Sleeping among trees, experiencing nature
Just outside Florence, surrounded by greenery, the Treehouse is more than just a place to stay – it’s an experience that slows time, a peaceful nest where you can rediscover silence, the light filtering through the leaves and the breath of the earth.
An essential retreat where every detail tells a story and every object has travelled from afar to find its place among these branches.
One day, you will wake up and see a beautiful day. There will be sunshine, and everything will be new, changed and clear. What once seemed impossible to you will become simple and normal. You don’t believe it? I’m certain. Look, Natalia, the sky! It’s wonderful! (Fyodor Dostoevsky, White Nights)
Book nowThe Treehouse as a Gift
A retreat and an experience
Suspended between heaven and earth, the treehouse is an essential and intimate empty space, like a blank page in a book, where anyone can write their story.
It is a place for tales and listening.
- The room includes a large chalkboard on which guests can leave words that will travel around the world.
- The small kitchen is about nurturing and slowing down.
- The terrace is a garden and a place where the day drifts into nature and the nights light up with stars.
In the cold months, the glass walls capture the warmth of the sun, and the stove heats the room after sunset.
When summer comes, the large openings capture the breeze and cool the air, while the white sheets provide shade and minimise the need to use air conditioning.
Inspired by the family’s passion for giving old objects new life, every space has been decorated with repurposed pieces gathered on countless journeys filled with discoveries.
Così la scala in ferro proveniente dal mercato Marchè aux puces di Parigi è stata completata con una ringhiera di tubi idraulici, il pavimento è fatto con le assi di vecchi ponteggi edili, la base del letto sono invece scatole di abete patinato originariamente utilizzate in una farmacia insieme alle lampade esterne che erano nate come vasi di fiori in ferro.
“But if one evening we suddenly looked into each other’s eyes, we would have made good use – simple and profound – of ourselves and the world.” (Franco Arminio, Cedi la strada agli alberi – Give Way to Trees)
Our history
Deep roots and branches that stretch over time
It was the early 1980s when my family decided to move to a property a few minutes from the historic centre of Florence called Poggio Secco, on the hill overlooking the ancient Ema Charterhouse. This small hamlet consisted of a farmhouse and several stone outbuildings, surrounded by sweeping olive groves, with a large terracotta courtyard that served as a village square.
An Extended Family
Year after year, my parents, Riccardo and Daniela – whose love for ceramics had grown into an interior decoration business rooted in the finest Florentine craftsmanship – began restoring and repurposing the various buildings along with their gardens, lawns and groves. Over time, the ‘Poggio’ came to life together with a community of relatives, friends and guests from all over the world. Since those days, I have learned to see my place as a small microcosm of locals and travellers, all belonging, in some way or another, to our extended family.
Every Child’s Dream
In the early years of the new millennium, just as I was nearing forty, it was once again Riccardo and Daniela who decided to build every child’s dream for my brother Francesco and me: a small treehouse. They began to imagine a room among the trees, surrounded by Scots pines and suspended above the olive grove, as if to prove that sometimes a simple change in perspective is all it takes to grasp the world’s complexity.
Today
Poggio Secco is still our home and that of all the people who, over time, have become our travel companions, sharing every day of their lives with us. And nowhere else like here do I experience the teaching of Alex Zanotelli, every day: “We are the people we meet.”
casaBARTHEL:
a hamlet filled with tales
Our treehouse is one of the many souls of CASABarthel – a place created to welcome both city dwellers and wanderers. The former may have chosen it as a home and the latter as a refuge, but we walk this land together, sharing the rhythms of everyday life.
Around the treehouse, there are other homes, each with its own character.
- The is named after a collection of ancient majolica tiles;
- The showcases a farming manual from the 1930s;
- The displays the posters of the American artist, Amos Kennedy;
- The includes a rare collection of film posters;
- The features a printing studio with movable type;
- The blends with the garden through its large windows.
“People come together to be reborn. Being born is never enough, for anyone.” (Franco Arminio).
A place to experience,
a place to live
Living in the Treehouse is much more than just being in a space – it’s about feelings and emotions.
You wake up with light filtering through the branches, have breakfast surrounded by greenery, spend the day in the garden or by the pool, walk among the olive trees and read the stories left behind by those who came before.
And for those who want to get their hands dirty with ink, Elena’s printing workshop welcomes anyone eager to learn how to compose words with movable type – just like in days gone by.
“Today, being revolutionary means doing with less rather than more, slowing down rather than speeding up – it means valuing silence, light, fragility and gentleness.”
— Franco Arminio, Cedi la strada agli alberi (Give Way to Trees)
Come, experience and live in our Treehouse
We’d love to welcome you among our olive trees, where stories of the past meet tomorrow’s encounters.
Book nowThe Treehouse as a Gift
