THE FACTS ABOUT CASTELLO ROMITORIO

Italy

This property comprises an immaculately restored, secluded house with a swimming pool on the vast Romitorio wine estate, which stretches from Montalcino to the fringes of the Val d'Orcia and is owned by artist Sandro Chia and his journalist wife, Marella Carracciolo. Poggio di Sopra is a typical golden-stone farmhouse on a hilltop among vineyards, with a dining terrace overlooking the exquisite Romanesque abbey of Sant' Antimo. Visitors can take walks in the woods and peer at the tame wildlife. Pheasants regularly forage around the garden in the spring and, on one occasion, residents discovered a hare in the kitchen. The house has a superb kitchen, modern bathrooms stocked with Bvlgari products, antique rustic furniture and tables for outdoor dining under shady loggias and pergolas. Poggio di Sopra also has an outdoor, wood-burning oven and barbecue and can be rented either as an entire house or as two separate apartments. It also includes an office, a herb-and-vegetable garden and a laundry room. SUITABLE FOR Large families, groups of friends and - because the kitchens are outstanding - foodies. Castello Romitorio is not, however, suitable for very young children as the swimming pools and millstream are unprotected ACCOMMODATION Poggio di Sopra sleeps up to 12 people in the lower (€1,400-€2,000 per week) and the upper (€2,400-€3,200) apartments LOCATION The Sant' Antimo abbey complex is 10km south-east of Montalcino CONTACT Castello Romitorio, VLoc. Romitorio 279, Montalcino, Siena (00 39 0577 897212; email: castellodelromitorio@msn.com; www.castelloromitorio.com)