The name of the farmhouse, in the cartography of the State archive of Arezzo in 1885, was „La Tignosa“. The villa is the result of a long development over the centuries that gave it the appearance that can be seen today.
The renovation works (2006-2015) brought to light remains of walls dating back to 1600 and an anti-seismic construction method which used the granite rocks of the soil as foundations. During the disastrous earthquake of August 2015 in Umbria, no earthquake was felt throughout the building.
The house is owned by the current family since 1916, when the great-grandmother of the current owner inherited it from a Cortonese aunt. From the early 1900s the whole estate, including the house and 10 hectares of land, has always been the exclusive property of the women in the family. The lady who currently owns the property started and directed the renovation and initiated to welcome tourists.
As the owners lived in Florence, the cultivation of land and the livestock breeding were entrusted for decades to families of farmers with the system of sharecropping. The farmers lived on the first floor of the main house and they ran the farm for generations until 1995. The country life provided them with everything they needed to live.
On the ground floor there was the cowshed. In the present-day, cosy apartment on the first floor, they stored everything needed for the olive harvest in autumn. The outbuilding on the left included the imposing bread oven and the sties for pigs, chickens, rabbits.
Today the old oven, in its original form, is still witness of that time. Its impressive size proved that it was used not only by the farmers living there, but also by all localfamilies. On Sunday morning they brought their bread to be baked in the oven for the whole week. On the stone arch, a cross that shows their gratitude for „the daily bread“ is carved.
On the wall of the main building there is a marble plaque placed in December 1942 by the municipality of Cortona that commemorates the sacrifice of a farmers' son, the rifleman Francesco Meattini, killed in Montenegro in 1941 and decorated with a gold medal to military valour (See this article from Etruria del Gennaio 1943).
The current owners live in an outbuilding independent from the villa. Giorgio takes care of the garden and of the swimming pool. He is always helpful and ready to light the woodfire and to organize a perfect barbecue. Silvia is fond of gardening, cooking and art. She speaks English and German and she gladly helps their guests by organising excursions, booking restaurants, guided tours and wine tasting. She is a great cook and enjoys cooking with her guests the typical recipes of Tuscan cuisine.