Villa Cervajola 8

The villa sits in fenced private grounds surrounded by cypress trees; park outside the gates and walk across the garden to the formal entrance, entering into a wide entrance hall floored into wonderful warm terracotta tiles, decorated with old lithographs of racing horses. The hallways runs right through the centre of the house, with french doors leading to the rear garden and towards the pool.

Ignore the lure of the pool for a moment and turn right, into a living room with sofas, some delicate and elegant pieces of furniture, a floor of square terracotta tiles and a fireplace. To the right again the living room turns into more of a nook, with a comfortable armchair one can imagine curling up on with a good book.

From the living room a door leads back to the entrance hall, past a tiny studio full of photographs of the military past of the owners, across the entrance hall to a further small studio, this time decorated to look like a rustic dining room. This was once the room where the owners would receive the local farm labourers to distribute their wages or discuss crops and projects. Beyond it, a dining room has a large stone fireplace blackened by centuries of use. A door from here leads to the kitchen which is simple but well-equipped, with an induction hob, an oven and plenty of equipment.

At this point we have nearly completed a spiral itinerary around the floorplan and find ourselves close to the entrance doors - but there is a last surprise, a tiny chapel tucked between the kitchen and the entrance hall. Still consecrated, and decorated with icons and candelabra, this may well be locked for your visit - we can ask the owners if you'd like to visit it. On the other side of the entrance hall a last door takes you to the top of the stairs to the cellars, carved out of Tufa rock (locked) and to a WC, with a toilet inscribed with "Fides et Labor", perhaps there from the years of the villa as a seminary?

Back in the entrance hall, wide stairs lead us up to a spacious sitting room with oil paintings on yellow walls, and a striking coffered ceiling. Doors lead from this sitting room in various directions - listed in a clockwise direction, there is a double bedroom, a large double bedroom, a bathroom, a child's bedroom, a shower room, the third double bedroom, and finally the twin bedroom. A door from the twin will lead you back to the top of the stairs.

In front of the shower room you'll see a further flight of stairs leading upwards - these go to the second floor which is out of bounds as unrestored. But if you ask the owners, they might take you up the stairs and to a further tiny staircase that pops out on the roof and leads up to a roof terrace with amazing views.