ABOUT US

Molinello today...

Tired of city life, in 1996 we decided to live in the hearth of Crete Senesi. Immediately we have fallen in love with Molinello, with its Etruscan origins (and the nearby tumulus), its medieval mill (whose ruins are still visible nowadays), its age-old oak trees, and with the peacefullness and quietness that surround it. We have decided to share all this with our guests.The management of the farm and of the farm holidays keeps the whole family busy:
Alessandro (biologist, guide and sommelier) has decided making of this his own profession; Elisa, instead, has not given up her job, even if she deals with the administration; Mauro and Paola, even if they are retired, are involved full time….and we hope that in the future also Emma and Guido will give us a hand.

Our life style

Firstly, Molinello was, and is today a life style for us, not only a business activity. We don't want to teach anything to anyone: we only report and state how our life style is, and we explain to our guests what they are going to find and what they are not going to find here by us.

Setting and architecture
We have always loved the country in Siena: it has been created by the man during the centuries. It’s the real and the experienced country. We often see around us a sort of “country trend” made up of cypress avenues, and, to be honest, we are fed up with it.

Agriculture and food
We immediately and automatically chose biological food.
We strongly believe in the philosophy of Slow Food and that food has to be good, clean and fair. For the products we don’t supply (beef, flours, cheese, cold cuts) we ask to some producers and friends of the near areas and we ensure that the product we sell isn’t an industrial product, as it often happens today. It has to be an agricultural product.

Our breakfast.
Having breakfast in Molinello means eating fresh food or food prepared by Elisa (bread and cakes are cooked by us using biological flours coming from farms like Crete, Il Pereto, Sporeta, biological eggs of our hens, chicken of Valdarno – Slow Food protection) and from Livorno. We make biological jams; honey comes from biological farms in Asciano and Rapolano; we also produce biological fresh fruit or we buy it in near farms; juices come from the biodynamic farm Terra d’Arcoiris; cold cuts are biological, coming from animals in the wild; cheese comes from local farms, like Spereta, Vergelle and La Fonte. They are almost always biological, with raw milk, and cornflakes, granola, juices, yogurts, tea, herb teas and milk, too, are biological. We invite you to visit the abovementioned farms: they will be glad to guide you and invite you to join some tastings. It takes a little bit of time in order to prepare this kind of breakfast, therefore it is necessary to reserve or cancel it two days in advance.

Energy and transport
We aim to be energy-independent and in 2001 we had the idea to use renewable energies: so we took part to the first national project for the establishment of photovoltaic installations and we realized two of them for power demand. Heating installations in apartments run with wood and in 2006 we bought a 12 ha wood. We personally manage it and we cut only the wood, that is necessary for heating. We also have thermo-solar panels for the production of warm water. We strongly believe in spare of energy, we use low consumption lamps and the outer lighting is used only if necessary. We use public transport every time it is possible. Sandro loves going by bike and his holidays never pollute. We also have cars but they are equipped with a methane system.

Waste
We have always been collecting items for recycling, when we began we were among the few people who did it. At the same time we strongly believe that it is more correct to talk about waste reduction instead of talking about collection of items for recycling. We do not accept the one-use philosophy (for instance plastic dishes, cutlery, glasses).
All the food waste are used to feed our chickens or to produce compost.

Share with us our choices when you are on holiday!

Molinello yesterday...

"Il Molinello" is built on a big travertine base, already used in Etruscan era for the building of tombs. A very beautiful example may be admired just near the farm.
This travertine has been formed near the outlet of a thermal spring, which in ancient times (since the beginning of the XIV cent.) has been canalised into the inside of the house and exploited to set in action a little horizontal wheel Mill (Molino), whose ruins have recently been renovated.
We have reconstructed the history of our farm thanks to the documents of the ancient Spedale Santa Maria della Scala in Siena, owner, among others, of Grancia delle Serre, of which "Il Molinello" was one of the farms.