FOR SALE: Renovated stone house in Le Marche, Italy, with stunning views of the Monti Sibillini mountains, one hour from Ancona airport. Tuscany, Umbria plus! Not via real estate agents
| - 5 double bedrooms - 2 reception rooms - 2 bathrooms - granite and beech kitchen - 335 sq. metres on 3 floors (excl. garage) - double garage - landscaped garden - 2 large sunny and secluded terraces - stone pigsty/potential studio |
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PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES
Our renovated stone house, in a stunning position with views of the Monti Sibillini mountains near the sea and shops, is for sale direct from us, not via a real estate agent.
This honey-coloured stone farmhouse is in a superb location with spectacular mountain views from the house and garden, near the mediaeval village of Gualdo in Le Marche, one hour from Ancona airport. It has magnificent views from all the beautifully finished rooms, which are extremely light and spacious. A ruin when we found it, the house was sympathetically restored by local artisans to an exceptionally high standard, since it was to be our permanent home, not just a holiday house. Character features were retained, such as vaulted, beamed and terracotta ceilings, niches and alcoves, with terracotta window cills except in the bathrooms, where they are granite, complementing the top-of-the-range fittings.
Designed to take maximum advantage of the panoramic mountain views, the well-proportioned dining room, sitting room and kitchen are all on the first floor, together with one of the bathrooms. From the spacious kitchen with beech cupboards and granite surfaces it is only four paces to a large terracotta paved terrace, perfect for al fresco dining, and from there you step directly into the sunny landscaped garden.
There are two huge bedrooms on the third floor with fantastic views of the mountains and gently rolling countryside. Plumbing for another bathroom is in situ. Three large double bedrooms with traditional ceilings are on the ground floor, plus a large bathroom, heated drying room and a separate utility room. The lobby leads into a paved double garage (35 sq. metres).
The house has gas central heating and is double glazed throughout. Mains water, electricity and telephone are all connected and there is a dual-feed digital TV satellite dish. Like nearly all country houses in the area, waste water runs to a septic tank.
Overall, the house extends to 335 sq. metres (excluding the garage) and could easily accommodate 14 people if it were used for a holiday rental. In this much sought-after location, the rental income achievable for a house of this size would be around Euro 3,800 per week. Spacious houses are unusual and much in demand; if they are fully heated, they are also popular at Christmas, when there is ski-ing and mulled wine!
A second terracotta paved terrace is a veritable sun-trap; even in February we've lunched outside, with the snow-capped mountains dazzling under clear blue skies, just as magical as the gold and red hues of a summer's sunset. The private, sunny garden of about 2,300 sq. metres retains the sun late into the evening. |
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If renovated and enlarged, the adjoining stone pigsty offers the possibility of working from home via a broadband connection to the internet, which is becoming an increasingly attractive option for those seeking to change their lifestyle, live in a green environment and avoid the rising cost of commuting to work. Alternatively, it could form additional accommodation. |
Why pay commission to estate agents when there are alternative ways to buy a property? In Italy real estate agents charge commission to both parties. When selling through an estate agent, vendors often increase the price of the house to cover the commission charged to them by the agent. So if you buy direct from us, the English owners, you effectively save not just one commission but two, making a total saving on this house of Euro 45,000, including VAT. This may be why it is no longer unusual to buy direct from the owner, rather than through a real estate agent. We are happy to help you with the administrative aspects of the purchase, or to put you in touch with other bilingual people in the area who also have experience in this field if you want independent assistance. Seldom have we lived in any one country for more than ten years, so for us it's now time to move on to other adventures.
The local area click here for map
The village of Gualdo, pictured above, is only two kilometres away. You will encounter fewer tourists here than in Tuscany or Umbria, and the local people are friendly. The village has two supermarkets and other shops, a bank, post office, doctor, dentist, chemist, dry-cleaner, restaurant, school and petrol station. There are also tennis courts and a football pitch. Tuesday is market day, with stalls selling everything from clothes, shoes, pots and pans to fresh fish.
The spa town of Sarnano is eight kilometres away. It has an attractive and well-preserved old centre, complete with an exquisite little theatre and an art gallery boasting several important paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries. Being larger than Gualdo, it has more of everything, with a popular market held on Thursdays. San Ginesio, across the valley from Gualdo, is another of the mediaeval hilltop villages dotted amongst the gently rolling countryside. The area between Sarnano, Gualdo and San Ginesio has been described in the media as the golden triangle.
Walking trails abound in the area and within the Sibillini National Park, though we are usually the only ones on them! Lake Fiastra, about half an hour away by car, is a pleasant area for walking and swimming in summer, while in winter there is ski-ing at Sassotetto and Bolognola above Sarnano, about a forty-minute drive from the house. Other leisure activities in the area include horse riding, para-gliding, sailing and golf. In the villages and countryside around, there are many small family-run restaurants offering local specialities, and vineyards, not on the scale of Tuscany or Umbria, but still producing quality wines.
Macerata, the capital of the province, is only forty minutes away by car; opera is performed here throughout the summer in the 19th century open-air amphitheatre. Each village offers attractions during the summer, ranging from street performers' festivals to shoe and truffle fairs and colourful pageants in medieval costume. It is a forty minute drive to the extensive sandy coastline with many excellent open-air fish restaurants overlooking the sea, like Monaco. Of a summer's evening, the coastal resorts have live concerts and dancing. The area also has factory outlets for designer clothes and leather goods by Gucci, Prada and Armani. Florence, Siena, Assisi, Todi, Spoleto, Urbino and Ascoli Piceno are all exciting places for a day trip, and an aperitivo!
Ancona airport, served by Ryanair, is just over an hour from home. It’s so convenient that friends fly in for a weekend. The low-cost airline also flies to Pescara, under two hours away, and Perugia, a little over. From Ancona there are cheap flights to France, Germany and Spain as well. Rome is easily accessible by train or car, and there is also a regular bus service.
| Euro 430,000 |
The price includes an antique dining table, bespoke double beds, many other pieces of furniture, TV, computer, fridges and additional electrical appliances (buy today, rent out tomorrow), plus two pairs of skis! |
| Please click here for photographs For more information or to look around at your own pace, please e-mail us at: owner@sunnycountryhome.com Thank you.  Wir sprechen deutsch. |
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Our renovated stone house with its light and spacious rooms is for sale direct from us the resident English owners, not through real estate agents. Seldom have we lived in any one country for more than 10 years, so it's time to say ciao to the stunning views from our renovated stone house, though I shall miss seeing the mountains as I hang out the washing and the sun rising over the medieval village of Monte San Martino, one of the many hilltop villages set amongst the gently rolling countryside. If the stone pigsty were renovated into accommodation one could lie in bed either looking at a sunrise or along the Monte Sibillini mountain range. Alternatively "a renovated pigsty with a view" has potential as an ideal place to work from home. From all windows of the stone house there are also magnificent views. The village of Gualdo is only two kilometres away. San Ginesio, Sarnano and Amandola a little further. Ancona airport is a little over an hour away. You can sail across to Montenegro from one of the many Adriatic marinas. We lost count of the time and money we spent looking for "thinking builders" who would pay attention to detail, down to the colour and spacing of the pointing around the house stones. Thanks to their craftsmanship the stone ruin was sympathetically renovated to an exceptionally high standard retaining character features that added to its wonderful location in the lovely region of Le Marche, which has less tourism than Tuscany and Umbria. We found our now renovated stone house twelve years ago. Then it was a ruin. It seemed to sit in the sun. We made enquiries as to who owned the "pile of stones" and subsequently bought it direct from the Italian owners. We didn't use real estate agents then and we are not using real estate agents now. It is simply not necessary and saves both the buyer and the vendor real estate agents' commission. For us it's time to move on, but if you can imagine dining al fresco from one of the two sunny terracotta paved terraces, looking at the stunning views of the mountains or by evening seeing the magnificent colours of a summer's sunset, please pay us a visit.
Renoviertes steinernes Haus in Italien zu verkaufen
Renoviertes Haus aus Naturstein mit betäubendem Blick auf die Monti Sibillini Berge. Es befindet sich in der Nähe des mittelalterlichen Dorfes von Gualdo in der italienischen Region von den Marken. Unweit von der Adriaküste, und eine Stunde vom Flughafen Ancona entfernt, den man direkt aus Deutschland und anderen Ländern anfliegen kann.
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