Tuscan farmhouses converted into holiday homes
Tuesday, 10 May 2011 5:28 PM
Picture the scene: you're surveying the Tuscan landscape while sitting beside your private infinity pool, sipping wine from your estate's vineyard and feasting on a light salad drizzled with olive oil (also made on-site).
Later in the afternoon, you pop inside, taking a moment to appreciate the coolness afforded by the foot-thick stone walls of your luxuriously restored 17th-century farmhouse, before heading to the spa for a massage.
Afterwards, you're faced with the most taxing decision you'll make all day: should you have dinner at the estate's five-star boutique hotel, where you can choose between an informal pizzeria, a chic wine bar and a fine dining restaurant, or employ the skills of your private chef?
It sounds perfect to the point of being ridiculous, but this is how your holidays would look if you were to invest in Castello di Casole, a development by Timbers Resorts that has already won 'Best fractional development EMEA' and the 'Readers' choice' at the 2011 Fractional Life Awards.
Each casole comes with its own infinity pool
Castello di Casole: The estate with something for everyone
Located 20 minutes west of Siena and 45 minutes south-west of Florence, Castello di Casole comprises a selection of 29 individually designed casali (farmhouses) ranging in size from 4,000-7,000sq ft, each with its own infinity pool and several acres of land.
An onsite, 41-suite boutique hotel is set to open in the Castello (castle) itself early next year, with the hotel's penthouse also for sale. The Castello will feature a fine-dining restaurant, pizzeria, wine bar, pool and world-class spa.
Reflecting the warm colours of the Tuscan countryside, the interiors of each casale feature rich reds, sage greens and autumnal golds. In fact not one single detail of the design scheme has been left to chance: furnishings are upholstered with local fabrics, antiques have been sourced within the region and sinks are handmade using Carrara marble. Owners' technological needs have also been anticipated and taken care of, with WiFi plus an iMac, fax and printer in each property.
The villas' design schemes are intended to reflect the warm colours of the Tuscan countryside
Castello di Casole has 88 acres of vineyards which produce a variety of wines, including a Sangiovese for which the estate is quickly becoming famous. Owners are welcome to join winemaker Paolo Caciorgna for a grape-harvesting session – the ultimate way to learn about the region's culture.
The properties are available under fractional ownership, which is popular throughout Tuscany due to high property prices in the region, from EUR445,000 (around £390,800) for a one-twelfth share. If you'd rather have a farmhouse all to yourself it will cost you from EUR3.7 million (£3.249 million).
The history of Castello di Casole
Its latest incarnation as a luxury holiday destination is just one element of the Castello's very rich history: in fact its first recorded owners, the Bargagli, lived there from 1680. According to the estate's records, which are still kept onsite, they were a noble family from Siena.
Divided into 31 sharecropping farms, the Castello's land was so rich and fertile that it successfully produced grapes, olives, wheat and sunflowers until the early 1960s. At that point, Castello di Casole became a stomping ground of the rich and famous, as Luchino Visconti, a renowned Italian filmmaker, moved in with his brother and The Godfather: Part III's Helmut Berger.
As well as opening a restaurant and game reserve on the estate, the trio installed an open-air cattle shed big enough to hold 800 cattle and introduced a new agricultural management system which employed 70 local workers. But it wasn't all work and no play: Visconti threw many decadent parties and was rumoured to use the estate's myriad villas to house his various mistresses...
Castello di Casole has been the site of many wild parties over the centuries
Get your own slice of Castello life
Investment options are available from EUR445,000 (around £390,800). To find out more, visit CastelloDiCasole.com.
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