Finding the perfect holiday destination that offers peace and tranquillity but where you can also soak up the local atmosphere can be difficult. As the new year starts, many of us will be planning a holiday we can retreat to at some point during 2025. Somewhere we can unwind and relax without feeling obliged to do anything in particular. Or perhaps you are planning a small, intimate wedding and are looking for a venue that is elegant and bohemian with beautiful natural scenery serving as a backdrop for everlasting memories.
Finding somewhere such as Podere La Gualda Vecchia in a hamlet of Monteverdi Marittimo in Tuscany may not that simple to find when searching online. This is a place where you can immediately breathe in peace and serenity. The area provides a fusion of Tuscany’s rich history, set amidst rolling fields and vineyards, offering authentic Italian cuisine and excellent local wines as Bolgheri, which is grown locally, is one of the best wine producing grapes in Italy. All within travelling distance of crystalline beaches. The farm on which the Old Gualda is located is on a hill, 300 meters above sea level providing extensive views across the Val di Cornia, the metalliferous hills and the peaks of the Island of Elba. With nine hectares of land comprising of oak forests, heathers, strawberry trees, flowering ash, mastic trees and brooms, it is a place which offers true escapism.
Owned by Brazilian born Bruna Carvalho and her husband Daniel, who fell in love with the property when they first visited following the border re-opening after Covid lockdown in June 2020, the couple knew at once it was the sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of modern life that they were seeking but had not expected to find in Tuscany.
“We had been looking for a farmhouse in the countryside and initially we had a dream of just occasionally escaping to a place where we could share moments of slowness and quiet away from noise and distractions,” says Bruna. “We wanted a place to read a book, listen to an album or simply stop and watch the wind rustling through the branches of the trees overhead. At the time, we were living in Rome which is one of the most beautiful cities I know but having had three intense years there, we wanted to find somewhere we could put down roots and be close to nature. Podere La Gualda Vecchia not only represented the realisation of our personal dreams, but it also offered a place where people could visit and be involved in organised events. We spent time renovating the Podere into three apartments; we live in one with the other two available to rent as self-catering accommodation. The Quercia apartment can accommodate six adults whilst the Leccio apartment can sleep three adults. We restored the building, staying as faithful as we could to its history, re-using materials where possible but ensuring that we offer comfort, privacy and tranquillity for our guests. Each bedroom has an exit towards the garden with places to relax outdoors. We are just 6kms [ten minutes by car] to shops where you can buy groceries, find restaurants and petrol stations and fresh vegetables are always available from our own orchards. We offer a concierge service and provide advice on activities and places to visit; we can even arrange a massage in our own spa or yoga lessons. Podere La Gualda Vecchia is also just an hour from the airport at Pisa or a two-hour drive from Florence.”
Having restored the main building, Bruna turned her attention to creating their perfect get away garden. As a child growing up in São Paulo, she was surrounded by colourful, tropical vegetation with giant hibiscus flowers, pomegranate trees with their round red fruits, bright bougainvillea and vibrant orchids climbing into the trunks of the trees. Along with visits to her parent’s small house at the coast, she connected with nature and so began her love of seeking out gardens to visit when she travelled as an adult. It was Bruna and Daniel’s intention therefore to create a place where people could meet, perhaps for an art exhibition or concert and they knew their garden area could provide the perfect space for this purpose.
The gardens which have been created offer a sanctuary and somewhere so beautiful and ethereal that they feel magical. The gardens have been created to provide places people can spend time healing their mind as well as relaxing their bodies. They offer a serene sanctuary of beauty and tranquillity. Framing the Gualda Vecchia, covering a fenced area of around 8000 square meters is the Emotional Garden (Sentieri di Piume). Working with landscape architect Caterina Angela Contu, the garden is a place where you can get lost, between dynamic linearity and sinuous paths in an extraordinary, timeless dimension. The Emotional Garden is composed of labyrinthine flowerbeds, sinuous lines of an amphitheatre, a kingdom of fire, an ornamental garden which leads you through a path of ferns to the water square and up to the parterre. Collectively the garden is a place which reveals ancient symbolism represented by the fundamental elements of nature: water, earth, fire and air.
The labyrinthine flowerbeds use towering ornamental grasses, which when in full bloom and moved by the breeze, create light reflections, particularly at sunset that are hard to ignore. Immersed within the grasses are sculptural totems made with recovered ancient doors no longer usable in the farmhouse. These grasses are used throughout the garden, creating ‘Paths of Feathers.’ The sculptural doors have three different orientations representing different directions, and dimensions where to find the right path in life, through the light of reason and the feeling of pure love. From the labyrinth flowerbeds, by walking along the opposite side, you cross a small grove of calla lilies and purple digitalis. Here you will find a secluded outdoor living room in which to relax and look towards the amphitheatre.
The amphitheatre provides the perfect location for artistic and cultural performances and is where weddings come to life. It is a cosy place with outstanding acoustics and this part of the garden has been dedicated to Italian novelist Goliarda Sapienza who wrote The Art of Joy and who came from Catania, where Bruna’s maternal family originate from. The top of the cavea in which the amphitheatre is located is enclosed by a rocky profile of monoliths, on top of which are flowerbeds where Japanese cherry trees have been planted.
When you reach the kingdom of fire, this part of the garden represents the central hearth of conviviality and family unity. With its large circular fire pit, placed in the centre of the small square so all diners can share the firelight, the planting in shades of reddish tones all celebrate the elements of fire. There are two terraces located here: one grassy with white gravel flower beds, the other bordered by sedum ridges with a path made from black pebbles. Large red bamboo canes, present in groups of three, are perfectly placed at the vertices of an equilateral triangle, with the apex facing north or south, depending on whether they represent the male or female principle.
The water square which is reached from the vegetable garden via a sinuous path of ferns, Hostas and calla lilies is a place created for complete physical and mental regeneration of all Gualda’s guests. Here you will find an outdoor spa with a heated hot tub and barrel sauna, both with views overlooking the valley. The element of water, a symbol of purity, is celebrated by the chosen planting including papyrus and bamboo. During the warmer months, the scent is inebriated with the sweet fragrance of Lippia, a flowering lawn chosen for its limited water needs and in moonlight, its white flowers replicate a starry sky. The water square connects you to the landscape which opens onto the Val di Cornia.
There is much more to see and experience in this unique setting. The property and gardens at Podere La Gualda Vecchia offer guests so much more than just a place to stay but unless you visit, you will never quite appreciate just how special this retreat truly is. From April onwards the gardens come alive and by late June, the Agapanthus are in full bloom, adding vibrance to the planting.
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