Last year we bought a ruin near the picturesque town of Vergemoli in a national park in the Garfagnana, about 25 kilometres from Bagni di Lucca. We like to call it our pile of rocks.
the old house
our pile of rocks
It once was a stone cottage occupied by three brothers. It sits on 10,000 square metres on the side of a mountain with gorgeous views over the tiny village and beyond. The brothers were farmers and the remains of their grape vines and fruit trees can still be seen. The terraces where they grew vegetables, probably artichokes, broad beans and tomatoes are still there. Hopefully things will grow there again in the future.
Old terraces for vegetable growing
The first job was to improve the road to the site. A dirt and gravel road was built several years ago, but time and water from our spring have eroded several sections. A well house has been erected which will eventually connect to storage tanks. We are very lucky to have our own water source which has run all year even in the driest part of summer.
Adriano at the well house
The last step this year was to pull down the old house. We would have preserved the stone walls but they were too far gone to be saved. There was a volcanic stone arched doorway which was dismantled and will be saved and put back into the new house. Our permits state that the new house must be of the same building materials and dimensions as the original. We want to do this anyway and the doorway is so lovely we would be nuts not to keep it. Several of the doorways in the nearby village are of a similar design, another reason to keep it.
cracked wall
Volcanic stone doorway
the dismantled door waiting to be rebuilt
The site has been cleared in preparation for the next step, the foundations. We are in a low risk earthquake zone, as is much of Italy, so the new house wil be built with the necessary earthquake proofing. We are also going to insulate the walls, double glaze all the windows and use solar power where we can. We are hoping to make is a eco- friendly as possible.
This is a long term project. Work has stopped for this year as the site is too difficult to work on in winter. Next spring work will commence on the foundations.
We will keep you posted.
Vergemoli view
View from Vergemoli
View from Vergemoli
What an amazing undertaking.
By: paninigirl on July 11, 2010
at 3:06 pm
[…] here and here to see the old house and the cleared […]
By: Work starts on the pile of rocks « Bagni di Lucca and Beyond on March 7, 2011
at 7:18 am
Hi Deb
It looks fabulous and I envy you. How is your access in winter?
It looks like a good candidate for Kevin McLeod’s “Grand Designs”.
I wish you well.
By: Colin on March 7, 2011
at 10:11 pm
The site is accessible all year, unless there is deep snow. You could still walk there, but it might be difficult to drive. The road will be improved as we use it more. There are a few spots still affected by heavy rain , but we will work on that. The house is about a 10 minute walk from the village – about 2 minutes by car.
It would be wonderful if Kevin McLeod was interested in our little house.
By: bagnidilucca on March 7, 2011
at 10:28 pm
[…] here to see the original pile of rocks. The house in Vergemoli now has its own category as […]
By: Return to the pile of rocks « Bagni di Lucca and Beyond on March 29, 2011
at 4:46 pm
I think you are incredibly brave to tackle a project like this, but wow – what a view! That and the scenery would make it totally worthwhile.
By: Reggie on May 30, 2011
at 8:44 am
[…] here to see the original pile of rocks. The house in Vergemoli now has its own category as […]
By: Return to the pile of rocks | Bagni di Lucca and Beyond on April 11, 2019
at 3:52 pm
Have you finished yet. It’s taken us 15 yrs to do our wreck in Pescaglia. Worth every minute !
By: Brisn on February 1, 2021
at 5:24 pm