history

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Barbazzano has a long and interesting past. Settled well over a millennium ago along a tributary of the ancient consular road connecting Rome with Florence, its name derives from a corruption of the Latin barbati, or bearded people, a reference to the Etruscan occupants of Tuscany. The earliest structure was a tower (the foundations of which are still visible beneath the glass floor of the Studio) which perhaps served as a link in the defensive network of hilltop communications with the ancient Longobard fortress in nearby Civitella. A church, Santa Maria di Barbazzano, and rectory were built here in the twelfth century. For many centuries, the church served the local parishioners as well as travelers to and from Rome. Eventually the property became home to three families of tenant farmers. A series of additions were made over the years until, by the nineteenth century, the buildings took their present form. Barbazzano was abandoned in 1969 when its last occupants opted for the modern comforts of town life. During the next three decades the buildings suffered from gradual but inexorable decay: roofs and floors collapsed, walls bellied and sagged and shrubs sprouted in the rubble. Barbazzano's reprieve came in 2000, when we began our six-year effort to bring the buildings back to life (click here to see a slideshow of the restoration). We are proud to offer the property as you see it today.