Casale Monte

Casale Monte is a large stone farmhouse of 480 square metres standing on a rise in the Chianti Senese hills, part of an estate of around 460 hectares just outside Castellina in Chianti.

Fully renovated, it has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms for up to 12 guests, a comfortable size for two or three families holidaying together. Well-behaved pets are welcome by arrangement, though the grounds are not fenced.

On the ground floor, a lounge with satellite TV flows into a second sitting room with a fireplace and on to the dining area. The kitchen comes with dishwasher, oven, microwave, freezer, filter coffee machine and toaster, and there is also a twin bedroom, two shower rooms and a laundry with washing machine.

Upstairs, a spacious lounge serves three double bedrooms and one twin, each with its own shower room, while a further sitting room with a fireplace leads to another double with en-suite shower. The first-floor bedrooms are air-conditioned.

Outside, the views run over alternating vineyards and olive groves. There is a garden, a furnished loggia for meals in the shade, a portable barbecue and an enclosed 12 x 8 metre L-shaped pool. The house is reached by 300 metres of unpaved road.

The estate mixes vines, olives and wheat fields framed by woodland, and its central position makes this villa with private pool in Chianti a good base for both Siena and Florence. Castellina in Chianti, 5 km away, has food shops and tennis; Poggibonsi, 15 km, covers everything else.

Siena and San Gimignano are both 20 km away and Florence is 50 km, with riding stables 15 km from the house.