Arpino, Frosinone, Lazio, Italy

Palazzo Pappa is a beautiful centuries-old 350 sq.mt. stone building in the heart of the historic centre of Arpino, a medieval hilltop town only 90 minutes drive from Rome. The palazzo is structurally sound with a well-maintained facade and is being sold for interior restoration, offering a splendid opportunity for the purchasers to create a prestigious historical home tailored to their exact specifications.

Antique features include the painted ceiling in the main sitting room, the 'Stemma' (family crest) over the huge front door, old wood ceilings and stone-vaulted cellars. On the facade of the palazzo, there is a painting of the Virgin and Child by Benedetto Carfagna dating back a hundred years.

Palazzo Pappa covers four levels; on the ground floor, accessed directly from the street, are the stone-vaulted cellars; the first floor allows for the possibility to create a spacious living area including further separate options such as a study or hobby room; the two upper floors have large bright windows and high ceilings, some frescoed, permitting the creation of a number of bedrooms around the well-positioned central stone staircase.

The property has good street access and the main piazza of Arpino with its restaurants, shops and services is only a few minutes walk.

Energy classification: N/A


ARPINO AND THE CIOCIARIA

Arpino is one of the major medieval hilltop towns in the area of Italy called the Ciociaria, the name given to the fertile land that lies south of Rome but north of Naples, situated inland in the hills in the heart of Italy.

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 Arpino 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, Alatri 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.