LAST WEEK WE featured the Hudson Valley home of Deborah Needleman and during our research, we came across Villa Arniano on Needleman’s Instagram, where she posted a few photos along with this caption:
“Back from a week at the house of my dreams—the Tuscan idyll of @camillaguinness. Spent a few days with @jacobwe, @skyegyngell, @davidprior, @holly_gore and my daughter Lily Weisberg who doesn’t bother herself with social media, and then a few days with #camillaguinness, @amberguinness and @macmillandavidmb languorous, long summer days eating (really well) reading, chatting , swimming and napping. I was so blissed out I didn’t take any pictures, so these are lifted from Camilla and Amber’s Instagram as well from @arnianopaintingschool the week-long painting workshops Amber runs here with her friend @willropercurzon”
Villa Arniano is a romantic and secluded traditional stone-and-brick Tuscan farmhouse that dates from the 18th century, located thirty minutes from Siena. It was converted by British interior designer Camilla Guinness, who purchased the run-down home near Montalcino with her husband, Jasper Guinness, the son of Irish brewing heir Jonathan Guinness (3rd Baron Moyne) with a law degree from Oxford. The two met in Florence and married in 1985. The two of them, with their daughter, Amber (who was born in London in 1989) in tow, began transforming Arniano with the help of local contractors⏤adding fireplaces and shelving, a large stove and a giant wood-fired oven in the kitchen, and repairing old stone and tile floors. Many of the four-poster bed frames in the bedrooms where also designed by Camilla.
Their second daughter, Claudia, would be born in 1992 and in 2003, the family decided to relocate to England. For the next ten years, there would not be much happening at the villa, which the family still owned. In 2006, their oldest daughter’s godfather, Tony Lambton, passed away, leaving his son, Edward ‘Ned’ Lambton, the 7th Earl of Durham, Villa Cetinale, located just over thirty minutes drive south of Arniano. Lambton would ask Camilla for help the interiors, so the couple made their way back to Tuscany. While working on the project, however, Jasper became ill with cancer and in May 2011, passed away. He was 57.
Amber would spend the next few years living in England and visiting the villa infrequently, but would look for ways to connect with the country she grew up in. By coincidence, her best friend, artist William Roper-Curzon, was searching for a continental adventure and so the two dreamed up the idea of hosting a painting retreat for small groups. The plan would be for William to teach art classes, while Amber would would cook regional dishes for the guests. In 2014, the Arniano Painting School was established. Claudia, Camilla and Jasper’s youngest daughter, who still lives and works in London, tries to visit every year.
If you’re looking for a relaxing stay at an idyllic villa situated in a rolling landscape of green-black cypresses and hilltop villages with views across southern Tuscany, you’re likely to fall in love with Villa Arniano. Its perfect mix of grand bohemian chic and simple Italian style that was once created to be a beautiful, comfortable and much-loved family home.
