3 bedrooms farmhouse, 200 m²

Arpino, Frosinone (province)

Key features

Quiet, rural location, but not isolated, and only a short drive to townWell designed for summer (cool, with shaded outside areas) and winter (cosy, with various area designed to catch the sun)High quality finishings throughoutSpacious open plan living areaPrivate olive grove and woods.
Description

Set in tranquil countryside, but only a few minutes drive from town, Casale Fornariello was designed to be a peaceful retreat.

The electric gates open onto a drive that curves down to the garage or up to the 'aia' (threshing circle, now used as a terrace). The entire ground floor of the house is designed as an open plan space curving around the main staircase, creating an open feeling that still allows for specialised spaces. The floors on this level are all Sienese terracotta.

At one end of the ground floor, there is the fully fitted kitchen, which opens onto an uncovered dining patio overlooking your private woodland. Then there is a sitting area, which remains pleasantly cool in even the hottest summer, and has a fireplace for cosy winters. The fireplace is done in Lecce stone. Beyond this is the dining area, and another door to the garden, from which you can reach both the covered dining patio and the aia. Then there is another sitting area or study.

There is also under stair storage and a bathroom (complete with shower) on the ground floor.

The upper level, floored in dark wood parquet, has two larger bedrooms and a smaller bedroom/study with its own private balcony, as well as a large bathroom.

The lowest level has the garage and some cellar storage.

The house is set in about 8,000 square metre of land, including an olive grove. Because it was designed as a country retreat, other than the olives (which can be looked after by one of the local farmers), and the garden round the house, the land has been left as natural woodland, with paths winding through it, both so the the previous owner could enjoy nature watching and so that it would be easy to maintain.

The windows are in solid wood, double glazed with mesquite screens, with shutters and, on the ground floor grills - this is not a high crime area, but the owner wanted to be able to leave the house frequently unattended. The heating is provided by convectors on the ground level and radiators on the upper level.

The house, cool in summer and cosy in winter, with a choice of covered and open terraces, garden, and woodland, and set in a tranquil and private location that is however not isolated, and only a short drive from town, is an ideal holiday retreat or counter home.

ARPINO AND THE CIOCIARIA

Arpino is one of the major medieval hilltop towns in the area of Italy called the Ciociaria, the name given to the fertile land that lies south of Rome but north of Naples, situated inland in the hills in the heart of Italy.

The Ciociaria region is within easy reach of both Rome and Naples and their respective airports. A day's shopping in Rome is a common pastime, while an even shorter drive brings you to the charming beaches south of Rome. Alternatively, drive east, and the mountains of the Abruzzo National Park await with horse trekking in the magnificent beech forests, and sparkling mountain lakes and rivers where you can swim in the heat of the summer. And at the other extreme of temperature, although Arpino itself is temperate, less than an hour's drive brings you to the winter ski slopes.

Often overlooked, both by tourists and by those foreigners in search of an Italian home, in favour of the more publicized regions of Tuscany and Umbria, the Ciociaria remains largely an unspoilt gem with beautiful scenery and medieval hilltop towns. A home or second home in the Ciociaria, in the hilltop towns of Arpino, Veroli, Alatri or in the rolling countryside that surrounds them, will afford you a setting where over two thousand years of history combine with an idyllic rural Italian lifestyle, where you can still discover the 'real' Italy and take time out from the busy crowds of the larger tourist cities, while being less than ninety minutes journey from central Rome or either of Rome's two airports.


VIA ROMANA Srls and CASE & CASALI REAL ESTATE AGENCY

Via Romana Srls is an Italian-incorporated company owned by a British/Australian Chartered Accountant and her photographer daughter, and offers a package of services to facilitate all aspects of the purchase and restoration of Italian property by overseas clients. The Via Romana team works in collaboration with Case & Casali Real Estate Agency, a fully-licensed Italian real estate agency represented by Sig. Ciro Tomei. Sig. Tomei has been enrolled in the register of real estate agents at the Chamber of Commerce in Frosinone, Lazio since 2007 and has much experience in the international marketing of Italian real estate.