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The
farm is made up of four ancient poderi (farms
owned by the farmer) which between them
cover a vast area of hill and mountain
ranging, in height, from about 400
metres (1312 feet) to 1000 metres (3280
feet) above sea level, and covering
about 300 hectares (741 acres)..
The
casolari- traditional Tuscan
farm-houses- were built around 1500AD,
and there are firm historical records of
this. “Santarsa”, specifically, was
originally an ancient military watch
tower, which later evolved into a farm
house. A number of remarkable
architectural features have been
preserved, and are still present today.
It takes a dominant position overlooking
the whole Tiber Valley. “Vallorsaia”, on
the other hand, was originally built as
a farm, belonging to the Monastery of
the Nuns of Aquitrina, which has now
completely disappeared. The four
poderi (farms) of ancient origin (La
Conca, Santarsa, Vallorsaia and Il Cungi)
are typical examples of traditional
farming in hill areas. They are
characterised by their layout which
entails a very low environmental impact:
small fields, often terraced or closed
off, are distributed across large wooded
areas. |
