Sintra, Lisboa 2605-140, Portugal

You now have the opportunity to rent a fully furnished and equipped 4-bedroom house at Quinta da Fonteireira, with 4 bedrooms, one of which is a master suite, 3 bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room with mezzanine, and plenty of parking. Quinta da Fonteireira is located in Belas, in the municipality of Sintra. Until the mid-19th century, Belas was a manor estate subject to the Lord of Belas, known for its wealth of water, and it was here that the beginning of the Águas Livres Aqueduct began in 1713. The farm is located in the heart of the Serra da Carregueira, between hills, on a fertile and steep slope that led to its configuration and distribution in terraces, where the gardens, the old orange grove and the agricultural area are distributed. The Quinta is also crossed by the Belas river, a tributary of the Jamor, which fed part of its hydraulic system. Today, the farm has 15 hectares, surrounded by its garden, swimming pool and tennis court. In its surroundings, the Quinta do Bonjardim stands out, today a monument of public interest, and the Quinta das Águas Livres, where the aqueduct began.In 1525, the first title of ownership of Quinta da Fonteireira was granted to Álvaro Pires Serrador, as evidenced by a tile panel containing the names of the owners of the farm and the date of validity. This title depended on the lords of Belas responsible for jurisdiction within the “council”. Over two centuries, the farm passed through the hands of several owners until it came to Gregório Raimundo Vieira in 1710, who was awarded the construction of the “house overlooking the river, a Casa de Fresco located next to the agricultural lands used as a leisure and social space for noblemen on the hottest summer days. The creation of this new space brought a new type of use to the farm, which ceased to be an exclusively rural space dedicated to the production of butter, and became also a recreational space.According to Anne de Stoop, tradition has it that during the Vieira era, Quinta da Fonteireira was home to King João V's mistress, Luísa Clara de Portugal, also known as “Flor da Murta”, who would visit it on her trips to and from Mafra, where she was overseeing the construction of the palace-convent. At the end of the 18th century, Quinta da Fonteireira was sold to David H. Meuron, a Swiss nobleman, and in 1842 it was purchased by Domingos Pinto Basto, director of the Vista Alegre porcelain factory, founded in 1824 by his father, José Ferreira Pinto Basto, a prosperous merchant and pioneering capitalist in Portugal. Later, the farm was inherited by Eduardo Ferreira Pinto Basto, Domingos' nephew, also a capitalist and liberal, which is why he lived and educated his children in England, due to political differences. The sons, Guilherme, Eduardo and Frederico, brought numerous sports to Portugal, with a special emphasis on football, whose first game took place at Quinta do Bonjardim, owned by their friend Marquês de Borba, in 1888. In 1916, the farm passed to the middle son, Eduardo, a great art lover and collector, who decided to restructure the house, inviting the architect Raul Lino to design it. Raul Lino, known for combining traditional Portuguese style with emerging European trends at the beginning of the 20th century, was the creator of the “Casa Portuguesa” movement, which advocated a national architecture focused on rurality and regional needs and its integration into the landscape, and applied this principle to Quinta da Fonteireira. Originally, the house had a simple, rural appearance, with “sober lines” in keeping with the way the farm had been lived up to that point. With Raul Lino’s intervention, the house became an imposing mansion reflecting the status of its new owner... We look forward to your visit!