THE FARM
Today the farm is run by Ines and her brother James, with the help of her husband and their three children. Extra Virgin olive oil, sangiovese wine, honey, grains and pulses can be purchased directly from the farm. We bake our own cantucci, almond biscuits which are traditionally served with Vinsanto!
We are proud to play a part in preserving the beauty and agricultural heritage of this landscape.The farm is committed to sustainable production, integrated with wildlife and environmental conservation.
SUSTAINABILITY
Energy Efficiency - Podere La Paolina contributes to the effort to tackle climate change by bearing the cost of producing renewable energy. Photovoltaic panels on the farm produce electricity. Other sources used on the farm come from the combustion of biomass and wood from the farm's woodlands.
THREE GENERATIONS OF FAMILY FARMING
The current family have been working the farm since 1971. This was at a time when the 'mezzadria' system of sharecropping, which had existed in Tuscany from the feudal system until after the Second World War, was coming to an end.
Over the years the farm has followed crop rotation, producing extra virgin olive oil from its old olive grove and fruit such as plums and apples from an orchard that is still cultivated today.
BRIEF HISTORY
Montefollonico is a small jewel hidden in the woods on a hill between Val di Chiana and Val d'Orcia. It was built between the 12th and 13th centuries as a fortified village of the Republic of Siena on the site of Etruscan and Roman settlements. The name comes from the Latin "fullones", meaning those who worked with woollen cloth (Monte a Follonico = place of the cloth workers).
A short distance from the farmhouse is the Tondo Nature Park, surrounded by woods of oak, holm and turkey oak, manna ash, heather, broom and juniper, a habitat for the Tuscan fauna: squirrels, roe deer, wild boar, badgers and various species of birds. Inside the Park there are ancient paths (all well signposted) that lead the "traveller" to discover an incredible natural environment and places that, with their legends and traditions, recall the culture and history of Montefollonico.