CA' DI BACCINO - a paradise in Tuscany

Set on one of the stunning hillsides outside Cortona with south-facing views out over the Teverina Valley and east into Umbria, this beautiful family home, is a very special and enticing property. It offers the rare opportunity of being immersed in Tuscany’s natural beauty, in a wonderful peaceful setting, while being within easy distance of both Tuscany's and Umbria’s best loved sights.

Cà di Baccino is a place in which to fully relax and unwind, either sitting by the swimming pool, enjoying aperitivi under the arched loggia or reading in the cool shade of the pergola. Evenings ‘al fresco’ can be spent cooking up a barbecue or a pizza (in the modern pizza oven included in the sale), or alternatively taking a stroll over to the beautiful Tenuta La Scure restaurant where one can enjoy a wonderful meal in an elegant, panoramic setting.

The property itself provides spacious family living in one of the most beautiful settings in the region. Notable individual features are the arched loggia in front of the house, the drawing room with its lofty ceiling and magnificent open stone fireplace, the large wine and storage cellar and the Lizzie Riches mural decorating the entrance hall.

The house is reached via a well-maintained communal road which passes by a large farmhouse (some 300 metres up from the gravel driveway) occupied by a local farming family. This adds to the security of the location.

The house consists of the following:

• Elegant high-ceilinged drawing room, a very large kitchen-dining room, a pantry-cellar, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms plus an outdoor shower room with WC.
• Adjacent to the main house, there is a two-storey annexe with self-contained studio-apartment:  First floor - apartment with sleeping, living, dining, kitchen and bathroom areas; Ground floor - large storage room and woodshed.
• Outdoors there is a 10m x 5m architect-designed swimming pool area with pool, dining terrace, BBQ & pizza oven, pergola; and a beautifully maintained mature garden.

The property includes:

*25 acres (10 hectares) of unspoiled Tuscan hillside with fabulous surrounding walks.

* Exceptional, far-reaching panoramas.

* Telephone land line and fast internet.

* Gas central heating + wood stoves.

* Mains water + private well

* Large parking area adjacent to the house with a lockable gate

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Annual council taxes (Imu) – Euro 1.990

Purchase costs:

• Purchase taxes as a non-resident - Euro 16.000 circa
• Notary fees and administrative costs -Euro 4.500 + 0,5% of monies deposited in notary’s escrow account

Atmosphere:

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What the owner has to say:

“Qui e’ un paradiso!” is a standard reaction from first time visitors including locals.

The garden is mature, professionally maintained, and populated with local trees, flowers & shrubs.

Might you feel too far into the countryside at Ca di Baccino? We definitely don’t. The deeply rural, utterly beautiful and unpolluted environment has been a priceless escape for us and our children, and many visiting friends, for four decades, whilst putting us in striking distance of a cornucopia of food, wine and culture in both Tuscany and Umbria. And, for those local dinners out in Cortona or at Walter Redaelli in Bettolle, Enzo or another of his taxi driving friends will transport you there and back without charging you an arm or a leg. Or - see above - there is the lovely La Scure restaurant-agriturismo to which you can walk.

Burton Anderson, the previous owner and the author of Vino, the first definitive book in English on Italian wine, wrote it at this house. The current owners are themselves publishers, and many other food, wine & travel books - not to mention DVDs and websites - have been dreamed up and drafted over bottles of wine & bistecca alla Fiorentina gazing out across the sylvan valley.

The house is very private, but in no way isolated (In the days before the telephone line - now of course there is broadband and a landline - the aforementioned author, from whom we bought the house in 1982, could be summoned by the loud cry of the Tuscan signora from the little shop in the hamlet of Teverina to take a call on the public phone!!!).

Plenty of houses are close but not visible.

The 25 acres of land include terraces and campi which were once part of the old farm. They stretch out below the house and have largely been returned to nature, but the two-and -a half-acre field just below the garden area has been mowed annually & cleared of gorse.

It was also soil-tested by the previous owner and deemed suitable for a Chardonnay vineyard.

15 of the property’s 25 acres spread out down the terraces in front of the house cascading down the valley with a side excursion up into an eating chestnut wood where you can find porcini if you learn when to look and are willing to get up very early.

An old strada vicinale, now a very wide rural path, runs down through this part of the land and is kept permanently clear and walkable. You can take a tractor down, but a car would inadvisable.

And - to put the location into perspective - it is only 25 minutes house-door-to-parking in Cortona. Maybe a few more until you get know the road, which, with its breathtaking views across to Lago di Trasimeno, is marked as a green route (i.e. of outstanding beauty) on the Michelin map.

Closer still, you can also pause for a coffee at the timeless local bar and basic provisions shop in Portole, halfway to Cortona, just as the stunning views of Trasimeno begin.

If you turn right rather than left into the provincial road at the top of the ‘drive’, Perugia airport is exactly an hour by car. Turn left to Cortona and Camucia-Cortona station is 30 minutes. Ditto the splendid Co-op supermarket with its hundreds of parking spaces and wholemeal sourdough bread, and more or less anything else you need including wine & spirits, a delicatessen. a fishmonger and a butcher.

After all these years, we still like to support the small shops in Cortona, but our children do all the food shopping for their families and friends at the Co-op (other good supermarkets are also available!).

Finally, we must not forget the wine! We have over the past 40-odd years been privileged to watch the remarkable development of Cortona DOC into the HQ of Syrah in Italy. There are many fine small producers to follow; Antinori has made a major investment in the zone; Poliziano, Avignonesi & Tenimenti d’Alessandro are important larger players. Fortunately, Cortona is also home to one of Italy’s most highly regarded wineshops, Enoteca Molesini. Marco and his brother Paolo can introduce you to everything (not just Syrah) Cortona and the rest of Italy have to offer. The range and quality of the wineries from all over Italy that Marco gets to present their wines at the enoteca’s weekly wine dinners is remarkable.

Other airports are:

Florence 90 minutes, Ancona 2 hours, Bologna & Pisa 3 hours, Rome a bit more. And all these apart from Ancona are an easy train ride too.

All of the following are possible day trips:

1. Tuscany: Siena, Arezzo, Sansepolcro, Pienza, Montepulciano, Montalcino, Lucignano, Chianti classico region  - and, of course, Florence;

2 . Umbria: Assisi, Spello, Spoleto, Montefalco, Bevagna, Orvieto, Chiusi, Todi, Gubbio, Citta’ di Castello, Lake Trasimene  – and, of course, Perugia.

Virtual tour: