The estate/garden known as “La Foce”

Midway between Florence and Rome lies a large estate named La Foce (the mouth of rivers). If you know Tuscany, it sits close to the towns of Montepulicano, Chiusi, and Chianciano Terme in the Southern Tuscan region of Val d’Orcia.

It may lie in Tuscany, but I swear it’s a piece of heaven!

La Foce lies on the Via Francigena, the ancient road and pilgrim route running all the way from France to Rome. It has been inhabited continuously for many centuries. The Villa was built in the late 15th century as a hospice for pilgrims and merchants traveling on the Via Francigena. It is located near an Etruscan settlement, and a burial-place from the 7th century BC to the 2nd century AD has been excavated there.

Last week I joined an excellent group of Italophiles on a day trip from Florence to this heavenly locale, and we had the great fortune of having as our guide the granddaughter of the founders.

In 1924, writer Iris Origo, granddaughter of William Bayard Cutting and Hamilton Cuffe, the 5th Earl of Desart, joined Antonio Origo, son of Marchese Clemente Origo, in buying what was by then a very dilapidated estate. They moved there after their marriage. The late 15th-century villa was restored by the Origos in the 1920s with government financial assistance. The fine gardens were designed by the English architect Cecil Pinsent: “the last great Italian garden by Pinsent” in the words of horticulturist television presenter Monty Don. Pinsent had created several other gardens in Tuscany, including those at Villa Le Balze and Villa I Tatti, where Iris’s mother was a frequent guest of Bernard Berenson. Berenson had commissioned Pinsent’s first Italian garden about twenty years earlier.

Antonio and Iris Origo with daughter Donata at La Foce, 1943

Below is a picture of the original villa and our guide, Katia Lysy, the granddaughter of Iris and Antonio Origo. Ms. Lysy has just published a beautiful book on La Foce and it was a true pleasure to hear her take on the estate and her grandparents. What a lucky woman she is!

It was a splendid early spring day and I can speak for everyone there that we were enchanted.

Katia is discussing Cecil Pinsent in the video above.

Below: the Origo coat of arms.

I’m not going to walk you through the gardens because if you are interested, you can read all about it online. But I am going to share some of the shots I took of this amazing place.

Unfortunately, our visit was not timed for the bloom of the wisteria that makes such a statement on the arbor which you can see in the photos above and below. If you look closely and use your powers of perception, you can just make out a lavender haze running along the flat surface of the arbor that exists just above the first floor and below the second.