Some history....
La storia di Borgo Elena ...
My wife, Angela, and I first went to Borgo Elena in the summer of 2000. After seeing it, and after meeting Mario, I was intrigued to find out how Borgo Elena had come into existence. I couldn't speak Italian at the time, so what follows below is the version of events I got from our holiday representative on that trip. I have never been able to discover whether it is correct in every detail!
The land on which Borgo Elena stands was formerly part of the estate surrounding what is now Relais Il Falconiere. This was originally a private residence in Mario's family, and the last people to live in it as a family home were Mario's grandparents. Some of the buildings which now comprise Borgo Elena were cottages inhabited by the estate's farm workers, or contadini. By the time Mario's grandparents died, the estate had ceased to be worked as in former times, and the contadini cottages had become derelict. This, I believe, was some time in the 1990s.