cellars of the Antinori estates attached to the ancient picturesque Abbey called Badia Passignano founded in the year 890. There also is a wonderful cheese producer (we like to call him the “Michelangelo’ of cheese makers) on a picturesque and ancient estate close by where you can drop in and taste the gourmet cheeses produced for some of Italy’s top restaurants. The country house is located in a kind of ‘slow food’ heaven where you could easily spend each day for a month sampling wonderful wines and local foods. Added to this, not only is the countryside authentic beautiful Tuscany but conveniently located close to the magnificent art city of Florence, with world famous museums, galleries and restaurants. The country house is also close to famous beautiful hill top towns such as San Gimignano and Siena. The area is where famous historical figures such as Machiavelli lived and worked and where artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Ghirlandaio crisscrossed the countryside in search of patrons for their work.

On the next hill are also horse riding facilities where you can wind your way through the local vineyards and cypress lined woods on well trained horses with instructors. The woods and rolling fields around the country house have many beautiful wildflowers where you can often see locals collecting delicious wild asparagus and salad greens.