Piedmont Properties - Italian Real Estate

5 Ha Estate with Vineyard, Hazelnut Plantation and Renovated Farmhouse

Between Asti and Nizza Monferrato

The Situation : This substantial property is situated not far from a small, historic hilltop town. It occupies a 5 Ha (12.5 acre) plot in a beautiful sunny and elevated position on a gently-sloping hillside and enjoys lovely views over the South Piedmontese winehills. The busy market town of Nizza Monferrato is only a short drive away, and on the way to town you will find two of the best known restaurants in the region. Nizza Monferrato has very good shopping facilities, banks, a hospital, restaurants, wine bars, cinemas and an excellent school for children aged 3 to 18. Very popular are the colourful, weekly (Friday) market and the antique market, held once a month on a Sunday. The distance to the motorway is 25 minutes.

The House : The 250 years old farmhouse, built in the style of a traditional "cascina", is a two-storey brick building with plastered exterior and dates from the mid-eighteenth century. The current living area measures 480 m² (4800 sq ft) and there is additional space, in both the cantina and loft areas, to create two or three apartments, plus additional bedrooms and bathrooms (e.g for a 'Bed & Breakfast' business), if required. All rooms of the house are very spacious, have lots of light and are renovated to modern standards, while the original character of the house has been preserved. The house has central heating and double glazing throughout.

Ground floor: The entrance door opens into a spectacular open-plan room (60 sq m or 600 sq ft) with a traditional Piedmontese kitchen plus dining and sitting areas. The original vaulted brick ceiling has been sand-blasted and brought back to its original beauty. A door leads to a very spacious tiled laundry and storage room. Another door leads to a huge cantina/wine cellar (100 sq m or 1,000 sq ft) with access by lift to the loft on the second floor. Modern stairs from the living area up to the first floor.

First floor: Stairs lead to a large, sunny living room with an expensive olive-wood parquet floor and beautiful views. Door at one side of the living room to a small hallway with doors to a spacious bedroom with balcony and ensuite fully-tiled bathroom. Another door at the opposite side of the living room leads to a second hallway with doors to two further bedrooms, a spacious modern fully-tiled bathroom, and a study. All rooms are light and benefit from panoramic views. All the windows and external doors are double glazed.

Second floor: the large loft area is only accessible by lift from the ground floor and is currently used for storage.

Outside: The house is approached from the road by its own driveway that leads to a very sunny courtyard, with plenty of scope for the enthusiastic garden designer. A swimming pool, currently filled with gravel for safety reasons, could easily be reconstructed if desired. In the grounds that surround the house there is a well-maintained DOC vineyard and a hazelnut plantation comprising 2500 trees. When these trees reach full maturity (in 2002) the harvest is expected to be about 15 tons, which would provide an annual income of about 48 Million Lire. Hazelnuts are nearly maintenance-free: apart from harvesting, the only work required is pruning once each year. The remaining gently-sloping grounds are meadows that are perfectly suited to keeping horses.

Services: Central heating, telephone, well, mains water, electricity and gas.

Our personal opinion: this very conveniently-located and well-appointed property is in the heart of the wine country and would make either a wonderful home or an excellent B & B.

More Pictures are available of this property.

For more information contact us quoting reference P165.