A Tuscan farmhouse full of traditional Italian charm and locally sourced antiques
It was a grey and drizzly day in England when I caught up with Keith Johnson and Glen Senk, which says a lot about why the American couple ended up with a farmhouse in the Tuscan hills. Since relocating from Florida to a magnificent country house in Wiltshire seven years ago (featured on the cover of House & Garden's May 2022 issue), the couple - both self-confessed Anglophiles - have embraced every element of English culture, not least the fascination - and frustration - with our unpredictable weather. But, after a couple of wet winters, they were soon craving a place in warmer climes to which they could escape for a few weeks in the dreariest months of the year. 'We wanted somewhere we could be in just a few hours.' explains Keith. Italy, where the couple have been holidaying for most of their lives, was an obvious option. 'It gets high marks in every respect,' explains businessman Glen, a former CEO of the Urban Outfitters group.
And so, in 2021, the couple decided to scope out Tuscany. 'We went with the express desire to just look, but it's a bit like when you go hunting for a puppy,' says Keith with a grin. There were four disappointments - one of which they drove 45 minutes to see, only for Glen to decide that the front gates alone were too hideous to contemplate. Their dream farmhouse, hundreds of years old and nestled in the hills outside Corona on a 160-acre former chestnut farm, was the final house they viewed. Strictly speaking, it had already been spoken for a couple of weeks earlier and had it not been for the fact that the buyers were dragging their feet and Keith was rather insistent, they would not have visited it.
Here, the elegant iron gates, a quarter of a mile down the long track that winds its way to the front of the house, were enough to convince Glen. Those gates and the staggering views over the valley from the swimming pool. ‘It had been owned by an English family for about 20 years and felt like a cosy country cottage, but the bones were all there’, says Keith, referring to the typically Italian beams and terracotta tiles in the house and its two accompanying guest cottages. Spread across two levels, the main house is long, with the kitchen, dining room, snug, laundry and a spare room on the ground floor, and the main sitting room and a further three bedrooms upstairs.
'We wanted an Italian house with Italian furniture, sourced as much as possible from local markets. The only difficulty was not buying too much,' says Keith, who is well versed in the art of treasure hunting, having spent the best part of 20 years as Anthropologie's buyer-at-large. Almost everything in the house is antique, bought on weekly trips to Florence's dealers or on visits to the renowned biannual Parma Antique Fair and the market in nearby Arezzo.
Among these prized possessions are the stone lion in the sitting room, sourced from a 90-year-old dealer in Florence; the old Sicilian tiles found in Rome that now sit above the oven in the kitchen; and a stained-glass panel, originally from the FontanaArte offices in Milan. At the other end of the treasure spectrum, there is a cup of giant, rusty, 300-year-old nails that Keith found at a flea market, and which have now been elevated to a display on a table in the sitting room. 'My philosophy is that if you come across something you love, you will find a place for it,' says Keith, pointing out the centuries-old painted ceiling panels in the kitchen, which he discovered at the Parma fair. 'Keith sent me a picture and I thought, what the heck are you going to do with that?' Glen recalls.
If Glen is the realist, Keith is the dreamer, with an eye for the unusual and sometimes wildly impractical. That is why the charming unfitted kitchen includes a huge wooden fridge once used in an Argentinian butcher's shop - one of the few things sourced from England - which squeezed into the building by mere millimetres. 'I love cooking, so I needed a kitchen that functions, whereas Keith isn't really interested in that side of things,' says Glen with a laugh. Jokes aside, they have married form and function beautifully. A large marble sink and an Officine Gullo stove fulfil Glen's culinary needs, while the old wood-burning range stove on the opposite side of the room - 'a bit of a chancer', Keith admits, again found at the Parma fair - adds to the authentic Italian feel they craved. So, too, does the pizza oven in the garden, which helps Glen to whip up the most delicious creations. 'We hired a local stonemason to copy the grouting and chimney details from the house, so no one can guess it's a new addition,' says Keith.
The couple listened to the house and let it guide their approach. On the first floor, they have reinstated an opening between the sitting room and what is now a little study area. 'One of our neighbours who has lived nearby for his whole life remembered the opening, so it made sense to reconnect these rooms,' explains Keith. Said neighbour - whose wife taught Glen how to make pasta - also recalled a 19th-century painted terracotta stove that originally resided in this room, which Keith was able to replicate when he happened to find a similar one at a Florence market.
The walls are in traditional limewash in custom colours, mixed on-site by local painter Doris Kraler: a mottled parchment for the sitting room, a pale green for a spare room and a rusty pink for the hall, dining room and kitchen. 'It's a great colour for food,' remarks Glen. In the guest cottage bedrooms, Doris created murals of a charming landscape scene and Tuscan umbrella trees.
One of the most captivating rooms in the main house is the tiny downstairs snug - nicknamed the Coronation Room, thanks to the fact that they bought a TV for this space with the express purpose of watching the King's Coronation with visiting British friends. Inspired by the frescoed walls of Palazzo Davanzati in Florence, it is painted in a charming blue and red diamond pattern that features over 1,200 birds. This room is a perfect expression of their seamless combination of traditional and modern, with a pair of ancient sideboards and a 17th-century armchair juxtaposed with Mario Bellini's cool 1970s 'Camaleonda' sofa. 'Mixing in a bit of modern has a great effect,' reasons Keith. 'It's a sharpener and makes you look twice at what's old and twice at what's new'.
The house clearly brings them both enormous joy, and so, too, does life in Italy. 'It's been even better than we expected,' says Glen. 'The best thing is the people and the way they have such an amazing perspective. We've learned to really enjoy life.'
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Davide Lovatti4/12A 1930s needlepoint chair, a 19th-century bench and a 1960s 'Levriero Afgano' umbrella stand by Fornasetti are grouped round the 18th-century terracotta stove, all sourced in Italy in Glen's study.
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Davide Lovatti6/12Doris has decorated the door in the style of the northern Italian painted cupboard, bought at a Parma market. On top are two antique Tuscan oil jars.
Davide Lovatti7/12An original Artemide 'Nesso' lamp adds a bright accent beside the 18th-century Florentine gilt console that serves as a desk. The cast-iron lions are 19th-century Belgian, while the lantern is an ecclesiastical antique.
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Davide Lovatti9/12In the two guest cottages, the bedrooms both feature evocative murals by painter Doris Kraler: one depicting a gazebo and the rolling landscape beyond and the other typically Tuscan umbrella trees. The former was inspired by the antique Italian garden bench that sits beside part of an antique French field shower, given to them by a friend. The painted iron bedsteads are brightened by Lisa Corti quilts, as is the upholstered wooden headboard in the other bedroom. Around the double bed are pieces including a Leslie Oschmann artwork and a ship sculpture by Keith Johnson.
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Davide Lovatti11/12A mid-century Richard Ginori tea set is laid out on the table behind lounge chairs from Morocco with new striped cushions. The pergola is crowned by straw sculptures of a fox and a chicken created by Antonio Massarutto.
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