THE HOUSE
A 200-year-old farmhouse, with its soul left in.
Four double bedrooms under old beams, stone walls, art on every wall, and four hectares of olive grove looking across the valley to Treia.
PHOTO 6 · The whole house from the grove, stone walls and portico in late light
4
double bedrooms, each with its own bathroom
8
guests
11 m
pool, June to September
4 ha
of land and olive grove
45 min
from Ancona airport
Cattle below, family above.
For most of its two hundred years, this house lived in two halves. The cattle slept on the ground floor. The family lived above, warmed by the animals below.
The stone walls are still here, and so are the beams and the terracotta ceilings. The cattle floor is now the kitchen. You cook and eat where the house has always kept its warmth.
PHOTO 7 · Kitchen and fireplace, fire lit, table set
PHOTO 8 · Dining room, long table, art on the wall
PHOTO 9 · Detail: a painting with beams and stone around it
The paintings throughout the house are by two artists: Hazel Morgan, who spent years studying the Renaissance masters, and Skye Holland, winner of the Royal Society of British Artists' President's Prize. They are not decoration. Each one was chosen for its room.
THE BEDROOMS
Four rooms, four paintings, four views
Every room has old beams, a terracotta ceiling, a high-quality memory-foam mattress and air conditioning.
PHOTO 10 · Il Sogno: bed, the dream painting, the bath for two
Il Sogno
SUPER KING · EN-SUITE · SUNSET SIDE
The painting of the house I dreamed of, and a bath big enough for two.
PHOTO 11 · L'Alba: morning light, Treia through the window
L'Alba
SUPER KING · EN-SUITE · SUNRISE SIDE
Treia across the valley by day, a line of lights after dark. A Caravaggio-style figure study by Hazel Morgan.
PHOTO 12 · La Luce: the room in full light, the portrait on the wall
La Luce
KING · EN-SUITE · SUNRISE SIDE
Named for its light, which moves through the room all day. A portrait of a woman deep in thought, by Hazel Morgan.
PHOTO 13 · Gli Ulivi: bed, landscape painting, pool and olives outside
Gli Ulivi
DOUBLE · PRIVATE BATHROOM · GROVE SIDE
The other half of the painting in Il Sogno. Two rooms, one painting.
PHOTO 14 · The portico at dusk: sofas, long table, the valley beyond
THE PORTICO
Where breakfast runs long, and so do the evenings.
A covered terrace with a long table and deep sofas, open to the view and screened against mosquitoes. The best seat for watching the light change over the valley.
POOL PHOTO · to be replaced with the real pool once the paving is laid
OUTSIDE
A pool for swimming, not for looking at.
Eleven metres long, so you can swim lengths. In the evening it catches the sunset over the olives. Open June to the end of September.
Above it, a long terrace under wisteria, with a table for long lunches and shade through the hottest hours. Around it, four hectares of land, most of it olive grove. A small gym and a sauna are at the house for guests.
Also at the house
Wi-Fi · Air conditioning in every bedroom · Fireplace · Memory-foam mattresses · Linen and towels · Portico with mosquito nets · Wisteria terrace · Gym and sauna
Getting here
Treia, the hills, the supermarket and farm shop: 5 minutes · The Adriatic coast: 40 minutes · Ancona airport: 45 minutes
Saturday to Saturday
Book direct and arrive to a welcome table: local wines, farm-shop produce and olive oil from the grove you're staying in.