8 bedrooms villa, 435 m²

Cortona, Arezzo (province)

An eighteenth-century Leopoldina on the Valdichiana plain, restored with period brick and embraced by a 15,000 sqm park Ref. COR475 When Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo set out to reclaim the Valdichiana, the marshy plain between Cortona and Montepulciano slowly became a patchwork of fertile fields, dotted with red brick farmhouses built for the families who would work that land. This is one of those houses. It is still reached across open fields, and from its windows the eye travels all the way to the blue outline of the hills, in the same stillness it must have known more than two centuries ago. The story of a Leopoldina Leopoldine are among the most recognisable expressions of Tuscan rural architecture: compact volumes, exposed brick façades, arched loggias and the dovecote rising from the centre of the roof like a small tower. This 18th-century residence keeps that language intact. Its conservative restoration, completed in 2011, was carried out with reclaimed period materials and the traditional "cuci e scuci" technique, in which bricks are replaced one by one without ever disturbing the integrity of the walls. The result is a building that time seems only to have brushed against. The interiors On the ground floor, generous brick arches frame spaces that feel both open and intimate, beneath wooden-beamed ceilings and beside fireplaces of stone and terracotta. Solid wood doors, staircases in timber and wrought iron and warm-toned floors lead to the upper levels, where each bedroom has its own colour and character, its windows framing the park, the cultivated fields and, on the horizon, the hill towns of the Valdichiana. According to the cadastral plans, the first and second floors hold six bedrooms, a study and six bathrooms, together with a sitting room and loft rooms, while the ground floor contains the dining rooms, kitchen, pantry and cloakrooms. The total heated floor area is approximately 435 sqm. A house made for hospitality In recent years the house has been turned into a refined retreat, and its present layout tells that story: an elegant restaurant hall with kitchen on the ground floor, and bedrooms with their own bathrooms above. The property is in fact registered as an accommodation and restaurant facility, which makes it ready to become a boutique hotel or luxury retreat, while leaving open the possibility of imagining it as a grand private home in the Tuscan countryside. The park, the pool and the fountain Around the house lies a private park of approximately 15,000 sqm, with manicured lawns, mature trees, an old stone well and a fountain whose gentle sound accompanies summer dinners on the terrace. Further out, overlooking the fields, the swimming pool with its wide terracotta sun deck faces the hills, in a light that turns golden and endless at sunset. Systems and self-sufficiency The electrical and plumbing systems, installed during the renovation, are fully certified. The estate has two independent wells, one for irrigating the park and one supplying the house through a water purification system, as well as a private wastewater treatment system. Comfort is provided by air-to-water heat pumps for heating and cooling, supported by a natural gas boiler and a solar thermal system for hot water. The location The house lies within the municipality of Cortona, on the Valdichiana plain, just minutes from one of the most admired wineries in the area. The Valdichiana exit of the A1 motorway is about 10 km away and the Valdichiana Village outlet about 5 km; Montepulciano is about 20 km away, while Pienza and the Rapolano thermal spas are about 25 km away. A setting that pairs the privacy of the countryside with easy reach of some of Tuscany's most celebrated places. Price: € 1,300,000