The essence
A sixteenth-century villa padronale above Pienza, in the same family since 1804. The Marchesa, who lives in Florence, retains the apartment on the top floor and is in residence perhaps twenty days a year. The rest of the year the house is yours, and the staff who have looked after it for two generations.
01 / 05
The distinction
Why this villa
is in the collection.
- 01
Genuine provenance — documented, continuous, family-owned. A category in which most claims do not survive scrutiny.
- 02
The piano nobile retains its eighteenth-century frescoes by a pupil of Anton Domenico Gabbiani. They are not behind glass and not on a tour. You eat breakfast under them.
- 03
Position. The view south over the Val d'Orcia toward Monte Amiata is among the three or four most photographed in Tuscany. From the villa it is private.
The house
Architecture & restoration
Built circa 1560 by the Piccolomini for a younger son; passed to the present family by marriage in 1804. Restored in stages between 1998 and 2014. Six principal bedrooms in the main house; one cottage suite in the converted dovecote.
The setting
Land, view, context
A formal Italian garden of box and lavender on the south front; an informal garden of roses and old fruit trees to the north. Twelve hectares of olives below. Pienza is six kilometres by white road; Montepulciano, twelve.
Living here
Breakfast on the loggia, where it is cool until ten. The garden in the morning, before the sun comes round. Lunch under the lime tree. The pool is cut into the hillside below, out of sight of the house, with the Val d'Orcia laid out beyond it. Dinner at Osteria Sette di Vino in Pienza; the walk back up the hill in the dark, with the cicadas, is part of the experience.
Pricing
Weekly, by season.
- LowApr · Oct€32,000 / week
- ShoulderMay · Sep€42,000 / week
- HighJun · Jul · Aug€56,000 / week
Rates exclude tourist tax and optional services. Minimum stay seven nights, Saturday to Saturday. Other arrangements considered.
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