The Story
ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY IN TRANQUILITY AND WELLNESS
In 1908, my great-grandfather Domenico Budiani returned from America with a dream bigger than any wealth. With the little he had saved, he bought a small farmhouse with three rooms and a 36,000-meter plot of land in Bellante, in via Sant'Angelo al Marrano.
Two years later, in 1910, next to that farmhouse that no longer exists today, he built the Casa di Terra. A simple house, made of calloused hands and sacrifices, with two floors: below the cellar where wine and provisions were kept, above the master bedroom that enclosed the nights of an entire family.
My grandfather Berardo Budiani, born in 1905, lived there until 1969. When all the other families left the countryside to look for a different future in the city, they too had to say goodbye to the place that had seen them grow up. They moved to Sant'Omero, in a house closer to the village.
My father, Domenico Budiani, born in 1952, was 17 when he closed that door for the last time. Even today he talks about how we lived in the Casa di Terra: a life made of little, but full of dignity and true relationships. He remembers the 18 families who lived in the village as one big family. They helped each other in the fields, shared bread and toil, without asking for anything in return.
Today, when I return to those places, I see the tired walls of this now decaying house. And yet, if I listen in silence, I still hear the breath of those who lived there. Every stone, every beam, every crack tells stories of sacrifice and hope.
In our land there are still one hundred olive trees, a ten thousand meter forest and, since 2020, a young plantation of six hundred truffle plants, a sign that the land can be reborn, if you love it.
All the experiences of my great-grandfather Domenico, my grandfather Berardo and my father Domenico are not just a memory to be preserved, as he did with dedication. My idea is to relive these places and make them alive again, as they once were.
I want to create here a first settlement for a specialized rural activity and give life to sustainable tourism, capable of making known the traditions, living conditions and crafts of the past.
I want to be a part of the renovation of this house, giving it back its former strength and vigor. I want it to become an example for all the other houses in raw earth that deserve to be recovered and enhanced.
Because the past is an integral part of our future, and we cannot forget it or abandon it.
And if you also like places that have a soul, come and discover Casa di Terra and this ancient land that still today preserves memories, roots and dreams.
The restoration project of CASA BUDIANI is aimed at valorizing one of the earthen houses registered by the Abruzzo Region. This enhancement also involves compatible interventions, which update this asset to contemporary life through the inclusion of systems that combine efficiency and sustainability. This latter element is characteristic of the earth house, which in itself is built at km 0, using the same earth that is found at the base of the house, which is, therefore, made of a completely recyclable material. In particular, works have been carried out aimed at seismic improvement of the original wall structure, reintegrating the damaged parts, using the same technique, "the massone", a mixture of earth, straw and water with which loaves are formed that are assembled fresh to create a monolithic wall. The aim of the recovery is to preserve the family memory, dating back to the early 1900s with the construction of the house by the grandfather of the current owner, bringing back to life both the house and the agricultural activities connected to it, also from a tourist-cultural perspective.