The garden of the old olive mill at Fattoria del Colle

The garden of the old olive mill at Fattoria del Colle

Fattoria del Colle is practically a rural hamlet with a villa, the chapel and the farmhouses where in olden times the farmers used to live and where now we have created apartments for country holidays. At the centre of the garden delimited by a stone wall and a row of mulberry trees.  For year the garden was my worry because I was able to understand how to use it. In fact even though there were some horse-chestnuts and some very old olive trees it was really horrible and rugged.

The opportunity to renovate it came last year with the stones coming out of the soil during the deep digging done to replant the vineyard called Cancello nero. An unbelievable amount of rocks, tonnes and tonnes of stones.
With a small amount of these stones we created an escarpment which transformed the old garden in a terraced garden. The decoration along this enclosure increases the suggestive character of this place, which was already very romantic.
For many years the ruins of the old olive mill were piled high and rusting in a corner. A pile of iron that however seemed hand made by ironmongers one hundred years ago and transmitted an archaic energy.
Gears, large dishes, couplers, counterweights, trestles, and other iron objects that I have had hung on the wall and illuminated as if they were works of contemporary art. The effect is spectacular and the old olive mill in Fattoria del Colle has found new life. Now in the centre of the garden there is a paved area covered by a gazebo and this is where we organize the “fattoria in festa” farm parties, with traditional soups, grilled meats, popular folk songs, and dancing the Trescone dance.

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini