Villa Icario

Villa Icario sits on the Icario wine estate just below Montepulciano, with an infinity pool over the vineyards and the Valdichiana running away beneath it. Three bedrooms in the main house and two garden cottages make five, for ten adults and two children, and the town is 2.3 km up the road. A wine tasting at the estate comes with the house.

Five bedrooms sleep ten, with a double sofa bed in the master’s sitting room for two children, and six bathrooms. We’d suggest it for two families or three couples who want wine country without a long drive to a restaurant, and who’ll use the pergola table for fourteen more than once. Of the villas in Tuscany we place, it’s the one on a winery.

THE MAIN HOUSE

The ground floor has a panoramic living room with floor-to-ceiling arched windows, three sofas, a TV with Netflix and two French doors onto the terrace over the pool. The Tuscan kitchen has a fireplace, a table for ten, an induction hob, a dishwasher and coffee machines, and opens straight outside; a shower room completes the floor. Upstairs are three bedrooms with valley views. The master has a double bed that splits into twins, a sitting area with a sofa bed for two and a TV, and an en-suite with a double basin and shower; the other two have doubles that also convert to twins, and en-suite showers. A flight of twenty steps leads down to the outside. All bedrooms are air-conditioned, and the house has an alarm, mosquito screens, a washer and dryer, an iron and Bose Bluetooth speakers.

THE COTTAGES

Sansasia is a 50-square-metre cottage on one level with a king bed, a kitchenette, a seating area with an optional sofa bed, a private patio and a bathroom with both bath and shower. Monterosso is on two levels: an Italian double bed and seating upstairs, and below it a bathroom with a bath and jacuzzi, a lounge with a wine bar and a space set up for yoga or a workout. Monterosso sleeps two.

THE POOL AND THE GARDENS

The infinity pool looks over the vines and is open between April and October, weather allowing, from 9 am to 7 pm. Three thousand square metres of garden hold a vegetable patch, roses and fruit trees. Dinner is under a rustic pergola thick with climbing greenery, at a table for fourteen reached through the arched doors, with a choice of a wood-fired barbecue fireplace or a gas grill.

THE SERVICE

Cleaning comes on Tuesday and Thursday for two hours, with linen changed on Saturdays and towels on Saturday and midweek. A welcome basket, a wine tasting, concierge service, Wi-Fi, heating, air-conditioning, local taxes, pool and garden care and final cleaning are all included. The estate can have butcher’s meat delivered to the door, source local produce, arrange a tasting that pairs meat with Icario wines, cook a meal with its in-house chef or run a Tuscan cooking class, all on request. Check-in runs from 4 pm to 6 pm, check-out by 10 am. One thing to know: a road passes nearby, and a car can be heard now and then.

THE LOCATION

Montepulciano, its supermarket and the nearest restaurant are just over 2 km. Pienza is 17 km, Chiusi station 25, Lake Trasimeno 27, Cortona 32, Montalcino 38, Siena 60, Perugia Airport 74 and Florence Airport 127. Our guide to the most beautiful towns in Tuscany has Montepulciano and Pienza in it, both within a lunch of the house.

To check dates or request a quote for Villa Icario, write to [email protected].