Le Marche, Pesaro e Urbino, Fratte Rosa, Italy

Ref. exp-012217 - There is a house that from the sky seems to sleep in the woods.

Bare stone, a new roof protecting it, a ditch running beside it for who knows how many winters.

No road disturbs it, no neighbor watches it: only plowed fields around and a mysterious sign left by the tractor, like a signature of the countryside on the land.

But it is what it keeps inside that makes it unique.

We are in the presence of one of the rareest testimonies of earth architecture, an ancient refuge where the wall is not just a boundary, but a living organism that preserves the heat and the memory of the landscape.

This house was built in two times: the oldest core was built in raw earth mixed with straw, according to the lubaco technique, the same earth that made Fratte Rosa a well-known center for clay and terracotta processing — and that here, in rare cases like this, was also used to build houses, making the Marche one of the reference regions in Italy for the study of earth architecture.

The subsequent extension, which is now seen dominating the facade, was built in exposed sandstone.

Two eras, two materials, a single story written into the walls.

Behind the house, in the rock that protects it, opens an ancient tunnel — a dug refuge that during the war provided shelter to those living here.

A silent sign of how much this place has crossed time.

The house is documented in studies on earth architecture of the Cesano Valley, and cited among the most significant testimonies of the Lubachi district, as also confirmed by the 19th-century cadastral maps of the territory.

A few minutes from here, at the Fratte Rosa Terracotta Museum, an entire room is dedicated to earth houses: texts, photographs, interviews, and tools tell the construction of these architectures throughout the Cesano territory, from Fratte Rosa to Corinaldo.

Who chooses this house, becomes part of that same story.

- On the first floor, the living area with kitchen-dining, two bedrooms, and a bathroom.
- On the ground floor, the cellar and the deposit, the oldest soul of the house.
A little further away, an original wood-fired oven still waits to warm up.

The roof is new, as are the wooden beams floors; the fixtures, also new, need to be repainted for the natural passage of time.

Internally, the house is in raw state, ready to be completed according to the taste of whoever will inhabit it.

Today the house awaits someone who can give it new life, respecting its dual identity of earth and stone.

The surrounding land — forest, fields, silence — can be defined together with the property, up to a maximum of 2,000 sqm, to tailor the space around one’s visions.

Area:
On two levels (Ground Floor and First Floor)

Composition:
Kitchen-dining, two bedrooms, bathroom, cellar, and deposit room

State:
New roof and wooden beams floors; new fixtures to be repainted; interiors in raw state

Unique features:
Original core in raw earth (lubaco) and extension in exposed sandstone; historic tunnel-refuge; external independent wood-fired oven; documented in studies on earth architecture in the Cesano Valley.

Land:
Agricultural/wooded annex to be agreed with the property, up to a maximum of 2,000 sqm