With all the buzz centered around Rome nowadays, a countryside retreat just over an hour from the Eternal City may be just the perfect place to rest and unwind from a day of grand touring. The scenery matches the picture perfect enchantment of Tuscany while offering easy proximity to Rome. By car, Rome is just over an hour away. A 10 minute drive leads to a train station with free parking and frequent rail service into Rome's Tiburtina station where the convenient Metro is located.

Aptly named, the Olive Garden is comprised of the owner's villa and two rental homes found amidst the groves of a family run, extra virgin olive oil producing estate. The kind and friendly owners of the Olive Garden along with their trusty, black Lab tend over 16 acres of olive trees and a variety of flora including palms, fruit and nut trees. All three homes, each having its own private outdoor space, share a large, well equipped swimming pool.

Vacuna is a cozy one bedroom house a few feet behind the owner's villa set just above the pool area. A spectacular panorama of verdant countryside ringed by the backdrop of the Sabine Mountains plays out from the cottage’s fenced in, furnished lawn equipped with a barbecue.

Cottage Vacuna is the classic country cottage with the added benefits of air conditioning, screened windows, a large shower and a good sized kitchen. Upon arrival, guests often request the owners to program the thermostat to coincide with the times they expect to depart and return from day trips in order to minimize utility costs.

The Olive Garden is also an ideal property for guests seeking the friendly, English-speaking guidance and hospitality offered by its owner. To maximize your stay, improve your familiarity with the area and tantalize your tastebuds, the owner, an official olive oil sommelier offers with each rental:

• A 90 minute tour of the family’s oil producing estate from the grove to the bottle focussing on how recognize fine olive oil. Three estate oils are sampled. Purchases may be conveniently shipped home.

• A personally guided morning stroll through nearby Poggio Mirteto designed to introduce you to the town’s best baker, farm stand, butcher, deli and topped off with a cappuccino at the town’s best coffee shop.

• Perhaps, the most priceless advantage of all is having this knowledgeable owner act as your personal resource throughout the length of your stay. Discover the best ways in and out of Rome during times wish to go; where insiders dine reasonably and well; what not to miss both in the city and the magnificent countryside around you and much more.

A narrow, mile long road leads from the town of Poggio Mirteto to the estate's unpaved driveway. It takes less than five minutes by car to reach this delightful little, non-touristy town. This pre-Roman citadel of Sabine origin has several stores for all your immediate shopping needs. Rieti, the artsy provincial capital of the region is within a 40 minute drive.

Closer in, the area is full of ancient monasteries and hermitages, beautiful rolling hills dappled with 11 lakes and a series of majestic mountains. Ideal for touring Rome by day and returning to the pristine countryside in the evening, this property is also positioned for day trips into Umbria with Terni, Orvieto or Todi within an hour's drive; Spoleto: 80 minutes; Perugia, L'Aquila in Abruzzo or Anzio on Lazio’s coast: 100; Assisi or Montepulciano in Tuscany: 120.

Technical Description
Ground floor: Entrance from private furnished garden with 5 steps up into eat-in kitchen with stove top, oven, microwave and fridge. Narrow living room with CD player. Six steps up to one bedroom with a queen size bed, single daybed and door to the garden. One bathroom with shower, double sinks and washing machine. Each level has an air conditioning unit.