See $23M California villa with 300-year-old roof, other artifacts imported from Italy
A Mediterranean-style villa sitting on more than seven wooded acres brings a bit of old Italy to California’s Silicon Valley—literally.
Listed for $23 million, “this one-of-a-kind estate feels blissfully remote, but is close to all that living in the Bay Area has to offer,” according to the property website.
The main residence, located at 30 Trail Lane in Woodside CA, has three bedrooms, five baths and spans 7,956 square feet. The property also has a 1,400-square-foot, one-bedroom guest house and a smaller one-bedroom gatekeeper’s house.
The home doesn’t just look Italian. In many ways, it is Italian. Many of its architectural elements were actually imported from Italy, including the 300-year-old hand-selected terracotta tiles on the roof.
“Most of those gorgeous barrel tiles on all the roofs are more than 300 years old and were shipped—very carefully—in the containers from Italy,” Michael Dreyfus, the listing agent with Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty, told Robb Report. “The thin brick tiles in some of the bedrooms, were reclaimed from the floor of an old Italian church.”
The owners traveled to Italy and brought home 25 shipping containers filled with pieces they hand-selected for use on the property, according to the listing.
Salvaged Italian bricks were used in the home’s 750-bottle wine cellar for the cloistered ceiling and floor. Like something you might find in a Medici residence, a mural by San Francisco artists Mark Evans and Charley Brown is painted on the cellar wall.
In addition, an acoustically-treated music room’s carved wood ceiling is from a Venetian villa circa 1490. It was salvaged from the master suite of the original Cliff May ranch house that once stood on the property, according to the listing.
“Stunning architectural elements imported from Italy add texture and a sense of history,” according to the listing on realtor.com. “An entry featuring a brick barrel ceiling, hand-carved doors, limestone terraces and a carved wood ceiling salvaged from a Venetian villa are just a few of the features that transport you to the Italian countryside.”
Italy isn’t the only place from which the owners imported elements. Stone walls on the inside and outside the home are a mixture of Wyoming Valley gold and a blend of stones from Wyoming and Montana.
Other features include an octagonal breakfast room with flooring in a custom terracotta and black slate pattern with exterior thresholds of San Pietro-honed travertine; a separate gym with natural light that opens out to a private garden view; and a loggia, located off the kitchen of the main residence, with heated radiant floors, outdoor kitchen, stone fireplace and built-in speakers.
The outside landscaping includes native plants, expansive lawns and lighting. Also outside are a large pool, spa, tennis court, bocce ball court, vegetable/cutting garden and a dining area in the yard’s redwood grove.
The 60-foot heated swimming pool is salt water and features a shower descent water feature.
“Completed in 2006, (this) Woodside Italian Villa was carefully designed and built to look like a rambling country estate that had been built over the course of many years,” according to the official property website. “To take full advantage of the natural beauty of the setting, which includes majestic redwoods, a meandering stream and sunny meadows, almost every room was designed to open or look outdoors. The beautiful result was a main home that appears to be two separate structures — one make of stone and the other clad in stucco connected by an entry hall.”
The home hit the market in February 2021. The property last sold in January 2000 for $8 million, according to public record.
