Sora, Frosinone, Lazio, Italy

In the locality of San Giorgio, near to the regional centre of Sora, and about 1.5 km from the Sport Village, Tenuta San Giorgio is a historic and important estate dating from the end of the 1800s, recently renovated.

The owner intended to create an agriturismo hospitality business, but personal circumstances prevented him completing this plan. The main house and the 'tavernone' (grand tavern) have been fully restored, with high quality claddings and fixtures, as have the surrounding courtyards, garage etc. Irrigation and night lighting (including through the private woodland) has been installed. There are a number of further buildings which could be suitable for a mix of residential and agricultural use. The owner originally intended to create 12 rooms of accomodation, plus a restaurant, but at this point it is still possible to finish the restoration of the outbuildings to suit a number of business models. Some government grants may be available for this work.

The main building is a stone farmhouse of 250 square meters, with a magnificent porticoed terrace of 70 square meters. The 'Tavernone' is a large entertaining area near the main house, on the other side of a large patio - it creates a further 100 square meters for dining and relaxing, with a large fireplace, a kitchen area, a sitting area, a dining area with 24-seater cherry table, a bathroom and a further outdoor bbq space.

Outbuildings registered on the cadastral land register for use as garages, sheds, cellars, barbecue area, stables and barn contribute a further 278 square meters.

Olive groves cover 25,500 square meters with approximately 1,200 olive trees; wooded land adds a further 8,500 square meters . There is a courtyard and garden with two wells for irrigation.

The farmhouse has been restored for residential use and provides a beautiful living environment on the ground floor, with kitchen, dining room with fireplace and access to the porch, living room with fireplace and access to the porch, further living room with access to the porch, study, another room with access to the porch and finally the bathroom. The night zone has 3 bedrooms, a master bathroom, inter-connecting corridors and finally a useful laundry room that could also become an additional bathroom for the sleeping area if desired.

The fixtures and fittings:

* The internal and external cladding are in:
° Sicilian marble floors "Perlato di Sicilia", made and sandblasted by hand
° terracotta and original material from the Ciociaria.

* The external courtyard is paved with pebbles and local stones. The decoration "A ray of layers of the sun" in front of the Tavernone was made with cobblestones from San Donato Val di Comino.

* The internal and external fixtures are:
° internal doors all in chestnut (including the built-in wardrobes), made from wood seasoned for 50 years.
° the high-security and hand-made external doors have high-security-grade fittings.
° the ceilings and the porch of the farmhouse are all in chestnut wood seasoned for 50 years.

* The fireplaces:
° the fireplace in the living room is made from stone local to Arpino
° the fireplace in the living room, reproducing a style from the 17thC, and created by an artisan from Casalvieri, is made with Travertine and Verdello di Belmonte Castello
° the fireplace in the Tavernone is made with 'pietra morta' from Valleradice and 'pietra viva' from San Donato Val di Comino
° and finally the fireplace of the small outbuilding is to be completed with bricks from Spigno Saturnia.

* The external portals are in Belmonte Castello stone, handcrafted by a Casalvieri craftsman after the style of the 17thC, while the internal ones are all in hand-hammered "Lecce stone".

* The processing of the internal plaster was carried out with excellent material and heat-treated clay, while the external plaster (grouting around the stones) was carried out with pure silicon Fossanova sand.

* The access staircase to the upper floor is in stone cut and hammered by stonecutters from Belmonte Castello, the handrail of the stairwell was made of hand-made wrought iron.

* The outdoor table under the porch was made with hand-forged iron and maple wood, with a glass top, chestnut edges and travertine marble. The large 24-seat table in the tavern is made of local cherry wood, cut and planed by hand.

* The bathroom of the tavern displays portals of old farmhouses and a hand-made stone sink; the bathrooms of the farmhouse are decorated in Italian ceramics and frame finishes.

*Throughout the property there are restored gateways dating from the seventeenth/eighteenth century.

Systems

The systems include: double sectioned system, 1000 liter LPG cylinder, bio mass and pellets, generator, irrigation rings for the entire property, external lighting systems with night lighting throughout the wooded area, automated gate. Thermal power plant.

The property has two wells: one in the center of the decorative courtyard but with an underground cistern of 10,000 liters for rainwater collection. Another well is sunk into the aquifer in the rear part of the farmhouse with a depth of 256 meters and with a construction cost of euro 23,000.00. City water is used for the domestic utilities.

The barbecue area includes a professional oven suitable for a pizzerias. The appliances are all of excellent brands including Nardi.

Possibility for further expansion

Given the size of the estate and the cubic capacity of the construction, it should be possible to obtain agritourism-type funding for the restoration of the existing size of the outbuildings currently on the cadastral register in order to finance the construction of accommodation facilities (other rooms with bathrooms separated from the farmhouse for residential use).

Setting

Tenuta San Giorgio enjoys a breath-taking panoramic setting with views across valleys to the distant mountains in a silent but not isolated location. The regional town of Sora is only a short drive, where there are shops, services, restaurants, cafés and public transport facilities. Rome and Rome's two airports are only 90 minutes away.

Energy Classification: E

THE CIOCIARIA REGION

The Ciociaria region is within easy reach of both Rome and Naples and their respective airports. A day's shopping in Rome is a common pastime, while an even shorter drive brings you to the charming beaches south of Rome. Alternatively, drive east, and the mountains of the Abruzzo National Park await with horse trekking in the magnificent beech forests, and sparkling mountain lakes and rivers where you can swim in the heat of the summer. And at the other extreme of temperature, although Sora itself is temperate, less than an hour's drive brings you to the winter ski slopes.

Often overlooked, both by tourists and by those foreigners in search of an Italian home, in favour of the more publicized regions of Tuscany and Umbria, the Ciociaria remains largely an unspoilt gem with beautiful scenery and medieval hilltop towns. A home or second home in the Ciociaria, in the hilltop towns of Arpino, Veroli and Alvito, in the riverside towns of Sora and Isola del Liri, or in the rolling countryside that surrounds them, will afford you a setting where over two thousand years of history combine with an idyllic rural Italian lifestyle, where you can still discover the 'real' Italy and take time out from the busy crowds of the larger tourist cities, while being less than ninety minutes journey from central Rome or either of Rome's two airports.

VIA ROMANA Srls and CASE & CASALI REAL ESTATE AGENCY

Via Romana Srls is an Italian-incorporated company owned by a British/Australian Chartered Accountant and her photographer daughter, and offers a package of services to facilitate all aspects of the purchase and restoration of Italian property by overseas clients. The Via Romana team works in collaboration with various fully-licensed Italian real estate agencies including Case & Casali Real Estate Agency represented by Sig. Ciro Tomei. Sig. Tomei has been enrolled in the register of real estate agents at the Chamber of Commerce in Frosinone, Lazio since 2007 and has much experience in the international marketing of Italian real estate.