Asking $1.7M, this Tuscan-style Connecticut villa has a 500-bottle wine grotto and a ‘Western lodge’

Asking $1.7M, this Tuscan-style Connecticut villa has a 500-bottle wine grotto and a ‘Western lodge’

September 21, 2021

Listing photos by CT Plans

Located in Easton, Connecticut, just 60 miles from NYC, this incredible Tuscan-style villa was built in 1990 by the late Arnie D’Angelo, credited with inventing the idea of the “tea chest” for Bigelow Tea. He created a true entertainer’s paradise, complete with a 500-bottle wine grotto, “Jackson Hole”-themed game room, a “car club” garage complete with a bar and pit crew lounge, and a Mediterranean-style backyard and pool deck. The home, which is nearly 9,000 square feet and sits on three acres, is on the market for $1,725,000.

According to William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, “it was D’Angelo’s idea for restaurant servers to present ‘tea chests’ with many varieties to every table,” which ultimately took off and grew the company’s revenue.

Throughout the home, there are European antique wood floors, custom alder doors, hand-painted decorative walls, coffered ceilings, and exceptional millwork.

D’Angelo customized the entire property, which is called “La Dolce Vita,” or “the sweet life.”

One of the most stunning spaces in the house is the massive, Italian villa-inspired Kitchen. There’s an adjacent sitting room complete with a stone fireplace, as well as an attached breakfast nook.

The primary bedroom suite is also amazing, with its vaulted tray ceiling. It has a

In total, there are six bedrooms, four full bathrooms, and two half bathrooms.

The “Jackson Hole game room,” as the listing calls it, feels like a Western lodge with its on-theme decor and log cabin walls.

The wine grotto can hold 500 bottles and has an adjacent tasting room.

D’Angelo was a huge car enthusiast, so he set up the five-car garage to double as a “club” with a pit-crew lounge and a bar. According to Sotheby’s, his collection in the garage includes a red Ferrari Spider and a 1965 “race green” Morgan that’s a replica of the car that won the Le Mans race that same year.

Sotheby’s also notes that the backyard was designed “for large summer soirees, of which D’Angelo had many, hosting hundreds of guests with elaborate entertainment including cigar rolling stations, full pig roast stations, and live music.”

Elsewhere in the backyard, there’s an enormous fieldstone patio, a large pool and spa, an outdoor fireplace, and beautifully manicured gardens.

[Listing: 30 Crossbow Lane by Carol Langeland of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty]

Listing photos by CT Plans

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