The Villa: Casa San Carlo.
Casa San Carlo is situated on a hill in Umbria, also know as The Green Heart of Italy, on the border with Tuscany. Twenty years ago, in this exact spot, you would have found nothing more than a ruin of an ancient farmerhouse, with a large oak tree standing tall, right in the middle of the enormous piles of bricks. From this ruin a beautiful and spacious holiday villa arose, where you can now enjoy astonishing views over the surrounding countryside.
Over the past twelve years, all of our guests who arrived on our terrace more or less said the same thing: Wow, what beautiful views! Even we ourselves, although we look at it every day, never grow tired of the colourful olive groves and pittoresque villages we see around us. We are still thrilled to have found this unique spot, that has been our ‘home office’ since our emigration from The Netherlands in early 2008.
At the front of the house, overlooking the pool, you will see Tuscany. On the eastside of the house, looking uphill, you will see the lovely little village of Monteleone d’Orvieto, dating back to the Middle Ages. On the westside of the house, you will see the neighbouring houses on ‘our’ road, and behind them you’ll notice the impressive Monte Cetona, which, especially at sunset, will provide you with a beautiful scenery.
Turning a ruin into holiday apartments
The ruins from which Casa San Carlo was restructured laid on a piece of land of half an hectare, overlooking nothing but olive trees and vineyards. In 1998 the renovation project was started. The huge farmhouse (650 square meters) was divided into 6 large (family) apartments. Also a seperate little studio, right behind the main structure, was constructed – this used to be a shed.
When we bought Casa San Carlo in 2008, we turnt this little extra house in to our 7th apartment. The ground floor of the mail villa was turned into a communal living room and dining area, with a big fire place and grill as its center piece.
All around the house, a large roofed terrace was built. The building project was finished with the instalation of a large oval swimming pool: a real eye cather in the middle of the beautiful garden.
Locally produced
During the renovation project all the old bricks of the ruin were used to reconstruct the outer walls. All other materials for the interior were manufactured locally as well. The huge beams for the ceiling, the terracotta tiles for the floors, the olive wood for the large dining room tables, the marble kitchen sinks in the apartments: there were all locally handcrafted.
Solar panels were installed for the hot water supply (to help the regular CV system), and all windows and doors were fitted with double glazing. Every apartment has its own heating system.
Spectacular views
The ‘portico’ (roofed terrace) around the house offers a lovely shaded spot for our guests to read a book, enjoy a nice glass of wine from our bar, chat with other guests while sitting around the large tables, or play a board game with their children. During the season, we serve our communal dinners here on this terrace. We have also created a ‘kids corner’ with lots of toys and games for the smaller children. This way, the parents can relax on the terrace and their young children can be safely monitored. Two yeas ago, we created extra sitting corners and lounge spaces by enhancing the terrace even further. Now all of our guests can peacefully enjoy the spectacular views of the surrounding hills right from our front terrace.
Enjoying the pool
The centre piece of the beautiful garden is our big, oval shaped swomming pool (14 x 8 metres), situated in a lower part of the garden. To arrive at the pool, you go down a few steps (created with railway sleepers) and open the little fence that we have installed to prevent our smallest guests from walking straight to the pool. Three years ago, we have completely renovated the whole pool and and its technical area. We installed new pumps, a new filter system and created more space around the pool itself for sunbathing. Enough space to relax, play and swim for everyone!
Spectacular views
The ‘portico’ (roofed terrace) around the house offers a lovely shaded spot for our guests to read a book, enjoy a nice glass of wine from our bar, chat with other guests while sitting around the large tables, or play a board game with their children. During the season, we serve our communal dinners here on this terrace. We have also created a ‘kids corner’ with lots of toys and games for the smaller children. This way, the parents can relax on the terrace and their young children can be safely monitored. Two yeas ago, we created extra sitting corners and lounge spaces by enhancing the terrace even further. Now all of our guests can peacefully enjoy the spectacular views of the surrounding hills right from our front terrace.
Enjoying the pool
The centre piece of the beautiful garden is our big, oval shaped swomming pool (14 x 8 metres), situated in a lower part of the garden. To arrive at the pool, you go down a few steps (created with railway sleepers) and open the little fence that we have installed to prevent our smallest guests from walking straight to the pool. Three years ago, we have completely renovated the whole pool and and its technical area. We installed new pumps, a new filter system and created more space around the pool itself for sunbathing. Enough space to relax, play and swim for everyone!
Beautiful weddings and relaxing yoga retreats
If you pass the swimming pool and walk down even further, you’ll arrive at a piece of land with, again, beautiful views over the surrounding hills and olive groves. This piece of land is used in many different ways: as a playground for the children during high season, as a wedding location and as a yoga space during our ‘group holiday weeks’.
Enjoying the Italian ‘cucina’!
Apart from offering our guests a comfortable apartment in a beuatiful location with a stunning pool, we also like to treat our guests to good Italian food and Umbrian wines. For more than 12 years now, our guests have enjoyed fun evenings together at the dining table, getting to know each other while their children play and run around with their new friends. It’s the Italian way of life: long dinner tables and lots of stories to share! Naturally, a holiday in Italy is incomplete without a delicious pizza from the wood oven… so be prepared to make your own and enjoy a real fun experience during our Pizza Night!
In the living room downstairs we have created an honesty bar with coffee, tea, soft drinks, beers and of course delicious wines from the area. Our guests can enjoy a selection of the wide variety of Umbrian wines we sell in our online webshop. Sommelier Torben loves to share his knowledge of wines with the guests, and during meals he likes to advise them on the best wine combination. We also organize special ‘wine tasting lunches’ on our terrace, during which our guests can taste a large number of wines and are treated to all sorts of delicious snacks and of course lots of wine stories.
Naturally, in the towns nearby, we can recommend a large number of good restaurants or charming ‘trattorie’ where our guests can enjoy a lovely lunch or dinner. In the past 12 years we have also gone on lots of ‘kidsproof’ outings al around Umbria, so we would love to give you tips for family outings or interesting places to visit.
We hope to welcome you soon in our little piece of paradise!
Each year, we open the pool of Casa San Carlo at the beginning of April and we close it again around the 1st of October.
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