Tuscany has long been recognized for its splendid landscapes. Close to half of the Barbialla grounds, some 1897 acres, consist of woods, principally oak and holm oak. The property is also an important game reserve where wild boars, hares, deer, roe deer, and fallow deer roam. Their recently returned companions, the wolves, are a tribute to the care and attention given to the environment by the current owner. The local fauna includes a large variety of winged creatures: quail and pheasants, mallards, coots and moor hens who swim in the lakes, doves, thrush, larks, and woodcocks.

Barbialla is a working agricultural estate. A barrel-fermented Chardonnay and, more significantly, a red blend are made from the 13.5 acres of vineyards. Rich and flavorful extravirgin olive oil is also produced from the estate’s 12,5 acres of olive groves. The fields are planted to wheat, corn, soya, and rape and cattle raising, a long tradition at Barbialla, continues today.

The woods protect a rich forest mantle of grass and herbs. Nature is generous at Barbialla, and the sheltering woods provide an abundant crop of mushrooms Morels, nail mushrooms, oyster mushrooms (pleurotes), and the black “trumpets of death” feature abundantly in the spring. In the fall, there is the sizeable boletus which the French call cèpes, the smaller, delicately flavored chanterelles and, the most sought after of all, the prized white truffles which grow on the root system of the estate’s trees. Indeed, Barbialla is firmly located in one of the finest white truffle zones of all.

Barbialla today comprises nothing short of a terrestrial paradise, just as it has for three millennia. The landscape is sweet and bucolic and the hustle of the city seems very far away. Fated to remain in this vein for centuries to come, all that is required is the determination to preserve and protect Nature in its purest, a resolve which is integral to the world of Barbialla.