The property of Spineto spreads over 2,500 acres of verdant fields, woods, and pastures about five kilometers outside of the town of Sarteano, in the province of Siena, about an hour and a half from both Florence and Rome.

Spineto’s abbey – the structure that still dominates the whole of the property – was built in 1085 on land known at the time for being densely vegetated by thorny bushes from which it derives its name (from the Latin Spinum). It is thought to have been erected by a Benedictine monk named Rodolfo who received the property as a gift from the widow of the Count Pepone I of Sarteano. It was the golden era of monastic life all over Italy: Abbeys were flourishing, organizing their religious activities and integrating the farmers and artisans of the surrounding lands.

Over the centuries, the Abbazia di Spineto, strategically situated between the Val di Chiana and the Val d’Orcia on the western slopes of Monte Cetona, played various important historical roles in relations between local counts and vassals and emperors and popes. Several times, with the changing papacies, it was assigned to different monastic orders; and while life in the abbey was peaceful, devoted to religious practice and the cultivation of land and artisanal activities, including weaving and the dying of fabrics, it inevitably suffered from the constant and bloody wars between feudal lords outside its walls. Over the course of time, Spineto fell under the protection of Orvieto, then Siena, and, under the Medicis, Florence. It is during that time that Spineto saw its most glorious days.

From the mid-1800s forward, Spineto came under a series of private ownerships, more or less engaged, but ultimately the abbey and the farmhouses built through time on the property slowly decayed, until our gracious hosts, Marilisa Cuccia and Franco Tagliapietra, bought Spineto in 1989.

Marilisa and Franco, both from Padova, in northern Italy, came to Tuscany seeking a small retreat at which to retire in their later years. Spineto was not what they had come looking for. “It was folly,” writes Marilisa. “Yet in only half an hour we had made the choice that was to change our whole lives.” Marilisa and Franco embarked on a massive and meticulous restoration of the abbey itself and all of the structures on the property – a three-year, multimillion-dollar act of scrupulous research, loving reclaim, and work of revival. (Click here to read Marilisa’s moving account of their discovery, purchase, and restoration of Spineto.)

Lo Spineto is conscientiously run, with care for the waterways, the flora and fauna, and the agricultural legacy of the land. While the ancient walls have been restored and the spaces made conducive to contemporary life, maximum care has been devoted to the soul of the structures and their uses. Spineto’s life now continues more or less as it was one thousand years ago, as a place of study, cultivation of the land, and respect for culture and tradition. “Today at Spineto,” writes Marilisa, “one may congregate, work, learn, teach, discuss, study, and even discover oneself.”

Marilisa and Franco share in Terra Summer Italia’s commitment to teaching stewardship of the earth and the importance of rooting young adults in a culture of tradition and contribution. Together, they offer us a landscape to restore our sense of selves and celebrate the world that surrounds us.