Unique, historic 6 bedroom house with new, infinity edge pool, beautiful views, 5.5 hectares of land, located a short drive from one of Italy's most beautiful medieval hilltop towns, Anghiari, and located in a nature reserve. This is a rare opportunity to purchase a historic building which has been very sympathetically restored, retaining all the original character.
The history of Il Conventino, a majestic Tuscan house, stretches over centuries and shows the Conventino to have been one of the oldest Augustinian monasteries in Italy.
Il Conventino is situated just 5 km on a tarmac road from Anghiari, with a lively cultural heritage including an opera house with regular performances of plays and dances, an annual festival of classical music and street theatre, traditional bicycle races, vintage car and moped rallies etc.
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Il Conventino is located on a rocky outcrop which was probably levelled in Etruscan times. Within its ancient walls, there are 3 large living rooms, 6 bedrooms (4 ensuite) and 2 studies and 3 further bathrooms spread over 3 floors. The house was restored 25 years ago with a new insulated roof and floors using recycled ancient tiles, sarena stone and Yemeni marble. The old chestnut beams were recycled as bookshelves and windowsills. Extensive use was made of a local workshop making hand-beaten wrought iron.
The kitchen is particularly spacious with a generous island with hob and a long sideboard on brick arches (once a manger). An adjoining scullery has a large domed oven for making bread and pizzas.
The ground floor ensuite double bedroom was designed for visiting grandparents and includes an ancient stone basin reclaimed from an upper wall of the house.
The large living/dining room has an open fireplace which could easily accommodate a wood-burning stove. It opens through the glass doors onto the front lawn. For much of the year, meals are taken under the vine-covered pergola (a second pergola under wisteria provides shade for two cars).
An understairs store acts as a wine cellar. An adjacent room is used as a workshop and boiler room with a system to circulate hot water, so that it is immediately available. This also protects the boilers is left unattended for long in winter. Glass double doors lead to the high-roofed internal chapel, with its own door to the front lawn.
The acoustics of this ancient chapel are excellent, and the owners have hosted many chamber music concerts.
Heavily worn original stone stairs lead up to the ancient kitchen, now transformed into a large bedroom. A headstone set into the wall commemorates the life of Fabroni, the monk who restored the monastery in the 1700’s and wrote much about his work and the history of the place. The adjoining bathroom offers the only bathtub in the house. An interconnecting door leads to a smaller bedroom for guests with small children. This bedroom also has its own door and access to a bathroom.
The living room on the piano nobile (the first floor) was the formal meeting room for the Abbot. Much of the ancient plaster has been preserved to show the wall paintings.A door leads to a small double bedroom with ensuite bathroom.
A further flight of stairs with ancient stone treads, believed to be from 1703, leads to another large double bedroom on the top floor, with large studies on either side. One leads to an en-suite bathroom.
The living room on the top floor, with a double bedroom also ensuite, has a kitchenette built into a large cupboard so it can provide independent living for guests or live-in house help. A ramp up to the roof is lined with bookshelves.
Wi-fi is available throughout the house.
The Grounds
Il Conventino is e in the Monti Rognosi Nature Reserve, an area of geological interest because it is formed from the most ancient rocks in Italy. They give rise to endemic species of plants and insects, including cloud grass and wild thyme. Owls, nightingales, hoopoes, horseshoe bats and honeybees have all nested in its walls. Fox, deer, badgers, boar, wolves, and porcupines enjoy the sanctuary of the reserve, where no hunting is allowed.
For nature lovers, various paths provide privileged access to several footpaths within the Reserve. These include one up the mountain past ancient drystone walls on a 2.5-hour circuit with marvellous views of the countryside and the neighbouring castle. Other walks lead past or through the adjacent disused quarry, where copper and iron was mined in Etruscan times, to La Fabrica, where these ores were once refined. This has become the site of a nature and geological museum
A circuit within the grounds that includes a steep stretch takes about 15 minutes, ideal for a short workout. A sketch map produced by one of Napolean’s engineers in 1812 suggests silver and gold were also detected between Il Conventino and the local castle.
The grass stage and theatre, poised in the middle of the upper campo, has hosted various drama and musical groups over the last 20 years: players from Arezzo, local choirs, opera including an Oxford University performance of “Cose fan tutte” (tickets inclusive of dinner al fresco a la Glyndebourne) with an audience of more than 140 in attendance. There is an extensive parking area at the top of the slope for the audience.
The Sovara stream continues to flow throughout the summer months and provides a delightful opportunity for wild swimming. Above the ford it is possible to swim for about 10 m, while below are smaller, deeper pools for a jacuzzi-like experience. Giant herons fish the river, and the riverbanks are a noted habitat for woodcock (there is a museum dedicated to them in Anghiari).
The 4 by 8 metre infinity pool is a recent addition, and the area around it is being landscaped by a local company. It is accessed from the front lawn via a flight of stone steps bordered by lavender and rosemary. The pool is surrounded by a narrow strip of local serena stone. It is fitted with a salt-based water treatment system and a heat pump (pompa di calore) to extend the usage of the pool beyond the high summer months.
A line of large Etruscan blocks, interspersed with red roses, separates the pool area from the lower lawn, which is used for croquet by adults and soccer by children. The whole lower lawn area is bordered by lavender. The front and lower lawns have been recently fenced to keep out the wild boar that roam the area and made gardening impossible.
Garden plants
The façade of the Conventino is planted with well-established rambicante roses, (one white and 3 red), which in the latter case, flourish over a period of six months.
The pergola is planted to both white and black Uva fragola (an American species) with a jasmine bush, 3 red fiorentina rambicante roses, and 1 early flowering white rose, attached to the supports.
The main entrance to the kitchen from the parking area is planted with yellow roses which bloom copiously in May on either side of the door.
Adjacent to the roses are a variety of herbs, mainly sage, oregano, rosemary and lavender, and along the line of fence posts are established clumps of white seafoam roses. The edge of the orchard area, which hosts various species of ancient apple varieties and a plum tree, is planted winter jasmine which blossoms throughout January and February.
The house is less than 500 m on a strada Bianca (gravel road) from the tarmac road. There is a ford over the Sovara stream where cars can cross to reach the property.
Tenure: Freehold
