Farm-house Cerreto

Description Cerreto

Along the minor historical road drawn by the ancient Olivetan hegemony, on this contrada rises the 'podere' Cerreto, a house of historical sharecropping tradition. From Pienza, it takes about half an hour by car or on foot, following the same route described in the 'Commentarii' by Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Pope Pius II, founder of Pienza, on his journey to the monastery of Sant' Anna in Camprena in the second half of the 15th century. An example of traditional architecture, the farmhouse of Cerreto is set in the green with its well-proportioned volumes that match the harmony of the landscape. The result of the design instincts of the 18th-19th century peasant master builders, the farmhouse is a rare example of perfect preservation. The natural oasis at the centre of which the Cerreto farmhouse dominates the hillside, slopes westwards, where the Tuoma stream hides the remains of an ancient Vitruvian mill: this is the Tombolone waterfall, home to animal life and ancient aquatic 'divinities'. Around the house, the cultivated space, wrested with difficulty over the centuries by farmers from the surrounding forest, is animated by promiscuous cultivation. Centuries-old olive trees and rows of vines alternate in the fields arranged 'a prode' and 'a traverso', in continuity with the most ancient agricultural wisdom. Further on, the forest extends, the paths weave above the stream, yearning for the surreal space of the Crete in the distance. It is the most classic Valdorcian landscape, alternating the golden tufa of tree-lined summits and hilly oases with the poetic solitude of the clayey valley floors. In this ritual space, one lives as one once did, far from the carriage roads, but close to the ancient centres. The mezzadrile house offers its spaces and its natural, austere conviviality. Independent and social spaces alternate around the symbols of ancient patriarchal rule: the hearth, the oven, the loggia. Fixed elements of the traditional rural scene, around which a new-ancient way of being in the country is still being experimented. Accommodation is in flats or rooms with 2 to 7 beds. Maximum capacity: 22 guests. Cerreto is situated in the centre of a minor historical road system ideal for walking or mountain-biking and naturally invites for trips and excursions starting directly from the farmhouse.