Our olive oil
 The olive is one of the main protagonists of the "Val d'Orcia" landscape. It has been since the remote past, well before the Etruscans who had cultivated it in the VII the century A.C.. At a later date, it was distributed and traded by the Romans who constructed "l'arca olearia",a sort of pouch for olice oil, in Rome where importing colleagues negotiated price and quantity. Nowadays, the olive represents a naturalistic alimentary heritage in all the Mediterranean and in a particular way, in Italy. The Country house Le Macchie has dedicated itself for years with fervor to the cultivation of olives with the utmost environmental respect, producing the extra virgin olive oil "L'olio Extravergine Le Macchie".
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The pool
Our beautiful pool (12m x 6 m) has a breath taking unobstructed panoramic views of Monte Amiata and the Crete Senesi. with a Jacuzzi 2 mt x 2 mt. Is located aproximately 50 mt. from the house.
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Thermal bath
The nature
In the heart of Val d'Orcia Natural Park and inside the Natural Reserve of Lucciola Bella, between Pienza and Montepulciano, immersed in a natural terrace overlooking Mount Amiata, the farm holidays Le Macchie assures a sojourn in contact with nature in a protected and uncontaminated oasis. Walking about the farmhouse one can meet coves, the so called "calanchi" and "biancane", characteristic erosive and argillaceous forms imbued with shell fossils, a memory of the marine environment of the past.
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 The temperate climate, the scarce precipitation, and the hilly and strongly calcareous land of our farmhouse constitute an optimal microclimate for olives. Olive picking, done manually by "brucatura con cesto" (piercing with a basket), occurs at the end of October with the darkening of the drupe surface, when the olive, which is still yellow-green begins to become spotted with red dots. It is in this phase in fact that the drupe contains a greater percentageof oil, less water content and more antioxidants. The olives are accurately selected, placed in perforated crates to permit the air to circulate freely, and they are brought to the oil press within 24 hours of being picked. Here the olives are put through a process of defoliation and washing, in this way eliminating eventual residues and impurities, then they are cold pressed by means of "sistema a ciclo continuo" (continuous cycle system). The oil, obtained in this way, exhibits a very low acidity and has an intense greenish color with light yellow reflexes. To ones nose, it offers itself broadly and persistently with a pleasant medium-intense yield in which the familiar foliage of unripe almond and artichoke leaves intertwine. To ones mouth, it is rich, unctuous, with its sweet, sour, and spicy traits, in perfect equilibrium with a broad aroma, which is compound, enveloping, and of great persistence. Extremely typical, robust but at the same time harmonious, the Extravergine Olive Oil Le Macchie gives a loyal andexpressive image of our land and of its different varieties of olives :Oriolo,Moraiolo and Leccino, fruit of the passion that we dedicate to our land.
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