Passions & Places

Villa Barucchello
Porto Sant'Elpidio

A long avenue lined by live oaks lead to the entrance of this elegant period dwelling built in the second half of the Eighteenth century. It is named after its former owners, Barucchello that donated it to Porto Sant’Elpidio town Hall in 1980.  

The building is composed of two square bodies: the South one was habited, the ground floor of the North one was occupied by a small chapel, stables and the upper floor was a wheat storage.  A gallery sustained by five column unites the two bodies. Next to the building there is the ‘orangery’ and the house of the keeper.

Digging carried out between 1917 and 1919 brought to the discovery of three elliptical huts (25 metres long) dating back to the iron age. Local historians assume that there was a natural port before the III-II century b.C.

The ancient name of the place is Villa Fonteserpe. The area is in fact rich in underground water springs. There are in fact several pools in the Park, a  beautiful fountain in the garden and also a font in stone.

In the park there is also a tower used for hunting. It includes also a Garden and Woods that create a naturalistic background that is much appreciated by visitors and botanists.

The park is characterized by Mediterrean types of plants such as Laurel (Lurus nobilis), Plan tree (Platanus hybrida), Cypress (Cupressus semprevirens), Linden tree (Tilia cordata) and Tassus (Taxus Laccata) and also exotic ones planted by the former owners. There are in particular some species of Palm, such as the Canary Palm (Phoenix canariensis) and Miniature Palm (Chaemerops humilis), and also less common Washingtonia (Washingtonia filifera) and Coco Palm (Cocos australianum).

The Sphinx staircase leads to the Wood where old Live trees, Oak trees (Quercus pubescens), Spruce pines (Picea eccelsa) and Halep pines (Pinus halepensis) dominate.