L'Antico Casale

L'Antico Casale is an old farmhouse near Sarteano in Tuscany, restored over a long period to bring back its clean, essential original layout.

It has ten bedrooms and nine bathrooms for around 20 guests, and with breakfast and daily housekeeping included it works especially well for large families and groups of friends who want a quiet private base for a week or longer.

Inside, local travertine, wood and steel sit alongside modern furniture, and large windows and glass doors frame the garden and the countryside.

The ground floor centres on a kitchen with a long island by Vico Magistretti, plus the main hall, with its fireplace and dining corner, where the long table was made from two original roof beams in the manner of a monastery refectory.

On the first floor, the West suite has two en-suite bedrooms and a sitting room with fireplace and TV, while the East family suite pairs a double with the house's only twin room, sharing a bathroom, plus a washing machine and dryer.

Four large doubles on the second floor each have an en-suite shower room and a sitting area. Two newer cottages, the Casette, each add a double bedroom and a sitting room, linked by a patio facing the vineyards. Every room has TV with soundbar, a safe, a mini fridge, coffee machine and kettle.

Outdoors, stone paths and steps wind around a pair of ornamental infinity pools, and the main travertine pool has a solarium.

In front of the house the old lemon house, the limonaia, now serves as the breakfast room and has a wood-fired oven and barbecue, and near the farmhouse a gas barbecue stands beside a spot for eating outdoors.

Below the pools are a Technogym fitness area plus a wellness room offering massage space and a sauna, and the grounds include a tennis court and a bowling green.

From the patio the view runs over vineyards to distant hills, and the surrounding countryside is good for walking and cycling. Cots and children's beds can be added on request.