Elegantly Restored Stone Casale With Panoramic View And Olive Groves

Casale Paola is an elegant stone casale, tastefully renovated, in a panoramic position. Surrounded by courtyards and terraces, and with an extensive private garden with olive groves and fruit trees, the house is in a quiet, peaceful area, but is not isolated, and is only a few minutes drive from a major town, and indeed within walking distance of a small supermarket and a good local restaurant. ’Collecarino’, the area where the casale is found, was once a small village, running along a ridge. Now part of of Arpino, it is noted for its magnificent views in both directions, and is the location of a number of luxurious villas.

Casale Paola has a large front terrace, with sweeping views across the valley. Both the main entrance hall and the sitting room open directly onto this terrace. The original old doors open into a terracotta paved entrance, from which stone stairs lead upstairs. To the left is the sitting room/library, which has its original fireplace, as well as French doors opening into the garden, where there is an open patio area, and a set of double doors opening onto the front terrace.

Straight ahead from the entrance hall, there is a very large dining room, with another fireplace and white-painted original wood beam ceiling. The dining room has a small bar area and access to a guest wc. French doors open onto a roofed patio area.

Beyond the dining room is the large and beautifully fitted out eat-in kitchen. In addition to the normal oven, the kitchen also has a wood burning oven. A door from the kitchen leads out directly into a glassed-in conservatory area, ideal for dining outdoors in winter.

To the left of the stairs, the upper floor has wide, light halls connecting three large bedrooms, each with an ensuite bathroom, and one with a generous private balcony. There is also a small room with a convenient breakfast bar, with a small fridge, coffee machine, sink etc, so that it is unnecessary to go downstairs to make a breakfast cup of tea or coffee.

Also on the upper floor, to the right of the stairs, there is a room which could be a further bedroom or a study. This room also has its own independent access (because of the slope of the land, it opens at ground level, despite being the first floor of the building). Beyond it there is a guest or caretaker’s suite, with a large living room with corner kitchen and its own separate front door, two bedrooms and a bathroom. There are two lockable internal doors located so that the further bedroom/study can either form part of the guest suite or part of the main house.

Back on the ground floor, there is also a ’cantina’ (above ground cellar), as well as a further separate two room dependance.

The casale is being sold furnished.

ARPINO AND THE CIOCIARIA

Arpino is one of the major medieval hilltop towns in the area of Italy called the Ciociaria, the name given to the fertile land that lies south of Rome but north of Naples, situated inland in the hills in the heart of Italy.

The Ciociaria region is within easy reach of both Rome and Naples and their respective airports. A day’s shopping in Rome is a common pastime, while an even shorter drive brings you to the charming beaches south of Rome. Alternatively, drive east, and the mountains of the Abruzzo National Park await with horse trekking in the magnificent beech forests, and sparkling mountain lakes and rivers where you can swim in the heat of the summer. And at the other extreme of temperature, although Arpino itself is temperate, less than an hour’s drive brings you to the winter ski slopes.

Often overlooked, both by tourists and by those foreigners in search of an Italian home, in favour of the more publicized regions of Tuscany and Umbria, the Ciociaria remains largely an unspoilt gem with beautiful scenery and medieval hilltop towns. A home or second home in the Ciociaria, in the hilltop towns of Arpino, Veroli, Alatri or in the rolling countryside that surrounds them, will afford you a setting where over two thousand years of history combine with an idyllic rural Italian lifestyle, where you can still discover the ’real’ Italy and take time out from the busy crowds of the larger tourist cities, while being less than ninety minutes journey from central Rome or either of Rome’s two airports.