Marisa, our housekeeper

Marisa has been our housekeeper at Ripertoli since 1988 – to be precise, since 2 months after I bought the house. Her son-in-law Roberto manages the pool and cuts the grass, and grand-daughter Licia is responsible for the flowers and plants in the garden, including the dozens of wonderful geraniums. The whole family feels responsible for Ripertoli, summer and winter, and visits the property regularly to check on it when it is empty. Marisa, Roberto, his wife Anna and their daughter Licia live about 2 miles away, in a nice large country house near Badia a Passignano. Licia often helps her granny with cooking & serving meals, speaks some English and is very good on WhatsApp.  Sadly Marisa’s husband Fiorenzo died in 2021; Ripertoli is now even more of her life, and Anna, her other daughter Antonella and other granddaughter Alice take it in turns to drive her there whenever necessary.

Marisa is in charge of the linen cupboard, the cleaning service, and the house and furniture generally. Every guest gets their own bath towel, hand towel and pool towel, plus of course bed linen; all these are changed weekly. This does mean that all Ripertoli’s washing machines and tumble dryers work hard every Saturday, and usually Sunday too, but Marisa will take care of all that, and will often visit very early in the morning to set off another cycle without disturbing anybody.

Marisa has 3 assistant cleaners who help her prepare the house for new arrivals every Saturday.  If guests stay for more than week, Marisa and her team will come in at 10 am on Saturday to change the bed-linen & towels, and tidy up.

You may well see her at other times as she stays in control of the linen cupboard, but she is never intrusive and will always help if you encounter any little problems. Here she is with recent guest (July 2018) Lori Johnston.

Marisa can arrange babysitting if required, and is a brilliant traditional Tuscan cook.