Spacious country villa with pool in the famous Val d'Orcia

OVERVIEW Sassaia

Sassaia sits on the slopes of the famous Orcia valley and is surrounded by magnificent evergreen oak trees typical of Tuscany. Beyond are open fields and views across the valley to the Radicofani fortress on the far-away blue hill.

On the ground floor what used to be the cows’ barn has been converted into a large summer room leading out to the garden. Seven windows flood the room with light, the mangers have been turned into benches with cushions. An open fireplace, comfortable sofas and armchairs make this room pleasantly informal and comfortable. In one corner a simple kitchen with fridge caters to outdoor life. A double room with an en-suite bathroom opens out onto the garden and has been adapted for wheel chair use.

A spiral Renaissance-style travertine staircase leads to the upper floor. Here a stunning central living room with windows looking out on both sides, a fireplace and a large African hardwood dining table communicates with a large Tuscan kitchen with an old beam and local travertine hood running along one wall. A waist-high fireplace is a local feature which makes it easy to cook over the fire. The kitchen walls have been painted a stunning blue lime wash in the characteristic style of the old kitchens in peasant farms, as blue was supposed to keep the flies away in the summer. As you will see from the plan of the house two bedrooms have en suite bathrooms while two share a bathroom.

The garden, shaded by old oak trees, has been designed to blend in naturally with the surroundings. Climbing roses, hydrangea petiolaris, lavender, cystus, rosemary and honeysuckle mix well with the old oak and fruit trees. Meals can be taken under a pergola covered by wisteria, roses and grapevines. A 10 by 5 meter fenced pool is tucked away at the far end of the garden.

A small house, which used to be the pig pen, hen house and ox barn, Casa del Bove, and is now a charming and cosy loft with old tie beams and a large fireplace, has two further bedrooms and bathrooms.

Amenities and services

Floorplan of the villa

Ground floor
Large summer living room with kitchen corner
1 double bedroom with en-suite (shower)
1 Guest WC
Pingpong table

First floor
Large living room with open fireplace and dining table
Large family kitchen
3 king bedrooms with en-suite bathroom (shower)
1 twin with en suite bathroom (tub)

Annex
1 living room with open plan kitchen
1 king with en-suite bathroom (shower)
1 twin with en-suite bathroom (shower)

Garden :

Spacious pergola for al fresco meals
Pool 5 x 10m, fenced
Covered parking space
The garden has been designed to blend in naturally with the surroundings.

ESTATE: Chiarentana

The Chiarentana estate extends over 200 hectares in what is probably the most beautiful nook of the famous Val d’Orcia, a Unesco World Heritage site since 2002.
Chiarentana is the sister estate of the famous La Foce estate, legacy of the author Iris Origo and her husband Antonio.
This is a fascinating story: When Iris and Antonio Origo came to the Val d’Orcia, Chiarentana was one of the many farms on the La Foce estate, in fact certainly the largest, with over seven families and their livestock living around the large square building with a central courtyard.

Its history goes back to the early Middle Ages, when it was one of the many small castles where pilgrims would stop on their way to Rome on the via Francigena. Emperor Otto I is said to have stopped here himself on his way to visit the Pope in the second half of the10th century.
During the 14th century Chiarentana became one of the first Communes, with its own statute, complete with a set of laws and sanctions. Thereafter the fortunes of Chiarentana followed those of its neighbors – a downhill story of war and devastation, poverty and degradation.

In 1924 when the Origos bought the property it was in conditions of severe destitution. Through their lifelong and passionate joint efforts they succeeded in bringing progress and social change to this poverty-ridden land, leading to a miraculous transformation of the conditions of the people living on it. La Foce became a bustling prosperous farm, reforestation and water management prevented the erosion which had ravaged the land for centuries, farmland was reclaimed from the expanses of clay hillocks, dams were built for irrigation purposes, roads were made, schools annihilated the prevailing illiteracy, basic health services were provided to all. La Foce was considered a model estate, and as such was spared the land reform that broke up most large properties in the 50s. Upon their death La Foce was divided into two properties by the Origo daughters: the Chiarentana estate is run by their second daughter Donata.

The Chiarentana estate is made up of the main building and several free standing farms. In the main building 6 apartments surround a paved courtyard shaded by an old linden tree. There is a large garden with secluded corners for each apartment, a pool, a tennis court and a children’s playground.
Delicious freshly cooked meals are served on 2 evenings of the week, indoors during the colder months, in the candle-lit courtyard in summer. Oil-tasting dinners with specially paired recipes are served once a week. 3 freestanding farms which offer charm as well as comfort and a private pool can also be rented.

Chiarentana has focused on the production of the highest quality olive oil; olive groves with particular varieties of olive trees surround the main Chiarentana building, while extensive wheat and hay fields cover the rolling hills leading down to the bottom of the valley. In the midst of these hills are some of the few remaining wild areas of the “crete senesi”, the clay hills depicted in the Sienese paintings from the 13th and 14th centuries. These areas are now the home to wild boar, roebuck, porcupines and hares, as well as rare forms of orchids, dog-roses, prickly pear and broom.

ACTIVITIES

• After having bought the estate of La Foce in 1924, Antonio and Iris Origo commissioned the English architect Cecil Ross Pinsent, who had previously done extensive work on Bernard Berenson’s Villa I Tatti in Florence, to restructure the main buildings and create a large garden. The latter was conceived to enhance the Renaissance house, built in 1498 as an inn for the travellers to Rome on the Via Francigena.The garden is open to the public on Wednesday afternoon.
• 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.
• Pienza, the unfinished “utopian” city, was commissioned by Pope Pius II in 1459. In just three years the cathedral, the papal and bishop’s palaces and the central part of the town were completed, but the extensive project ended abruptly when Pius died only two years after the consacration of the cathedral.
• The Val d’Orcia is a wide valley south of Siena through which the old Via Francigena (the chief route linking Rome with the north) used to lead, passing castles and fortified towns, some of them dating back as far as the eighth century. In San Quirico 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).
• Florence et Rome can be reached by train in one and a half hours from the nearby station Chiusi.
• Monte Oliveto Maggiore. This abbey was founded by three Sienese noblemen who left the city to live a life dedicated to prayer, religion, etc. and who founded the Olivetan order – an off-shoot of the Benedictines. The most important thing to see at this still active and working Monastery is the cycle of frescoes that decorate the monumental cloister.  They describe the live of Saint Benedict and were painted by Signorelli and Sodoma.  There are also some beautiful marquetry stalls in the church itself.  It is a very magical and serene place set in the midst of exceptionally beautiful countryside.
  It is home to a dozen monks who specialize in restoring old books, and make wine, honey and olive oil.
• Sant’Anna in Camprena is a rambling monastery on the road between Pienza and San Quirico d’Orcia. A very romantic setting which served as location for the film The English Patient. In the refectory there is a fresco by the renaissance painter Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, known as Il Sodoma.
• 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. Originally founded by Charlemagne in 800, the abbey was once home to a prominent Benedictine community. Creamy stone bricks, luminous Volterran alabaster, playful carvings and frescoes of animals give it a peculiarly sunny air. A group of French Cistercian monks now runs the abbey, celebrating Mass with Gregorian chants several times a day.
• 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. Close to La Foce is Bagno Vignoni which has been popular since Etruscan times. St Catherine of Siena is said to have appreciated its therapeutic qualities, as is Lorenzo the Magnificent, whose family built the splendid arcaded pool – a kind of flooded, bubbling piazza, famously used by Tarkovsky for some of the more surreal passages of his film Nostalgia. Bagni San Filippo may go into the books as the world’s smallest thermal spa – a telephone booth, a few old houses, an outdoor spring in the middle of the woods with glistening limestone formations, and one small hotel with a public pool.
• Fashion addicts can splurge out at the famous Prada factory outlet, which lies on to road to Florence.

RATES

GUEST REVIEWS, Sassaia, Chiarentana

LOCATION

Chiarentana lies south of Siena, overlooking the wide and open Orcia valley, close to Montalcino, Montepulciano and Pienza. The nearest village lies at a distance of 7 km.