An experience out of time, to find one’s stride again

It is rare to find corners of tranquillity and authentic rural life. Pompone and Pola is one of them.

It has been for decades, for generations, since 1943, when Nello Cioni decided to buy 46 hectares of land, freeing the houses, olive groves and vineyards from the bramble: for him, the son of farmers sent off to work in offices, this was his return to the land.

A few years passed, but in the 1950s, Nello had his first guests, setting a remarkable record: the first agritourism license in Gambassi.

Back then, people escaped from the land, but he decided to put down roots and develop the traditional art of Tuscan hospitality.

Since then, the farm has stayed in the family, and today his granddaughter, Elisabetta, has stepped up to the challenge.
Thirty years old, she has grown up to become so familiar with this rural culture that, along with managing the harvests, she helps to preserve the tradition of singing in ottava rima, the language used in the countryside for singing and joking, for discussing politics, the world and life.

The atmosphere is still the same: lunches in the farmyard; big, old-fashioned fireplaces; grandma’s furniture; the cool breeze inside when the cicadas are buzzing in the summer heat; hammocks and starry nights Pompone and Pola isn’t simply a place, it’s an experience out of time, where you can get back to your own rhythm.

on’t expect wi-fi, there is absolutely no pool, nothing to add. As Elisabetta says, “it has stayed a place where you disengage and get back in touch with the land”.

Some would say it’s basic, while others choose it for this very reason, because the essential is invisible to the eye.