1935
The beginnings
Our great-grandfather Terzilio bought it to use the 8 hectares of olive grove and make it the place for his already thriving activity of oil mill started more than 30 years before in Piombino. The entire family, formed by grandparents, children and grandchildren moved into the farmhouse. In the years right after the purchase, everything went on in the best way: a large family lived in harmony enjoying the agricultural fruits and the produce of one of the best and most well-known oil mills of the area.
1940-45
The war period
With the beginning of the war, things suddenly changed. The German army had already taken possession of the area and had made the farmhouse their headquarter. At that time our grandfather, Emilio, had already become the person in charge of the family farm. Having returned from the Campaign of Africa because of the sudden death of his father, he had in fact moved to his parents in law’s in Santa Caterina in order to take care of his relatives. When the German Army settled in the farm, occupying all the lower floors, the mill, the stables and the house, our grandfather succeeded in an astonishing double cross thus both gaining the respect of the soldiers and obtaining protection and provisions for his family, and he also was able to hide in rooms unknown to them some victims of persecution who were trying to arrange an escape away from war harassments.
1946-69
After the war
With the end of the war, air of liberty started to be breathed again in the property and maybe to cancel the atmosphere of the gloomy moments of the previous years, our grandfather decided to renew the whole building transforming the old mill into a home and leaving at disposal of the farmers the wine cellar and the stables that were already being used as deposits for mechanical and motor equipments. The experience of the war had however left a mark and who had lived it like our grandfather, among stratagems and sorrows, preferred to continue to live elsewhere.
1970
The new life of the farm
Of this large structure of more than 300 square meters for a long time only the bare essential parts were used to maintain the activity of olive and grapes picking; only in the late 1970’s the second-born Stefano decided to move to the farm transforming the by then abandoned rooms into a new reality. Restructuring works were carried out first in 1980, then again in the yearly 1990's, but soon it was felt that a place of this kind deserved a completely different solution. The decision to transform part of the structure into a holiday resort responds to the desire not to abandon an old place which in its tradition has protected dozens of men and women who needed a shelter, food or help.
2008
The holidays house Dolce Vita is born
Stefano and his family, Sister Rina and his sons Valentina and Matteo open the doors of Casa Vacanze la Dolce Vita.
