The Story

At the end of World War II, my grandfather Luigi bought a large property, 800 hectares of land and several farmhouses and buildings, in a very particular area of the Apennines, straddling the regions of Tuscany, Romagna, Marche, and Umbria. I’m unsure exactly why he chose these places, but I do know that the bond that connects my family to these hills begins with my grandfather’s choice.

A few kilometers from the property is the source of the Tevere River, which passes through Umbria and eventually flows through Rome.
This is a unique and special territory that has been influenced by the centuries-old distinctions between the different valleys: those that descend towards Romagna to the north, those that descend towards the Adriatic Sea to the east, or the deep Tevere valley to the south, while to the west are the valleys that lead to Florence and Arezzo.

What is now a comfortable car trip from one valley to another has been for millennia a protected environment, populated sporadically and built on microcosms where typical and distinctive customs and traditions reigned. Cuisine, dialects, proverbs, habits that, although located in Tuscan territory, merge and combine today with those of the many neighboring regions.

As long as my grandfather took care of maintaining the rural style he loved so much, I came here to spend summers with my brothers. On those meadows, placid herds of Limousine cows grazed freely, while we ran like crazy on those meadows, feeling like we were flying. I drank fresh milk straight from the cow and tasted cheeses that still smelled of milk.
My grandfather would take us to explore the surroundings, from the Romagna Riviera to Rimini, but also to La Verna, Città di Castello, Citerna, Montieri, Monte Fumaiolo, and Anghiari, always a mix of culture and leisure. I must always thank my grandfather for allowing me to experience days full of light and energy, and for guiding me and helping me discover that magical rural world, full of wisdom, innocence, and genuine respect for nature.

When in 2007 I inherited a portion of that large property, I chose the farmhouse that, with its view of the valley, held symbolic and sentimental value for me.
It represented, for its location and for being at the end of a winding road through the trees, the ideal place on which to build one of my dreams: renovating a house in the middle of nature and making it special.

Maria Ricceri