what CASA MARTILENKOS is today
Casa Martilenkos is an olive farm in the making and boutique guesthouse in Monzambano, tucked into the hills between Milan and Lake Garda — hill country that catches most people off guard in a region better known for its flat plains. It's the last house in the village: still part of it, with neighbors down the road, but sitting right where the streets give way to open land.
The farm itself centers on a young olive grove of more than 700 trees across 2.5 hectares, planted in 2026 with the long-term goal of producing DOP di Garda-certified olive oil. It's grown organically. Our garden, that feels like a little park, runs alongside it, secluded and partially given over to vegetables and fruits we have started to grow ourselves.
The guesthouse sits within this landscape as a natural extension of it — two self-contained suites, the Moroccan Suite and the Lumi Suite, each with its own entrance and terrace with a garden view. Our own house is a few meters away, which is exactly the point: this is a small operation by design, two keys rather than twenty, hosted personally rather than at arm's length. What began as one couple's move out of the city has grown, gradually and deliberately, into a place built around land, food, and hosting — a private residence that happens to welcome guests.
a FEW WORDS ABOUT US
I'm Ivan, and I run this place with my husband, Michele.
We found it by accident, the way I think most good things happen. We found these green hills on a bike ride one summer between Milan and Monzambano, a year before we got married. They felt a bit like a secret. We rode through them and I remember thinking, quite clearly, that I wanted to be here more than once.
Wanting to be somewhere more than once is how you end up buying a farmhouse.
After that, things started coming together on their own — one decision pulling the next one along behind it, until we were signing papers. It all landed in the same twelve months: the house and the wedding. I still find that funny.
I should say we came to this from the city. I grew up in Kazakhstan and moved to Milan, where I work in brand strategy and fashion. Michele is Venetian and works in finance. We are not people with generations of farming behind us. But we love olive oil the way some people love wine, and our home has always been full of people — that's just the shape our life takes, guests at the table, someone in the spare room. When we started imagining what to do with the land, both of those answered before we'd properly asked the question.
What we're building, we're trying to build well. Quality over quantity, decisions made slowly, nothing rushed just to have it finished. It takes longer that way, and it's the only way either of us wanted to do it.
And the rhythm here is beautiful. Deep countryside quiet, olive trees, evenings that go on — and yet somehow you're a short drive from almost everything: the lake, the towns, the good restaurants, the cities. It shouldn't work as neatly as it does.