Villa Cetinale... oh, if its walls could talk...
The Tuscan landscape has hardly changed in the last 500 years. The countryside is still dotted with small farms and villages of sun-bleached brick, plaster and terracotta, and among them rise the villas of the ancient aristocracy of Siena, those that were houses of popes and cardinals, the seats of power of yesteryear.
One of the most beautiful is **Villa Cetinale, built in 1680** by Cardinal Flavio Chigi for his prestigious relative, the pope Alexander VII. This baroque Roman mansion hides, like an enchanted castle, at the end of a long, dusty driveway lined with cypress trees.
The first clue to get to it is a jumble of roofs and pink barns. Below, a silver olive grove reveals funny statues, lemon trees and the formality of the hedges and flowerbeds near the house.
lunch in the kitchen
the iron gates they squeak as they open and the villa appears: the italian opulence seeps into every stone and arch, wrapped in wisteria and jasmine, rose and plumbago.
High above, presiding as a Eagles Nest at the top of a hill –which can be reached by climbing the 300 steps of the Holy Stairs–, is the Romitory, a small monastery built for process sins and absolutions of the cardinals who, long ago, lived here.
The Chigi family was the owner of Cetinale for generations, until 1978, and made sure their past was illuminated with scandals and boisterous hunting parties.
The parade continued as the flamboyant and ingenious Anthony Lambton, 6th Earl of Durham, and his companion Claire Ward They bought the house and began to restore their faded grandeur.
Bedroom Villa Cetinale
The festivities celebrated in the town reached their wild heyday in Lord Lambton's time, attracting rock stars, politicians, philosophers and royalty.
Princess Margaret, for example, she was one of his regular visitors. Lambton had gone into exile here, leaving a prominent political career after a sex scandal that included a threesome in a brothel and a paparazzi in the closet.
Just like what happened to Lord Byron, the move to Italy only increased its appeal: the villa became a popular hangout for summer for his five daughters and his friends. Mick jagger, Rupert Everett and Sophie Dahl also stayed there and threw parties with their neighbors Matthew and Maro Spender and Mark Getty, while several Guinnesses, Naylor-Leylands and Somersets would drop by like beautiful exotic birds.
Image of the pool and gardens
When he presided over those great dinners, the conversation of Lambton she was impeccably educated, though full of scathing anecdotes. His mind had the precision and cruelty of a rapier, and yet his thirst for good company and his air of carefree perversity kept the house alive with guests and intrigue.
While, Tuscany unfolded season after (sunny) season, the race of Palio of Siena, the harvest of chianti wine and the myth around this English gentleman in Cetinale. The parties did not stop until Lord Lambton fell ill and died in the winter of 2006.
However, as in the best stories, the pages continue to grow. It happened to Lord Lambton his son Ned. His young family has taken over, and now the laughter of children fills the house and gardens. When Villa Cetinale approaches his 340th birthday, it continues to host meetings, albeit somewhat differently from those of the sixth Earl.
View of the gardens of Villa Cetinale from a balcony
At the heart of this new chapter is Marina Lambton, Ned's wife and mother of his youngest children: Stella, age six, Claud, age two, and a newborn baby. She and Ned have revived and restored great old house.
“The first time I came I was 14 years old,” says Marina. “I was staying with my godfather, JasperGuinness, in his nearby villa and we went over to Cetinale for lunch. I remember that he thought handsome and cool who was Ned, and Tony, his father, I found charming but with a sense of very wicked humour”.
Marina remembers that the house it was full of dogs (and their hair) and she shares her pragmatic view of why she's so appealing to the fashion people she comes to now: "Well, the roof doesn't leak anymore and there are a lot more toilets."
the interior designer Camilla Guinness, Jasper's wife, "she has made it incredibly luxurious," says Marina. Camilla, a friend of the Lambton family, has the ability to combine the contemporary and the old, the imposing and the intimate, providing comfort and simplicity in each room.
Marina's instructions were completely optimistic, as she herself recalls: “I just said, 'You have good taste, so go ahead.'
Ned Lambton, with Marina, her sisters and her friends
In this way she rekindled much of the brilliance that Anthony Lambton and Clare they had injected into the house, restoring textiles and furniture, and adding Marina's personal taste to the mix with huge new bathtubs, magnificent four-poster beds, and exquisite draperies.
The house still retains all the foundations of its splendid past: from the Chigi coat of arms hanging over the fireplace to the large marble side tables that Antony brought from England.
Marina, who enjoys Cetinale "breathing the pure air and communicating with nature He has added a special touch to the place. It is she who insists that the incense sticks No. 88 from Czech and Speake light up at night in the glorious first floor ballroom.
At cocktail time, come down dressed from Gucci or Saloni, the fire crackles with olive logs and dinner, prepared by the Cetinale chef Alessandro Berrettini, It's a Tuscan food feast.
"He has never served a bad dish," says Marina. She and Ned recreate here for much of the year, and their guests are a mix of friends and family, among which there are many children to play with Stella and Claudia.
Living room on the first floor of the villa
The party usually includes the make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury (who celebrated her husband's 50th birthday with a big event at the villa this summer), Marina's sister Rose and her husband David Cholmondeley, Kate Moss, Timothy and Emma Hanbury, the film director David Hayman and his wife, interior designer Rose Uniacke: the guestbook is a fascinating list of names from the creative world.
It even records a visit from the former Prime Minister Tony Blair and a photo in which he appears very pleased with himself and flanked by Rose and Marina, both dressed in pink bikinis.
It is possible that the different generations do things differently when it comes to home decor, but the cast of characters you visit fit into a pattern that was already established in the 1970s by Ned's father.
One of the bathrooms at Villa Cetinale
"There are wild spirits that live inside the trees and are carved into the rocks”, explains Marina with a mischievous look. She loves the contrast of the woods full of boars with the aristocratic atmosphere of the manicured gardens and the beautiful and tidy house.
Her favorite part of her grounds is Theibaid, a forest and its lake. “It's a lovely place to have a picnic.” Moss-covered walkways reveal stone animal figures: first a tortoise and a snake, then a dragon lurking at the edge of the dense forest.
They've been here since the seventeenth century, when the famous race Palio of Siena it was moved to the villa grounds as a result of the riots that overwhelmed the city.
Woods surrounding the villa
The best view is achieved from the monastery, the Romitory. “It's another awesome place to hike and snack outdoors. Sometimes I drive there in my fiat panda, when it's too hot to go on foot”, says Marina, who feels a natural affinity with the property.
She and Ned have restored Cetinale with great care. Without losing an iota of atmosphere or layers of history, they live here peacefully and brightly, instead of in the turmoil of previous generations. Her children are learning Italian and she has started producing Cetinale olive oil.
“We do approx. 1,500 bottles a year. It is delicious and has a spicy taste.” This, and renting the house when the family is not there, are shaping Cetinale for the future. A modern epilogue to an epic fairy tale.
***** This report was published in **number 117 of Condé Nast Traveler Magazine (May)**. Subscribe to the printed edition (11 printed issues and a digital version for €24.75, by calling 902 53 55 57 or from our website) and enjoy free access to the digital version of Condé Nast Traveler for iPad. The May issue of Condé Nast Traveler is available in its digital version to enjoy on your preferred device.