This fantastic Old Country house has been completely renovated treasuring its original features, a lovely and charming house to enjoy your relaxing holidays surrounded by nature and live Tuscany as a local. This cozy Villa is characterized by stylish interiors with traditional Tuscan touches, a fully equipped kitchen and six fantastic bedrooms. Terracotta tiles in all public areas, a comfortable s
eating area and a dining room area, a giant library with a stone fireplace and a lovely lush garden surrounded by terraces of glycine flowers over a magical sea view. Lots of shaded dining areas with full comfort. Very intimate, remote and stunningly beautiful. Main info
- 6 bedrooms (2 double beds and 7 single beds)
- 3 bathrooms (1 in suite)
- Large and comfortable Living room
- Lush garden fully equipped with dining table and sunbeds
- Fully equipped kitchen
More info about the house
With its casual elegance, the 180-square foot interior decoration evokes memories of the Tuscan region of Italy. Surrounded by the estate glycine flowers, the entrance courtyard features rose gardens, mandarin & olives trees and a beautiful creek. The original structure of the building has been preserved it still retains comfortable period furnishings and every modern convenience has been provided. A large living room equipped with a flat TV screen, a big and antique library and a wonderful fireplace where you can sit around chatting with friends and family, with the discreet company of a slowly burning fire. This beautiful family area drives you to a large outdoor area of 400 square meters of garden, parking area within the property, and a fantastic covered wooden gazebo with a table that can accommodate up to 6 people. An adorable aperitif area with 4 deck-chairs surrounded by local stone and a lovely fountain. On the other half, this area opens out onto a cozy but fully equipped kitchen with all the amenities you may need. A truly chef’s dream with oven, dishwasher, coffee maker, kettle, marble table for 4-6 people, toaster, washing machine, air conditioning and a stunning panoramic view. On the ground floor three private bedrooms. The first bedroom is provided with a king-sized bed and en-suite bathroom fully fitted with bidet, WC and shower. A lovely studio area and marvellous French doors will leave you speechless. The other two bedrooms are divided by a big wooden door for a perfect privacy: the bunk beds and the baby cot in the second bedroom will be perfect for your kids. The last bedroom is provided with two single beds. In this area you will also have a bathroom with shower, WC and bidet. An antique wooden stair will elevate to the upper floor, where other three bedrooms are. The first bedroom has twin beds that can be joined to make a double bed if required, an antique bamboo bedstead king-sized bed characterizes the second bedroom while you will have a comfortable single bed in the last room. Nearby these fantastic bedrooms you’ll find a large bathroom with bath tub, WC and bidet. Max 3 cars can park in the property. This villa is just perfect for all seasons. Its enchanting atmosphere will conquer you even when the weather is not pleasant or during the winter. Multiple attractions walk by, a shopping centre and lots of activities to enjoy the best of Porto Ercole.
**The New York Times **
Something was lacking on the Tuscan coast. The Tyrrhenian Sea spilled out as always between the outstretched arms of Porto Ercole to the south and Talamone to the north. Sailboats crossed before the hazy, distant islands. Inland, the landscape hit all the familiar “Under the Tuscan Sun” touchstones: cypress trees pointing up at billowing cumulus clouds, vineyards rolling back to medieval hilltop towns. And yet, as I stood this December outside the house where my wife’s parents have spent their summers for years, something was missing. The answer came from my daughter, who ran up the hill like a screwy Italo-English-speaking town crier. “There are no zanzare,” she shouted gleefully. No mosquitoes! The area of Maremma on the coast of Tuscany and Latium was long called Bitter Maremma and plagued by malaria until the 1950s. Those diseased days are long gone, but the mosquitoes are still a nuisance, and the smell of bug spray mixed with sunscreen is the perfume of summer. But in December, wafts of wood burning in chimneys or bonfires in the fields take over and the mosquitoes mostly vanish. Their disappearance is just one example of how absence — of crowds, cars and commotion — makes my heart grow fonder for the Tuscan off-season. Coastline near Talamone. Credit: Susan Wright for The New York Times
Years ago, my wife’s family, who live in Rome, began summering along the Argentario coast. Her father kept his sailboat docked in Talamone, the port town where, in 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi stopped for reinforcements in his effort to unite Italy. Like other summering Romans, my wife and her family sailed to nearby islands and swam in the open water. I entered the picture more than a decade ago, bringing with me extreme bouts of seasickness on attempted maritime excursions (I’m talking “Mayday, Mayday” seasickness) and a swimming stroke that resembles a drowning man’s last throes. And yet, I have found much here to love during summer vacations: sandy beaches, swimming holes overlooked by fortresses, the glamorous Il Pellicano hotel, where my wife and I found ourselves sipping wine with celebrity bands (R.E.M.) and famous chefs (Mario Batali). Maremma’s nature preserve, rife with hiking trails, birdsong and wildlife, made for purifying afternoons. That’s Maremma in the summer. Winter is another tale. A dozen years ago, when I lived in Rome and made the first of many warm-weather visits to the area, the
thought of visiting when temperatures dip into the 30s, tourism freezes and beach clubs close never occurred to me. Now I can’t get it out of my mind. On my recent visit, I arrived by train at night to join my wife and children, aged 3 and 6, who had gone ahead of me. I pushed my suitcase up the hill to my in-laws’ house in a wheelbarrow. (Don’t knock it till you try it!) In the crisp air, the constellations I’m unable to recognize sparkled with mocking clarity. The moon illuminated the earthen rows of the now barren vegetable garden and threw shadows of the umbrella pine trees onto the sloping lawn like spilled ink. In the house, my wife had warmed our bedroom with a rotating heater, which, when we mistook it for a fan one August evening, had nearly melted us. I made a last obsessive check for mosquitoes lying in wait on the walls, saw only the stains of battles past (and a shoe print) and then dozed off to droneless sleep. The chilly Maremma morning greeted us like an animated postcard: the grandfather in the yard, the grandmother serving panettone for breakfast, the daughter on the swing that hangs from an olive tree, and the boy swinging a stick as he called out the names of Mets World Series stars who are no longer Mets. (Miss you, Murphy.) All of it was adorable, but none of it was coffee. To the bewilderment of my in-laws, I make a point in Italy of drinking espressos only while standing up at coffee bars. I’ve grown fond of the local bar and the rest of Fonteblanda, the no-streetlight hamlet at the foot of the hill. The barber and rumored heartthrob of local widows cuts my son’s hair next to the butcher shop that feeds my addiction to wild boar and the local Podere 414 Morellino di Scansano red wine. I make daily visits to the pasta shop, Vi.Ba, where I think they might one day name a pasta shape in my honor (l’Americano rotondo). Here and across the Grosseto province in the southern reaches of Maremma, these small communities play quieter notes that resonate more deeply in winter. That is not to say the season is without its flourishes. In Orbetello, an ancient Etruscan town on the coast where I was married by a former neo-Fascist government minister who went on to be investigated for corruption, we watched a flamboyance of flamingos wading in the lagoon. The wetlands of Maremma attract more winter fowl— spoonbills, lapwings, snipes — than any other place in Tuscany; even without binoculars we could see the flamingos land on the still water. We continued on to a local riding stable. Against the backdrop of hills tumbling with fog, my 6-year-old daughter took her first horseback riding lesson from an instructor who wore socks branded “dressage.” She dismounted and I decided the time had come to do something for myself. We drove farther down the road to La Antica Fattoria La Parrina farm, where I sampled their bright Muraccio red wine and insanely rich Gorgonzola Guttus. Then I washed it down with more Muraccio. Maybe this is the wine talking, but Maremma winters make for perfect napping weather. On other days we visited Pereta, the pearl of the Maremma hilltop towns, built up by the Aldobrandeschi family nearly 1,000 years ago. The children raced up to the 13th- century tower, the tallest in Maremma, while we looked over the ledge at our favorite view in all of Italy. Below us a balcony of manicured grass and orange trees surrounding stone steps and parapets overlooked an undulating countryside peppered with swallows swooping over the browning woods. Another of Pereta’s destinations is Da Maria Moretti, a restaurant that can be hard to get into in the summer. Not now. An empty restaurant is usually awkward and sad. Not this one. With the lighted fireplace, the warmth of Luciano, the owner and cook, the crostini flavored with artichokes, and fresh pasta flavored with truffles and wild boar, we felt as if we were in our own (though much better-catered) living room. The kids ran around accordingly. Credit: Susan Wright for The New York Times
