6 Bed Townhouse for sale
Colledara, Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy
Full Description
Palazzo Falcone
The property located on Via
della Farmacia (no street number) in Colledara (TE) is known as Falcone Palace,
named after the grandfather of the current owner.
The house has an important
history behind it. The last stone laid, which can be seen set into the arch of
the main entrance portal, bears—alongside a simple bird-shaped engraving—the
date A.D. 1759. However, the portion higher up the hillside appears to have
medieval origins.
In the past, it was a manor
villa, as evidenced by the fondaci (storage rooms), with a
semi-basement floor once used as a wine cellar. On the ground floor there is a
large wood-fired oven, formerly used to bake bread and provisions for the
entire surrounding area, to the point of blackening the vaults. The fondaci
feature typical stone vats for storing oil, a small stable, an underground
icehouse, and in more recent times they seem to have housed a large millstone
for grinding grain—this millstone can now be seen at the entrance to the
street.
On the upper floor, the
renovated section includes underfloor heating, two bathrooms (decorated with
traditional motifs using original ceramics from Castelli, produced by the Di
Giosaffatte workshop, descendants of the renowned ceramist), three bedrooms (the
main one with a walk-in wardrobe), and a hallway featuring a Liberty-style
mosaic depiction of a woman. There is also a living room with a fireplace
(formerly the sitting and dining room of the owners) and a traditional dining
room/kitchen with a wood-fired oven and a large fireplace used for both heating
and cooking, with an adjoining kitchen that contains an antique, fully
functional masonry stove. From the kitchen, one can access a balcony with a
veranda and a long terrace overlooking the Gran Sasso massif and the Sicilian
Valley, as well as the private garden of
1,000 square meters, fenced and planted with 25 olive trees, and a
canopy with a 6 kW solar panel system, accessible from the fondaci.
The very spacious main hall
features a ceiling decorated with four women in original Liberty style from the
period, fully restored and protected by the Cultural Heritage authorities as
one of the few examples of original Adriatic Liberty style—unusual inland and
more commonly found along the coast, also due to D’Annunzio’s influence (as
referenced in the historical-architectural report by the Superintendency of
L’Aquila). The hall contains an original Liberty-style sitting set composed of
several pieces. It opens onto the terrace through a large French window, as do
the three rooms beyond it, which are reached via a corridor with striking
terrazzo flooring in a checkerboard pattern. From the corridor, one can access
a large bathroom known as the “long bathroom.”
The roof was completely
renovated in 2010, and all the vaults of the house have been reinforced with
carbon fiber mesh, as have the main walls.
A brief bibliographic
reference to Capo di Colle—the oldest and most noble area of Colledara, where
Falcone Palace stands—can be found in the work “Colledara” by Fedele
Romani, a writer born in Colledara and buried in Florence, known for his
studies on Dante and dialectology, and a friend of Giovanni Pascoli. A previous
owner of the palace was a cousin of Fedele Romani, a marshal decorated during
the First World War.
The curious name “Via della
Farmacia” derives from the presence of the town’s first pharmacy, run by Dr.
Anna, grandmother of the current owner, around the time of the Second World
War.
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