Vecchia Dogana, Old Customs House Country Houses - to Restore in Lucca Hills

Vecchia Dogana: Old customs house, large villa in classic style with land and views.  

 

This is a unique opportunity to buy a piece of Italian history. Before the unification of Italy in 1860, Lucca was its own city state and levied taxes on goods being transported across her borders. This old customs house is built to a pattern that you can see across Italy. There is a similar building on the Via Aurelia at the old border between Tuscany and Lazio. 

 

The villa is in classic style with a large loggia out front. The ground floor has a high ceiling and any carriages or wagons unlucky enough to be stopped would have been diverted inside. Otherwise, and this is the main disadvantage, they would have been diverted round and to the front of the building , and that is where the road runs today. The road is a quiet country road with little traffic. Nonetheless, you would come out of your grand front door, and need to look both ways, before crossing over to the garden. The garden, however, is a good piece of flat garden, on a promontory and with fabulous views down the valley and ample space for a large pool.