Villino de Santi was built in 1901 by Vincenzo de Santi, my great-grand father. He chose a northern European style which was fashionable at the time. It is quite different from any other building in the area and this makes it look a bit like a folly. The Villino was intended as a family Summer house and it has been used as such ever since it was built. My children are the fifth generation in our family that spends their Summer holidays there.
During World War II my great-grand parents lived in the villino throughout the year, as in the countryside food was more easily available than in the cities. During that time, they hosted Oscar and Marcella Senigallia, a couple of Jewish family friends who hid in the Villino under false names during the period of Italy's occupation by the German army (1943-1945). At the time, the ground floor was used as cellar and the living quarters were on the two upper floors. While my great grand parents and their Jewish guests lived on the first floor, the second floor had been commandeered by the German army to accommodate the local officers' contingent. On Thursday nights, my great grand mother used to invite the German officers to dinner. These meals must have been quite an event!
My grand father refurbished the Villino after World War II. He moved the kitchen, dining room and sitting room to the ground floor and he also added three new bathrooms (the original house only had one). He also enlarged the garden (against the will of my great grand father who thought that a garden represented a waste of farming land...) and built a tennis court.
This was the layout I knew as a child in the 1960'. It stayed that way until the late 1990's when my mother modernized the house by refurbishing the bathrooms and the kitchen and by building a caretaker flat on the ground floor.
The Villino de Santi is a well loved house. It is not high tech, it is not luxurious, but it exudes oodles of charm and character. After 110 years it is now ready to extend its warm welcome to new guests and friends who will thus help ensure that it will continue to be a great container of happy moments to share with the people one loves. Should you decide to spend some time at the Villino de Santi, I hope you will truly enjoy the experience and add your name to the very long list of guests who have been happy here.

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