Superb luxury property comprising restored 17th-century villa, tower and housekeepers apartment, standing in magnificent landscaped gardens designed by the renowned landscape architect Pietro Porcinai, located in the beautiful hills near to Perugia in Umbria.

Luxury villa with renowned landscape architect Pietro Porcinai designed gardens

Ideal as a luxury private residence or as used now for home and prestige holiday accommodation and as a tourist attraction to view the magnificent Pietro Porcinai designed gardens. Facilities include a swimming pool and tennis court.

The property and gardens are featured on the covers and inside several landscape gardening books and magazines.

This luxury property is made up of three independent residential units (a 17th-century villa, a watch tower dating back to the Renaissance and the keeper’s apartment) plus a winter garden and a warehouse.

The villa is laid out on four floors as follows:
– Basement: underground tunnel fitted with technical rooms, garage, laundry and entrance with parking.
– Ground floor: proceeding to the end of the tunnel, with surprise effect and via a staircase, one can enter the ground floor of the villa. Here we have a portico with arches and glasses (a small habitable and heated veranda with direct view over the tower), a living room with fireplace (made up of frames and andirons dating back to the 16th century) decorated with prestigious furnishings and paintings, an ample kitchen, a reading room (library) with precious tools and games (such as a Chinese ivory chess set).
– First floor: through an ample staircase we enter a corridor, filled with beautiful furnishings and paintings, leading to the bedrooms.
– Second floor: double bedroom with panoramic terrace.
The winter garden is heated, with cork-covered walls providing an excellent thermal insulation. Here we have several plants of ficus repens and Mexican vines. The automatic sliding glasses are designed so that during summer it looks like the garden enters the house. From the winter garden, through an elliptical staircase, one can enter the game room (which includes a fully equipped gym and several games such as a pool table, a table football and a ping-pong table), while the pool is provided with dressing room, shower and bathroom. The house is also fitted with a Jacuzzi sauna.

A short distance from the villa there is a restored tower laid out on three floors:
– Ground floor: kitchen and living room with fireplace and BBQ;
– First floor: double bedroom with bathroom;
– Second floor: twin bedroom with bathroom, panoramic terrace.

The housekeepers’ apartment is located along the underground tunnel granting access to the several buildings of the property. The apartment is made up of a living room (with dining room included), a kitchen, a double bedroom, a twin bedroom and a bathroom. The apartment, other than the artificial light, can be lighted thanks to the round skylight on the ceiling.

Next to the keepers’ house, there are several service rooms including a bathroom, a laundry with ironing room and a garage. The tunnel granting access to the villa is built with a masonry structure and terracotta floors (opus spicatum).

The buildings have been carefully restored. The tower, in particular, dates back to the late Renaissance and is entirely covered in wild grape (Ampelopsis glandulosa brevipendiculata) and blends in with the garden and the trees of the property. The floors are covered in terracotta (opus spicatum) and the ceilings are supported by wooden beams.
The villa, conversely, is in a central position and is a stone building dating back to the 18th century finely restored and covered in jasmine and rambling roses. The building boasts terracotta floors (opus spicatum) in the kitchen and living room on the ground floor, parquet in the night zone on the first and second floors and carpets in the reading room. Ceilings are supported by ancient wooden beams.
The property is further enriched by luxury furniture and finishes which need to be seen to fully appreciate.

“The art of garden […] is no longer limited to the simple private or public garden of the city, but embraces the territory of the entire Nation, with new social and spiritual functions […]. Nature has to be followed and understood in its aspects and manifestations which transcend our comprehension and cannot be explained by science: that’s the only way, with our faith and love, human action will reach perfection without contrasts and in absolute harmony”.
Pietro Porcinai, Discorso all’Accademia dei Georgofili, 1942

Gem of the property is the beautiful garden, still visible in the original shape the landscape architect Pietro Porcinai (1910 – 1986) gave it following the idea of harmony between landscape and architecture.
All the elements (equipment, pool and even furniture) are still in the same position established in the original project.
The different “settings” visible are a trick used by Porcinai to make the spectators believe they see multiple gardens in a single context.
From a side, a garden rise on a slight slope towards the villa and is decorated with bushes and trees typical of Tuscan scrub mixed with fruit trees and olives. In particular, the entrance to property is embellished by trees hiding the underground tunnel while the rest of the garden hosts several examples of Prunus amygdalus georgica, Prunus persica ‘Alba’, Prunus pollardii, Prunus armeniaca vulgaris, Prunus rubra, Prunus pendula, Prunus persica subhirtella, Zizyphus sativus, Sophora japonica, Salix contorta, Rhus typhina laciniata, Quercus ilex, Olea europea (the classical European olive tree), Paulownia imperialis, Liriodendron tulipifera, Gleditsia triacanthos, Celtis australis, Cupressus sempervirens, Arbutus unedo and Albizia julibrissin. Among bushes we find Buddleia ‘Royal Red’, Buddleia ‘Empire Blue’, Calycantus floridus, Clerodendrum, Eleagnus ebbingei, Eleagnus reflexa, Forsythia intermedia, Laurus nobilis, Mirus communis tarentina, Nerium oleander, Perovskia abrotanoides, Spiraea prunifolia plena, Syringa vulgaris, Tamarix gallica and Teucrium.
Decorative plants include Aquilegia, Althea rosea, Ceratostigma wilmottianum, Cineraria maritima, Heliantemum, Hibiscus, Jasminum nudiflorum, Iberis semperflorens, Kniphofia uvaria and Plumbago larpentae. Finally, there are even several varieties of bamboo plants: Bambusa aurea, Bambusa nana ‘Kumasasa’, Bambusa nana ‘Variegata’ and Bambusa mitis palmata.
The garden hosts some beautiful terracotta pots dating back to the 19th century, located along the pathways, and several wrought-iron sculptures. The furnishings scattered throughout the park are high-quality too. Multiple lemon and grapefruit are scattered throughout the park and are sheltered during winter in the indoor garden. The property is equipped with modern tools for the care of the garden, including a lawnmower (tractor). The lighting system in the garden was designed by Porcinai himself to give the garden a unique atmosphere even at night.
The garden also hosts a beautiful outdoor Jacuzzi tub.
At the rear of the villa, there is a beautiful winter garden with wooden frame and sliding glass walls hosting uncommon and exotic plants. This covered garden, intimate and discreet, can be heated during summer to grant the survival of the plants. A 12.5 x 4 m pool is located half inside the greenhouse and half on the outside so that it can be used also during winter.
A Japanese garden departs from the greenhouse and then expands over the garden with its numerous water-plants: Nymphaea odorata ‘Exquisita’, Nymphaea rustica ‘Pink opal’, Nymphaea rustica ‘Indiana’, Nymphaea ‘Judge Hitchcock’, Nimpheae ‘Sunrise’, Nymphaea comanche, Nymphaea atropurpurea, Nymphaea ‘Kiss of Fire’, Iris sibirica, Iris kaempferi, Cyperus papyrus, Cyperus alternifolius, Nelumbium nucifera, Pontederia cordata, Scirpus zebrinus and Colocasia antiquorum. A hi-fi system pipes music all over the winter garden and the pool area.
The main concern with Porcinai when building the garden was the water supply. The problem was solved obtaining the rights of exploitation for a nearby small pond (1 km). Systems for water transportation are all high-quality and recently revised.
The tennis court (with a synthetic surface) is located on the lower level of the garden, surrounded by a tall hedge and reached via a walkway decorated with terracotta pots. The park is crisscrossed by a barely visible stone walkway which doesn’t alter the looking of the garden.
The two accesses to the villa are closes by automatic gates and fitted with automatic lighting.

TYPE Luxury villa with Pietro Porcinai designed park and gardens, swimming pool and tennis court
CONDITION Luxury finishes
LOCATION Hilly, panoramic
MUNICIPALITY Perugia
PROVINCE Perugia
REGION Umbria
SIZE Approx. 650 sqm (6,994 sqft)
ROOMS 21
BEDROOMS 9
BATHROOMS 10
FEATURES Winter garden, park, decorative plants, Japanese garden, whirlpool tub in the garden, swimming pool, tennis court, stone walls, wooden beams, original stone fireplace, playroom with glass windows, housekeepers’ apartment, terracotta floors, parquet floors, sauna, cantina, Turkish bath with whirlpool, valuable furniture, automated irrigation system connected to a nearby lake, old pool table, table football, tennis table, ping-pong table, prestigious paintings, equipped gym, hi-fi system
LAND 1.3 hectares
GARDEN Beautiful park on the outside and winter garden, both designed by the landscape architect Pietro Porcinai
ANNEX Keepers’ house and restored tower
ACCESS Excellent
POOL 12.5 x 4 m
ELECTRICITY Already connected
WATER Mains water + private well
GAS Municipal network
HEATING Radiators, air conditioning
TELEPHONE Satellite ADSL
NEAREST TOWNS
Corciano (4km; 10’), Magione (7km; 15’), Perugia (18km; 25’), Umbertide (30km; 30’), Cortona (36km; 35’), Assisi (38km; 40’), Montepulciano (51km; 50’), Gubbio (51km; 50’), Città di Castello (52km; 45’), Todi (59km; 50’), Spoleto (76km; 1h), Orvieto (91km; 1h 25’)
NEAREST AIRPORTS
Perugia Sant’Egidio (26km; 25’), Firenze Peretola (156km; 1h 40’), Roma Ciampino (198km; 2h 10’), Roma Fiumicino (213km; 2h 15’), Pisa Galilei (217km; 2h 15’)