JANE SACCHI:
LIFE AFTER LINEN.
From London linens to Tuscan garden designer.
Jane Sacchi's life has taken on an immense change. Antique linen has been a fascination for Jane for over twenty years, but when her ex-husband died in 2011 and their children inherited the family home just outside Florence, they decided that the property should be turned into a holiday letting business. Jane has taken on the role of project manager, made all the more emotional as the original restoration work on the house was done by her with her architect husband Bruno Sacchi in the early 1970'.
JANE RETURNS TO HOUSE & GARDENS JANUARY 2015
Torre di Sopra dates from the 12th century and was built as a Medieval borgo or hamlet. It is made up of a tower with rare early 14th c. wall paintings, three internal courtyards, and a 19th century wing. Sitting in its own olive grove on a hill south of Florence it commands an amazing view.
Featured in the January 2015 issue of House & Gardens, it can also be found at www.torredisopra.com. Restoring and renovating such an exceptional house that had fallen into disrepair has been immensely satisfying for her. A mixture of medieval structure and 1970s modernist design, the Torre is as contemporary today as it was 40 years ago. She has navigated untold bureaucratic hurdles to bring the house back to its former glory and launch a holiday lettings business.
Having been passionate about gardens all her life, this has been the chance of a lifetime in more senses than one. The olive grove surrounding Torre di Sopra needed to accommodate a new entrance and driveway,which was quite a big undertaking. As she discovered gardening with a bulldozer is a whole new experience, "please can I have a hole here?" Shloop…done! and "another here?"…very satisfying. And so a whole new garden was born in the olive grove she and Bruno originally acquired in 1976. Inspired by her research for restoring the Torre, she is currently creating an ornamental vegetable garden on medieval designs.
Bringing her English skills to Tuscany fascinates her Florentine friends, as she has brought the concept of a garden into an olive grove. Excited to garden in a different climate, she is conscious of the limited water supply and chooses plants that will thrive without irrigation. Salvias, rosemary, lavender, the list is joyously endless.
What next?
Inspired by the garden at the Torre several friends have asked for her advice on their gardens. Not perhaps with bull dozers, and certainly with the backup of local experts at the specialist nurseries she has discovered. Recently researching Espalier pears (for her mediaeval veg patch) she, in the end, located a specialist grower near Pistoia, with fields of espalier trees, mainly destined for the export market serving the Cote'Azur.
A specialist salvia grower whom she had found at a small weekend market was worth a visit. The salvia family is vast and the plants love the dry stoney terrain. The bank by the new drive is the perfect setting for them and they have taken well, now interspersed from late summer by self seeded orange Cosmos. Roses, from another specialist grower out on the road north of the Arno, at Le Sieci. A world to discover, of what grows well. Many of Jane's english favourites cannot stand the summer heat, but there are many more varieties to choose from and experiment with. She always fills the car with more plants than were on the shopping list. The joy of the olive grove is that there is space to experiment, unlike her tiny Gloucestershire garden where plants wait in their pots. As a friend of her's commented "are they queuing to get in?".
So dear friends, watch this space, check us out on Facebook and do come and visit us at Torre di Sopra.
JS
Email: janesacchi(at)gmail.com
Website: www.torredisopra.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Torre-Di-Sopra