Set in a remote woodland spot high in the Apennines, Chignoni, an eighteenth-century borgo, or hamlet, is a veritable oasis of peace and tranquility.  What was once a group of sharecroppers’ houses is now a small complex of charming apartments owned by the friendly Martinelli family who carried out the conversion in 2000.  The three apartments are all housed in a separate farmhouse a short distance from the family home and all have been attractively restored by the owners’ art restorer daughter, with antique furniture, exposed original beams and wooden floors, and colourful fabrics.

The largest, La Gorgaccia, is on two floors and sleeps up to 8 in four bedrooms. Reached by a flight of ten steps, the lower floor has an old saloni or sitting room, the open fireplace bearing the date1596. From here, a door leads into a spacious kitchen, well-fitted and with table and chairs to seat a large party. At the opposite end of the saloni a new staircase climbs to the first floor, opening out into a comfortable lounge area, off which there is the first of the four bedrooms.  Back along the corridor are the two bathrooms (both with shower) and three further bedrooms reached down short flights of steps, one with a small balcony.

Montalto, a ground floor apartment sleeping 6, is entered through a loggia with table and chairs which leads into a fine old sitting room with stone fireplace and wooden furniture, much of it antique. To one side of this room is a large kitchen, to the other a corridor leading to the bedrooms, one of which, reached down a couple of steps, is a double with a beautiful antique child’s cot.

The third apartment, Cerro Vecchio, sleeps four and is on two levels, a double bedroom, bathroom and kitchen on the upper floor, and a twin bedroom down a short flight of steps on the lower level.  The kitchen, with a full oven fitted into the old chimney, offers plenty of space within and opens onto an outside seating area overlooking the pool and surrounding grassland.

All three apartments have outside seating areas with furniture and have the use of the large swimming pool and a barbecue.  

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