A Restored Italian Farmhouse on 10 Acres Near Rome Listed for €2.5 Million
Bedrooms: 5 Bathrooms: 6 Interior: 3,767 ft² (350 m²) Land: 9.9 acres (4 hectares)
Amenities: Separate guest house, infinity pool, outdoor kitchen, wellness area with circular hot tub, more than 3,229 ft² (300 m²) of terraces, winter garden, frescoed library, olive trees, hazelnut groves and panoramic countryside views
Less than an hour from Rome, a restored 19th-century farmhouse sits among meadows, hazelnut groves, olive trees and woodland in Tuscia, the historic countryside of northern Lazio that was once at the heart of Etruscan civilization. Long before the rise of ancient Rome, the Etruscans controlled much of central Italy, and their tombs, settlements and archaeological remains are still scattered across the region. Ancient cave dwellings have also reportedly been found in woodland connected to the wider estate.
Now on the market for €2.5 million with Italy Sotheby’s International Realty, Torre del Falco was once an abandoned ruin. Its roof had partially collapsed, brambles had taken over and the old farmhouse, built around an earlier tower, was slowly disappearing into the landscape.
Then, in 2004, 21-year-old Filippo Chia decided to bring it back.
At the time, Chia was studying photography at New York University. He had known the building since childhood. It formed part of Villa Lina, his family’s much larger estate outside Ronciglione, a medieval town around 40 minutes north of Rome.
Villa Lina encompasses a collection of historic houses set among gardens and agricultural land. Over time, several of the residences have also been opened to guests as private rentals and retreats, while the estate itself has remained in the family.
Filippo had grown up in a particularly creative version of that world.
His mother, Paola Igliori, is a writer, photographer, filmmaker and curator who moved between Italy and the New York art world. His father, Sandro Chia, became one of the leading figures of the Transavanguardia, the Italian art movement that emerged in the late 1970s and brought expressive, figurative painting back into prominence after years dominated by conceptual art. His work is now held in collections including MoMA in New York and Tate in London.
Villa Lina had its own place in that world. Artists, writers, filmmakers and musicians passed through the estate during the late 20th century. Jean-Michel Basquiat stayed in another one of its houses, while Cy Twombly, Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz and Nick Cave were among the figures associated with Igliori and the estate.
There was also a much older family history.
Through Filippo’s maternal grandmother, Angela Lante Montefeltro della Rovere, the family belonged to an old Italian noble lineage associated with nearby Villa Lante at Bagnaia, one of the great 16th-century Renaissance garden villas of central Italy.
When Filippo began rebuilding Torre del Falco, these places and people started finding their way into the house.
Working with his mother and architect Pietro Belei, he used old photographs to recover the original volumes of the farmhouse and tower. Villa Lante influenced parts of the architecture. Handmade tiles came from another family house on Capri. The staircase takes cues from Villa Malaparte, the famous modernist house perched above the sea on the same island.
Ancient Roman interiors influenced the frescoes. Cy Twombly showed Filippo a cement-based painting technique that he later used on a vintage console in the library.
There are stranger details too. A 16th-century stone sink was installed in the kitchen. Antique painted glass came from an Indian Jain temple. Old family furniture sits beside contemporary art.
Inside Torre del Falco
The main house now measures approximately 3,767 ft² (350 m²), with 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms.
The living room opens through three large arched French windows. At its centre is a majolica fireplace, covered in hand-painted glazed ceramic tiles and inspired by the large tiled stoves traditionally found in Alpine houses.
From there, the house opens into a winter garden and a frescoed library. Some of the painted decoration takes its cues from Pompeii and Herculaneum, the Roman cities buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 and later excavated with much of their wall painting still intact.
The Twombly console sits in the library.
In the kitchen, the 16th-century stone sink appears beside the painted Indian glass. The dining veranda opens onto a patio shaded by mature trees, with a table designed by Sandro Chia.
The rooms are layered without feeling like a formal collection. Old furniture, contemporary art and objects gathered through travel simply live alongside one another.
The Tower and Gardens
The older tower still forms part of the house and contains one of its most unusual rooms.
A circular hot tub sits beneath a large glass dome, creating a private wellness area inside the tower. Above it, a terrace has 360-degree views across the surrounding countryside.
More than 3,229 ft² (300 m²) of terraces extend around the house. Below them, an infinity pool has its own outdoor kitchen and private bathroom, with olive trees, lavender, meadows and hazelnut groves around it.
The sale includes approximately 9.9 acres (4 hectares), only a portion of the much larger Villa Lina estate.
There is also a separate guest house of approximately 1,076 ft² (100 m²). Its main suite was inspired by the loggias of Villa Lante, the open covered galleries used in Renaissance villas to connect interior rooms with their gardens.
The Villa Lante connection appears in the architecture. Capri appears in the tiles and staircase. The frescoes look back to antiquity. The console in the library came out of Filippo’s friendship with Twombly.
But at its simplest, Torre del Falco is a country house with an old tower, an infinity pool, a separate guest house, large terraces and nearly 10 acres (4 hectares) of land, just 40 minutes from Rome.
Services available through the neighbouring resort include gardening, pool maintenance and private chefs.
All photographs courtesy of the listing agency. See more on Italy Sotheby’s International Realty.
