A holiday in the Upper Tiber Valley is perfect for those who want to forget the chaos of the city and have a unique experience with nature, history and art.
A place of peace to relax and enjoy the rich and suggestive local flavors.
Our farmhouse is situated at Caprese Michelangelo, close to Arezzo, in Tuscany.
The name Terra di Michelangelo comes from the artist Michelangelo Buonarroti, who was born and spent part of his childhood here. In the Upper Tiber Valley St. Francis has found peace and quiet in his wanderings; from the valleys of these mountains can be seen the birthplace of the master of perspective and light Piero della Francesca; in these old towns was born and lived Luca Pacioli, the genius of Renaissance mathematics.
Terra di Michelangelo is above all a rural business.
We have been always taking care of our lands avoiding extensive monoculture and embracing the philosophy of self-subsistence instead, we do not use any chemicals or muck for our products.
We grow vegetables, have a small area with olive trees to produce our olive oil, also we planted many trees to have fresh fruit. All this results in aesthetic harmony with the typical varied Tuscan countryside where land still keeps its human face and almost all products are seasonally available to us and to our guests.
You will get the chance to taste our home-made olive oil: olive trees seldom are grown at these heights, but benefit from the healthy climate of the area and are not plagued by parasites. Our oil is not sour at all and has a mild, almost sweet flavour.
During the summer, You will enjoy the vegetables we grew and also the cherries, the plums, the pears and the figues.
Autumn is the season of hazelnuts, apples (including some local ancient apple varieties) and above all chestnuts: the local chestnut variety is called "marrone" ("the brown one") and is the main product of our forests.
Is the true "king" of the woods of Caprese and protagonist of the "Festa della Castagna" (Chestnut's festival) that it is held in the town in October.
The inhabitants of Caprese are really proud of their centuries old chestnut trees and take care of them with much passion.
In former times, chestnuts used to feed the poor as well as the rich, replacing bread and being served in many different ways: sometimes as polenta (staple food made from ground maize, chestnut or corn meal), sometimes as baldino (a typical local pie), sometimes as stewed or roasted chestnuts.
A local proverb says:
"A Caprese si mangiano quattro vivande: brice, balocie, baldino e castagne!"
meaning that whatever you eat, chestnuts tend to be the main ingredient of every meal!
Our products are produced in small quantities, just enough to supply our household and to give our guests the chance to enjoy them. We also prepare conserves, so that lovely food is available in the winter months, when nature takes a rest.
At last, you can taste the Salami and the others cold cuts produced with the Cinta Senese's meats, an ancient and rare race of pigs typically Tuscan, that we raise in our woods to the wild state. We invite you to go there and feed them with acorns and wild chestnuts.
Fruits, vegetables, cereals, everything is cultivated organically, with the unique support of the healthy climate of our Appenine hills.
In this country, for a long time extraneous to the intensive agriculture and the use of chemical products, far from the cities pollution, our conversion to the organic method has been a spontaneous passage consistent with the productive philosophy of our tradition, almost a natural development.
