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Peace and quiet, elegance and charm ... Fattoria Martiena offers all of these alongside luxurious bed and breakfast/hotel-style holiday accommodation in a farmhouse near Montepulciano, Siena, Tuscany. This is the perfect holiday stopover in central Italy.
This Tuscan holiday accommodation combines the charm of a farmhouse with the advantages of a hotel. Fattoria Martiena is situated on the top of a steep cliff to the east of Montepulciano, approximately 500 metres from the mediaeval city-walls. During the 18th century the house was built as an olive farm. Recently restored as sumptuous Italian vacation accommodation, it boasts magnificent views of the surrounding country and the old city.
On the ground floor you can relax before open fireplaces in the spacious lounge and breakfast room. If the weather permits, you can enjoy your breakfast outside under the pergola on the terrace. And in summer the thick stone walls keep all the rooms beautifully cool.
All the rooms sleep two, with either king-size or twin beds, and all are spacious and decorated with understated style. Each has a private bathroom, with whirlpool bath and hairdryer, a refrigerated mini-bar, satellite TV and telephone.
You’ll find the holiday lodge in the heart of the province of Siena - an easy two-hour drive from Rome, and 30 minutes’ driving from the mediaeval cities of Arezzo, Siena and Perugia.
Double rooms range from €155 to €250 per night, this including parking and breakfast. The breakfast menu includes a mix of Continental and cooked breakfasts, corn flakes, coffee or tea. Check in is from 2.30pm until 10pm, check out by noon. One-night stays only are available – the hotel does take all major credit and charge cards.
This whole area of southern Tuscany is ripe for exploring. It all centres on Montepulciano, the main town in the area, and not only the highest hill town in Tuscany, but surely the most beautiful. Built along a narrow stone ridge, its long main street radiates alleyways that fall away to the old walls of the town. It’s not a large town but you can spend hours (or even days exploring. Round every corner there seems to be a lovely Renaissance palazzo, a mediaeval church, a little piazza and – most of all – stunning vistas to the valley below.
Pienza meanwhile stands atop a hill overlooking the splendid Val d’Orcia. Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini was born here in 1405 and, when he became Pope Pius II in 1458, he decided to transform his modest village into a Utopia, a prototypical new town. Today, Pienza is a mainly agricultural centre, particularly famous for its pecorino cheese. The traditional cheese show, ‘Fiera del cacio’ takes place on the first Sunday in September. The flower show ‘Pienza e i fiori’ takes place in mid May. Also visit Monticchiello, with its famed ‘Teatro povero’, and a new play enacted each summer by the locals. [Region map] [Local map]
The spa town of Chianciano, which specialises in the treatment of liver disorders, is among the most famous in Italy – more than two million people visit each year to take the waters and to bathe. Read on for further accommodation details and images.
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