Farmhouse Baldello

Marche Country Homes is delighted to offer this farmhouse for sale in Sassocorvaro, which is about 25km from Urbino and 45km from the beaches of Pesaro. The farmhouse is immersed in the wooded beauty of Montefeltro, in the higher foothills, where the landscape is not that of the gentle patchworked hills of the peasant farmers close to the Adriatic; instead, here the terrain becomes more rugged, the green of the woodlands is uniform, the sense of freedom more pronounced, the population density per square kilometre extremely low, while our connection with nature is at its highest.

The buildings in these parts are almost always made of stone, as is the case with Cà Baldello, an authentic farmhouse made of local stone, completely renovated in compliance with anti-seismic standards. It is a 240-square-metre building set over two floors, following the contours of the land, which is 5000 square metres in size, converted into a garden with lawns and native plants but also surrounded by roses and flowering shrubs. The very attractive entrance follows a stone-paved path to the house, the charm of which is undeniable.

We are greeted by a porch leading to the first floor living room, which is large and bright partly as a result of the roof windows. The style here is one of warm modernity: large parquet floors, Velux windows in the roof giving more light to the living room where a fireplace and stove warm the room in winter. Sloping ceilings with large exposed beams and stone walls remind us that we are in a rural dwelling; the bathroom on the first floor is panelled in wood. There are two rooms on this floor. On the ground floor, on the other hand, reached by a convenient wooden staircase, we enter the dining area that opens onto the veranda for outdoor breakfasts. There is a kitchen which is not dine-in but is very spacious, with French doors and built-in cupboards. On this floor there is a third bedroom with a large bathroom and shower.

The outside terrace is paved with terracotta tiles, and in summer you can enjoy the garden and the view of the hills around Urbino.

Outside, there is a small wooden shed for gardening tools, and a pergola made of plants to put one or two cars under to protect them from the sun.

The town of Sassocorvaro can be reached by a convenient 5km asphalted road through woods and small villages. Urbino, by this route, can be easily accessed in 16km.

Sassocorvaro is a fairly well-resourced town with shops, restaurants, supermarkets and more. There is also a hospital which serves as the main health facility in the upper Montefeltro area.

A few historical facts about Sassocorvaro and the Montefeltro area, in particular the famous Rocca Ubaldinesca, a Renaissance building designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini, a military architect who worked mainly for the Duke of Urbino; he also designed the Ducal Palace, continued by Luciano Laurana and again under the supervision of Leon Battista Alberti. The Rocca is shaped like a turtle and inside it has all the magnificence of a stately home, with its inner courtyard and loggia. Francesco di Giorgio Martini designed and built no fewer than 136 pieces of military architecture for the duke condottiere and famous patron of the arts and letters, such as the palace and ramparts in Gubbio, those in Pesaro, the Rocca in Senigallia, the Palazzo del Governo in Ancona, the Palazzo della Signoria in Jesi, and later in Mondavio and Mondolfo. Works that served to flaunt strength and munificence, such as the Palace of Urbino, a portrayal of the Duke’s personal power in his own city, a place of great cultural and intellectual dynamism of the Renaissance, guardian of a prestigious library and where artists of the calibre of Piero della Francesca and Pedro Berruguete would stay for long periods. Francesco di Giorgio Martini partly wrote his famous Treatise on Architecture here, later taken up by Leonardo da Vinci to whom the architect himself had given a copy directly, and known as Codex Asburnham 361. In the Rocca di Sassocorvaro, in testimony to its high levels of security, as many as 10,000 works of art were hidden during the Second World War, including works by Mantegna, Titian, Piero della Francesca, Raphael, Crivelli, Paolo Uccello and Lorenzo Lotto, in order to prevent them from falling in to the hands of the Nazis. Inside the Rocca there is also a small but delightful theatre.