The Luxury Farmhouse

A stay in luminous Tuscany deserves nothing less than this—a 16th century farmhouse estate occupying a hillside in the Chianti Classico of Tuscany and enfolded in a lush landscape of olive groves, Italian cypress trees and rolling vineyards. The estate’s near neighbor, the Medieval castle Vertine, sits majestically within view.

Less than an hour’s drive from Florence and a half hour from Siena, The Luxury Farmhouse is fully engaged with its pastoral setting. Hens from the estate’s coop provide fresh eggs, delivered each morning in a basket in time for breakfast. An organic garden offers up a bounty of fresh vegetables, plucked for you at their ripest point. The kitchen pantry is stocked with olive oil cold-pressed from green and black olives cultivated just outside, and a stone wine cave steps down from the kitchen cradles bottles of wine produced, of course, from the surrounding vineyard’s grapes. You can’t get closer to the land than this.

To gather olives at the The Luxury Farmhouse for their own extra-virgin olive oil. The on-site team, Paolo and Francesco, laid nets around the base of the trees and worked from dawn to dusk picking and inspecting each green and black olive by hand. This traditional method produces an exceptionally rich and flavorful olive oil, thanks to the gentle treatment of the olives and the total absence of mechanization. Once the last olive was selected, Francesco and Paolo transported the baskets to an olive mill just up the road, and the properties Extra-Virgin Olive Oil—single-pressed and bursting with flavor—was born.

A stroll through the estate’s countryside brings you to the charming village of Gaiole, named the “Most Idyllic Place to Live in Europe” by Forbes, or to the Vertine castle village, where a quaint, stone-floor restaurant serves wine and cheeses.

The farmhouse estate itself consists of a main house and a guesthouse, connected to one another by a loggia. Five bedrooms (including two master suites), plus a study, media room, dining room, and many other gathering areas combine to create a spacious yet intimate place, webbed with passageways and unexplored areas that are a delight to discover. Other standout features, among many, include an infinity pool suspended at the edge of a panoramic view of the vineyards, plus a bocce ball green, a billiard room, and a courtyard with a real wood-burning pizza oven shaded by fragrant lemon and orange trees.

5 BEDROOMS / 5.5 BATHROOMS

COMMON AREA DETAILS:

Entry Foyer: You’ll know you’re in a special place from the moment you approach the estate. Lavender lines the driveway on either side, and the pebble stone walkway leading to the farmhouse entrance is shaded by a trellis entwined with fragrant roses and wisteria. The two-story entryway doubles as a showcase for the art pieces of several notable Italian artists, including award-winning, Tuscan-born Paolo Fedeli’s impressionistic oil painting of the bareback riders of the Palio de Siena horse races, and metal wall art and sculpture by Alessandro Coli, a young artist who shows his work throughout Italy.

Fuller Equipped Chef Style Kitchen: In Italy, food is a way of life, and so the estate’s kitchen is tasked with presenting a worthy setting for culinary magic. You can consider this space as both a showpiece and a quintessential country kitchen. Highlights include a working fireplace for grilling meats and vegetables, a large antique butcher block borrowed from neighboring France, and a hand-forged chandelier. To begin your unforgettable meal in Tuscany, uncork a bottle of Chianti Classico from the subterranean wine cave and offer guests an Italian antipasti of meat, cheese, bread and olives.

Formal Dining Room: Another setting fitting for Italian cuisine, the dining room seats ten at a handmade Venetian table with custom marquetry and a hand-wrought iron base. The curved, heart-shaped back panel chairs with their arabesque inlay and antique leather seats will keep you comfortable even if dinner and drinks continue long after the sun sinks below the Tuscan hills.

Great Room: The great room, also known as the loggia, connects the main and guesthouses and showcases striking views of the Vertine castle’s turrets and towers. This room’s architecture boasts stone walls, tile ceiling with wood inlays, a majestic fireplace and hand-forged iron chandeliers. A media center allows you to unwind with a movie in this space, as well.

BEDROOM & BATHROOM DETAILS:

The Vertine Master Suite: Wake transported to another time, thanks to a full view of Vertine Castle in the spacious upstairs master suite. Thick stone walls date back hundreds of years and add to the time-traveler experience. One modern comfort that you will appreciate, however, is the luxurious king-size bed outfitted with a double pillow top mattress, Egyptian cotton sheets, and down/feather duvets and pillows. A sitting area surrounds a fireplace, offering a tempting throne to sink into after a day of exploring the countryside. The en-suite bathroom features a double vanity, his and hers water closets, a walk-in shower and a Jacuzzi tub.

The Garden Master Suite: The second of two masters, this suite is a welcome new addition to the farmhouse, just completed by a notable design team in concert with Italian master craftsmen—with an eye toward preserving the room’s most history-rich elements: the sitting area and its fireplace are original to the 16th century, as is the stone feature wall. Farmhouse tile windows open to welcome a breeze fragrant with flowers and citrus trees, and French doors lead to the terrace and infinity pool. The suite offers a king-sized bed and a masterpiece en-suite bath, which provides a two-person shower and an exquisite freestanding cast-iron bathtub.

The Chianti Guest Master Suite: On the upper floor of the guest house, find this king-sized bedroom, which offers views of the verdant hills and vineyards of Chianti Classico, a king-sized bed, and en-suite bathroom with a soaking tub.

The Rose Guest Suite: The Rose Suite overlooks the pool and organic garden, and its four-poster iron bed was handmade by Italian craftsmen. An en-suite bathroom is equipped with a walk-in shower.

The Citrus Suite: The Citrus Suite opens to a courtyard garden with orange and lemon trees and a bistro table—a spot for sipping an espresso, unpeeling an orange plucked from the tree, and taking in your captivating surroundings. This suite provides two, iron-forged twin beds, made by Italian craftsmen, that can be combined to create a king bed, as well. Adjacent is a bathroom with a walk-in shower.

FEATURES & AMENITIES:​

• Concierge
• Air-conditioning
• Fireplace
• Audio System
• Balcony
• Barbecue
• Bocce Ball Court
• Pool Table
• Chef/Butler Available
• Dishwasher
• Fax
• Organic Garden
• Gym
• Heated Floors
• High Chair
• Nespresso Machine
• Laptop
• Media Room
• Microwave
• Nespresso Machine
• Olive Grove
• Outdoor Dining Area (Alfresco)
• Indoor Parking
• Heated Pool
• Safe
• Storage
• Towels and linens
• Flat Screen TVs
• Vineyard
• Walk-in Tubs and Showers
• Washer/Dryer
• Wifi
• Wine Cave
• Wood burning pizza oven