More history....
La storia continua...
On their grandparents' death, Mario and his brother Riccardo received a legacy. Riccardo was bequeathed the main house, and Mario was bequeathed the land and buildings which are now Borgo Elena. Riccardo began to renovate the old house in order to create the exclusive hotel and restaurant which is today's Il Falconiere. Mario, having studied agricultural science at college, knew that the state of farming in Italy meant that he would never be able to make a living of his inherited lands alone . He soon hit upon the idea of renovating the cottages which remained standing, building some extra ones, and operating them as holiday properties. Franca chose all the interior décor and furnishings, which she continues to do. About a year after opening, Mario installed the swimming pool.
Mario used to have a few photographs of what the site looked like before he started work on it. I got the chance to copy them a few years ago, and I include them below.
Here you can see what is now the entrance to the apartment Il Focolare
A view taken from the back of the site before work started
From these next two pictures you can see that what is now the entrance to the apartment La Scaletta was once a simple lean-to!
