It’s something we’ve all dreamed about. A restored house in Le Marche that’s nestled on a hillside. It sits up high, with a terrific view. There’s a certain harmony to it all, where all the pieces that complete the picture – the pool, the terraces, the loggia, the pergola – are neatly aligned on that hillside with the house as the focal point. Sounds great, right? Sounds even better when we tell you the house is right-sized and the plot is low maintenance. And, once we tell you the price, it gets even better still! For now, we’ll tell you the name of this unique Marche property just outside medieval hill-town San Ginesio – it’s called CASA in COLLINA, the house on the hillside!
Casa Collina is one of those unique offerings we see every so often. First, it’s unique in that it’s right sized at 163 sq. which means it’s not too big and it’s not too small.
When you finish reading click on the VIDEO TOUR at the end of the listing
We get lots of requests for right-sized houses, but there are so few of them on the market. Casa Collina is even more unique than the few alternatives that exist because it’s not only right-sized, it’s has a lot of upside too…we’ll tell you more about that as we do the tour. Casa Collina is a fully restored home that on one side, the arrival side, is done with perfectly pointed very old stone from the original building. The recessed exterior lighting casts an elegant light on the stonework. On the other side, the terraces side, Casa Collina is done in a tasteful rendered plaster.
What is perhaps the most unique feature of Casa Collina is how it arrays over a panoramic hillside. You can see from our video tour and the drone fotos exactly what we mean. To dive deeper into that, Casa Collina is super-unique in the number and quality of outdoor living spaces that the property delivers. Let’s go through each one, literally heading from south-to-north along the hillside. First, there’s a classic pergola, open roofed with cooling green vines crawling along the beams. There are also 2 olive trees here. The view from this pergola is breathtaking. It’s the perfect spot for morning yoga or just a simple cappuccino. We then move to the house proper and just off the house we find a loggia whose covered roof provides respite from the sun. Accessible from the house, and just above the loggia, is the featured terrace, accessed from the living room. This terrace is big and the views are spectacular. There’s an automatic retractable awning with remote control that allows you to have as much sun or as much shade as you’d like. The table, couch and easy chairs and wrought iron railing complete the terrace. Exiting the house and moving further along the western wall of Casa Collina we come to a seriously inviting BBQ and cocktail terrace. Here the living is easy. The stone terrace has a big dining table, lots of space for your favorite BBQ unit of choice and an authentic, original vintage pizza oven! You can only imagine the lunches and dinners you’ll be enjoying here.
And there’s more! Head up a few stone-clad steps and you’re walking along a cooling laurel hedge that runs the length of the eastern property line. You traverse a small garden area with a garden shed and arrive at the pool. It, too, is right sized at 3m x 6m and has a tiled surround that is just right. Going beyond the surround you come to the restored outbuilding. This all-stone building is around 30 sqm. From it’s double French doors you look out over the pool area to the house and beyond,. While registered as a storage building, the owners have used this space as an office and the sofa-bed is handy for when some extra sleeping space is needed for family and friends. All of these terrific features are arrayed in perfect harmony over the hillside that houses Casa Collina.
Now that we’ve gushed about the outdoor spaces at Casa Collina, it’s time to move inside. Casa Collina has lots of character for a house in this price range. It’s arched main entry door opens to a landing…proceed forward to the central floor of the main house. Here there’s a sitting area/lounge with access to the panoramic terrace. This section benefits from having high ceilings with beams and lots of natural light. The dominant architectural feature here is a stone framed archway. It leads to a newly installed, very stylish, super-functional eat-in kitchen. The dominant feature of this space is the triple-pane window that allows natural light to pour into the kitchen while you’re admiring the big views that roll outward from those same windows. Head up the stairs and you arrive at the loft area, usually used as a second sitting area and occasionally called into service as a sleeping space when needed. The loft area has a bathroom and shower, one of two at Casa Collina. Note that this entire central floor and loft area has air-conditioning for summer comfort and a wood-burner for winter ambiance and a heating boost.
Just before heading downstairs, there is another bathroom, with big shower stall. The laundry machine is also found here. On the lower floor of Casa Collina are two very simple bedrooms, one bigger than the other. To be clear, the house officially has two bedrooms. The loft space and the outbuilding are put to similar use for friends and family, as needed. Also on this lower floor is a storage niche, big enough for bicycles and other items.
On a practical note, Casa Collina has gas-powered radiator heating. The aforementioned air-conditioning unit cools the middle and loft floors. The excellent quality internet connection allows you to do everything you need on your devices, whether it be sneaking in some work or ordering a new set of pizza oven tools from Amazon!
Heading back outside, Casa Collina is located in just at the start of a small borgo, or hamlet. In fact, it’s the first house so while it’s not isolated, it’s quite private. Note, too, that Casa Collina’s plot is smaller than average at 480 sqm. but is more than compensated for by two facts – first, there are all those outdoor living spaces we raved about, and, importantly, this means that the maintenance task at Casa Collina is minimized. The gardeners come 2-3 times a year from some cutbacks and tidying-up. So, as opposed to most houses with big plots, you are not coming to Casa Collina to spend your time or money on maintaining the plot. In fact, an overriding theme at Casa Collina is that it’s ideal for “locking and leaving”. The “just right” size of the house and the plot means you’re free to other things with your precious time and money when you’re in Le Marche.
Casa Collina is found within the confines the medieval town of San Ginesio, a classic hill-town with amazing panoramic views, park spaces, a weekly market and an award winning gelato and torrone maker at the Bar Centrale. The town has tennis and paddleball courts open to the public. Moving further afield, Casa Collina is close to EVERYTHING. You can walk 300m to the hamlet of Morichella to the Bar Market Monti Azzurri where Gianni and his family first welcomed us to the area 20 years ago. The Bar Market, a local point of reference providing all bar and small grocery services, is located at the crossroads that take you to the Fiastra Lake, an oasis for outdoor activities and sports. From this same crossroads it’s 10 minutes to bustling hill-town Sarnano. Casa Collina is conveniently located 15 minutes from the SS77 Superstrada – so you (and your guests and friends) can reach the house quickly from at least 3 different airports. You’re at the beach in 35-40 minutes and in Umbria in 45 minutes. Head to the mountains of the Sibillini National Park in 20 minutes – a center of trekking, cycling, walking, hang-gliding and simple relaxing. There’s a close-by network of eBike itineraries. Close-by hill-towns include Colmurano, Urbisaglia, Sarnano, Loro Piceno, and others. The cities of Tolentino and Macerata are within 15 & 30 minutes, respectively, of the house. There are vineyards, local food producers, lots of local festivals and dozens of great places to eat…all close to Casa Collina. This proximity to so many things makes this house an ideal choice not only for your personal enjoyment, but for rentals, too, as well as for year-round residency.
Just think of your house on the hillside, BBQ sizzling, pizza oven heating up, friends and family at the pergola or on the terrace, kids in the pool…everybody happy and relaxed…good times on the hillside, at Casa Collina!
VIDEO TOUR
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