“Hic Secura Quies, Hic Pax, Hic Gaudia Vera”
This is the Latin engraving on top of the entrance door to this outstanding villa in southern Le Marche, and it perfectly matches the property and its environment, being a real place of quiet, peace, and joy.
The first evidence of this property dates to the 15th century, but it seems it might have been built over the ruins of a much older site. Spanning over a surface of 8.5 hectares, this amazing estate includes the main villa, a guest house with an attached private chapel, a reception hall for banquets and events, the guardian’s house, and several other outbuildings – all surrounded by lush vegetation with Italian gardens, woods, and a citrus grove.
This superb mansion in southern Le Marche enjoys a number of outbuildings.
The Main Villa is much more than a villa. The main building is a fortress home; you can immediately notice it by the big, solid perimeter walls surrounding the garden. Spread over a total area of approximately 1,100 square meters, the villa went through several restorations until the 1990s, when it was extensively refurbished and got the current look.
Today the house is restored to its former glory, respectful of its history but very much with modern qualities. While the 1600s frescoes found under the false vaulted ceilings and some floorings were recovered, other pavements were completely redone by choosing tiles that perfectly matched the original style of the villa.
Ground Floor: The entrance hall with vaulted ceilings leads to a 32 sq.m. studio to the right. To the left, you access the living area, which features the typical layout of a series of rooms in a row: the rooms feature new frescoes on the ceilings, painted by William Xterra, and have been arranged as two sitting rooms, a big and a small dining room and a spacious kitchen with a grand center island. The kitchen is finished with custom-made painted ceramic tiles representing fruits and animals. The kitchen is connected to a big pantry, with a staircase leading down to the underground cellar, excellent for storing your wine collection, and where it is said two spells were cast over Pope Urbano VIII in the 1600s. The kitchen is also directly connected to the garden with a paved area, perfect for al-fresco dinners under the shade of tall trees. There are also two bathrooms and a lift connecting all floors on this floor.
First Floor: Conventionally in this kind of villa, the first floor is the so-called “noble floor,” a triumph of beauty and elegance, given mostly by the frescoed ceilings. Here, frescoes from the 1600s and 1800s were found and recently restored. You’ll enter the drawing room from the grand staircase, with its original fireplace, original flooring, and views over the Italian garden. This is where families can meet and congregate. The rest is a succession of frescoed formal rooms, including a wonderful music room. The floor is served by a very large bathroom, connected to two rooms, one of which is connected via a corridor to the private chapel in the adjacent building.
Second Floor: The top floor has a large closet hall serving four bedroom suites, all with spacious en-suite bathrooms, including the master bedroom, which occupies over 70 sq.m. and has its own private and secluded balcony overlooking the gardens and the Tronto Valley.
The Annexes:
The main ones are listed below:
The Way Station: Close to the main villa and connected to it via a suspended corridor is an old way station (Stazione di Posta in Italian): a guest house that may also be used as a home for the inlaws, measuring over 460 sq.m. The guest house includes an entrance hall directly connected to a double living room, which is in turn connected to a dining room and a spacious open-space kitchen. This whole area is characterized by brick cross vaults. A spiral staircase leads up to the first floor with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. A fourth bathroom is located on the ground floor. The top floor enjoys a lovely terrace with a spectacular 180° view over the private gardens, the Adriatic Sea, and the Tronto Valley stretching onto the mountains. The building includes a consecrated private chapel (about 65 sq.m.), where private family functions can be celebrated. In the past, it was the place where the most important ceremonies in the village were held, with the people attending downstairs while the family was sitting upstairs. The chapel features a painting from Alejo de Vera, dated 1873.
The Old Mill is one of the most valuable outbuildings due to the size of the rooms and the construction technique used for the vault. It measures over 350 sq.m. on two floors plus a mezzanine. It is currently used as a party hall and a place for cultural gatherings. Being an open-plan space, the big room on the garden level is perfect for parties or for an art exhibition. The lower floor is occupied by an industrial kitchen, two bathrooms, some storage space, and a wonderful vaulted room directly connected to the 38 sq.m. portico overlooking the swimming pool. This makes it the perfect space to be enjoyed also during pool parties.
The Estate Manager’s House: Opposite the former mill, is the Estate Manager’s house, which measures about 270 sq.m. over two floors, with a large garage and storage on the lower level and the house developing over the upper floor with a kitchen, a living room, two/three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. The other outbuildings are spread over 8.5 hectares, and they include a brick oven, a woodshed, a bird aviary, a kennel, and a big water tank.
The garden is a masterpiece of landscaping. When the current owners bought the property, everything was in the wild. A careful and meticulous study led to the current configuration. Among the most striking elements, there is certainly the Italian garden, surrounded by buildings, which enjoys southern exposure and breathtaking views of the Tronto Valley. From here, a pleasant walk begins along the three terraces of the formal gardens. Geometric designs have also been created on the second terrace, clearly visible from the upper level. To the west, a fabulous rose garden has been created, whose essence inebriates your senses as you pass through. The third terrace welcomes the grassy path with about 300 orange trees alternating with hedges of ligustrum sinesi. This garden offers a citrus grove like no other in Central Italy. As you continue to the top, you get to the woods. Here the owners, jointly with the landscape architect, chose a more informal design. However, as you walk through the paths, you realize that no corner has been left to chance and that each of them offers you a different emotional reaction, in addition to the different ways they can be enjoyed. From the far corner, there’s a view of the nearby village.
The 15m by 6,5m swimming pool is located on the lowest level, thus getting privacy from the main villa. Through a large staircase, a few steps lead back up to the large portico of the former mill. These gardens are wonderful when admired from the same level, but they are even more beautiful when seen from above, as you can enjoy their perfect and eye-pleasing geometry.
The Location: The property is located in a unique position: although you can enjoy privacy like no other, thanks to a gate in the woods, you can walk to the nearby village, where you can find all services. In addition, the house is south-facing, meaning it enjoys the best exposure to the sun. Another important element is the easy access to the property, thanks to a comfortable and well-maintained paved road. The nearby village is a medieval town that rises on the ruins of a Piceno settlement, just a few kilometers from the Adriatic coast and close to Via Salaria, the road that used to connect Rome to the Adriatic coast. It is a quiet town, perfect if you are looking for peace and quiet but you still want to live a happy and social life: in town, you can find all services and nice osterias where you can enjoy a meal with friends. And when you want to do something more exciting, you just need to pick what you like to do: Ascoli Piceno, a highly cultural city with churches and monuments, is just 15 mins away; same, if you opt to spend a day by the beach and enjoy a fish dinner; if you prefer nature, there are many naturalistic oases in the surroundings and in less than an hour you can go skiing on the Gran Sasso mountains.
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