Who we are
Association

Laura dell'Aquila

My husband and I were attracted to Ficareto farm and the surrounding area more than ten years ago. We were looking for a small farm in beautiful Tuscany, but this imposing group of buildings also suggested hospitality. Used to relating to people and with experience in the sports sector, accommodation and voluntary work, it came naturally to me to share this comfortable, natural, unpolluted environment with my guests.

Paola Turchi

I settled here in the Merse Valley 30 years ago, seduced by the beauty of the area - wild and unspoilt as it remains today. I practise natural therapies, Shiatsu massage and natural foods.
Together with Clelia, a painter and sculptress, I run the ecotourism venue "La Casa Gialla". This old farmhouse has been renovated into a guest house to offer our visitors a simple and creative lifestyle: quietness, walks in the woods, the vegetable garden and its produce, fine cooking and the artists studio.
Thanks to our joint projects we have restored life to the old house , adding our own personal touch whilst retaining its original character, ever mindful of integrating our activities with the country life and in harmony with nature.

Donata Pedicini

I am Donata. My family and I have lived at "Fontanelle" for more than 25 years. Our house is in a forest of evergreen oaks, cork trees and chestnuts. Our life follows the rhythm of the seasons and we miss the area whenever we go away. For several years we have been running a small farm camping ground so that others can get to know this corner of Tuscany. Here you can find quiet, contact with nature, good food. You can go walking, cycling or riding, swim in the Farma and Merse and bathe in the hot springs at Petriolo. We are happy to share a little of our lives with you.

Fosca Monesi

Hello, my name is Fosca. I have lived with my husband and our two children in the hamlet of Tocchi , in the province of Sienna , since 2004.
Unlike most people who have settled here to escape the hustle and bustle of big-city life, I moved here from one of the pearls of Tuscany, the island of Giglio.
Leaving the island for the mainland and settling down in the countryside hasn't been easy. It was a great change and turned my life upside-down. Sometimes I feel nostalgic for my island but now  this small rural village with its 35 inhabitants, has come to feel like another island: a rock surrounded by the green of  lesser  known Tuscan countryside.
My husband Beppe & I renovated and reopened the local restaurant and its five rooms and called it La Locanda di Beppe a Tocchi. Our aim: to let out customers re-discover the pleasures of simple things. To offer them informal hospitality and traditional Tuscan dishes created from local seasonal produce.

Dorota Maria Waga

Sometimes I wonder what the nuns that lived at Linari in 1200 would think if they came back today. These walls have hidden the secrets of travellers for centuries. Everyone who has stayed here has fallen in love with this magic place. I am proud to have a small part in its long history.

Nora Zencher

I was born in a village in northern Italy. In moving to these valleys, I followed a dream I have had since childhood, when I transformed the sharp mountain peaks into rolling hills with warm colours. Though winters are cold here, the world changes when spring comes, and temperatures are pleasant until late autumn. I think anyone attracted to nature will also feel the spell of this area, which is near the mountains and the blue sea of the Tuscan archipelago. The main feature is the peace transmitted by the land. Knowing places and people, it is possible to discover small worlds that have remained miraculously intact in time.

Gianna Corsi

Lucia Minocci

Hello, my name is Lucia and together with my partner Emilio, we manage our small agriturismo in the heart of the Colline Metallifere and the Val di Merse.
We are both from the area and aim to introduce our guests to the most beautiful corners to visit as well as the habits, traditions and stories passed down through the generations who taught us how to collect olives, mushrooms, asparagus, chestnuts, how to maintain the vegetable garden, to hunt, to fish and where to swim in the Merse river.
Many years ago, the farm I Monti was a meeting place for farmers who held parties, dances, ate homemade desserts, played the accordion, drank wine.. and above all, enjoyed themselves.
Agriturismo I Monti makes use of alternative technologies to save energy such as solar panels for producing clean drinking water, photovoltaic panels to produce electric energy, rain water collection, wood heating systems and energy-saving light bulbs.

Giuliana Simonti

Hello, my name’s Giuliana. In spite of my Florentine origins, after 50 years of frantic and unhealthy city life doing a job that I didn’t like, I decided to change my life and join my boyfriend Francesco, who has lived in Tocchi for more than 30 years.
Deciding to change my life radically was not easy at my age, but, the prospect of a calm life in harmony with nature and surrounded by my animals won out in the end.
We own an organic farm with 18 hectares of woodland 400 metres above sea level in the village of Tocchi, situated in the municipality of Monticiano. This region is called the Merse Valley and is on the border where the provinces of Sienna and Grosseto meet, between the areas of the “Crete senesi” and the “Colline metallifere”. Here we produce single-flower honey and cultivate queen bees in compliance with the rules for organic production.
In the spring and in summer we move our hives to the flowered areas where blossom is abundant. This allows us to produce our single-flower honeys like acacia, chestnut and strawberry tree as well as mixed wildflower honey.
In winter we focus on cutting wood for our own use and for sale as firewood. In the shed that once stored carts and farm tools, we have set up a small carpentry workshop for repairing the hives and restoring old furniture.
In the estate of Leccetro, beside our house, we have restored the old stone barn and started an “agritourism” business.