Pian della Chiesa was born from a radical decision, but also from a deep bond with this place. A return, before a beginning.
In 2008, Ottavio Muzi Falconi chose to leave London and move with Margot Jacini to the Parco Naturale di Montemarcello - the land of his childhood and a place rich with family memories.
This coastal corner between Liguria and Tuscany is also the place his grandmother, Marion Barton Muzi Falconi, had chosen many years earlier as her refuge and home. Anglo-Irish, free-spirited, and enterprising, Marion arrived here in the 1950s after a life between Jakarta and the rest of the world. She fell in love with this wild headland of pines and sea, and chose to settle in Montemarcello, where she became a beloved and central figure in the local community: she bought the tower and olive mill, restored homes, fought to protect the village from real estate speculation, and helped breathe new life into it.
Following that same love of nature and place, Ottavio and Margot discovered a hidden piece of land in an oak forest, in the locality of Zanego: eight hectares of fields and abandoned ruins, once belonging to the Church. This karstic basin surrounded by Turkey oaks in the Tellaro hills had been planted with vines and orchards until World War II, after which it reverted to woodland.
So began a long and passionate process of restoration: rebuilding old cottages, reconstructing dry-stone walls, and rediscovering the ancient contours of the agricultural landscape. Vines, fruit trees, and olive trees were planted in a mixed layout where farming and nature intertwine. The estate later expanded to forty hectares of woodland and Mediterranean scrub, managed for habitat conservation under the Natura 2000 framework.
Today, Pian della Chiesa is a small-scale organic farm producing wine, olive oil, fruit, and honey through natural methods. But it’s also a place for hospitality, cultural exchange, and experimentation. A project in evolution, looking to the future with the desire to care for and share this cultural and natural landscape.
