Discovering and restoring a Tuscan castle is a dream of almost every Briton who takes a flight to Pisa and spends a fortnight in an agriturismo apartment, eating pasta, chilling by the pool and visiting the museums of Siena. Most dismiss the idea on the flight home. But the dream does not quite die, which is why millions of people watched the episodes of Channel 4’s Grand Designs that charted the renovation of the 1,000-year-old Castello di Brancialino in Arezzo, on the eastern, more mountainous, side of Tuscany.

Janne Hoff-Tilley and her late husband Howard (pictured) bought the Brancialino in 2000 for £110,000. It was, she says, “a pile of stones”. Nine years and hundreds of thousands of pounds of work later, it has been fully restored, but only after a series of problems with bureaucracy, builders and harsh winter weather. Janne says: “We had to wait more than two years for the planning permission and worked really hard, so when we finally moved in — in 2005 — it was hugely exciting.”

Sadly, Howard died and Janne is moving back to the UK, but she says that she will miss her “beautiful home”. The property, which has six bedrooms and a swimming pool that the Hoff-Tilleys mostly dug out themselves, is on the market for €1.95 million (£1.66 million). For details, visit castellodibrancialino.com.

The buyer is likely to be a Briton or a German, as the Italians prefer new-builds to renovated wrecks, however long their history. The scarcity of all types of property has limited price falls in Tuscany. More expensive homes (in excess of €800,000) have proved more immune to the downturn than similarly priced properties elsewhere. But the number of transactions for all kinds of homes has fallen 15 per cent in a year, according to the Agenzia del Territorio, the Italian equivalent of the Land Registry. This is despite many owners having dropped prices to attract British buyers who were deterred by the decline of sterling against the euro.

Andrew Hawkins, head of Chesterton International, explains that most foreigners who own in Tuscany do not need to sell immediately and are waiting for the market to recover. Linda Travella, who runs the Casa Travella property consultancy, says: “Many would-be buyers in the UK are also waiting to get a good price on their British property, so that they can move to Italy permanently.”

Some of those viewing properties in Tuscany say that they wish to escape the stress of the recession. This may explain why a Castello Brancialino-style renovation project is attractive only in theory. Travella says: “Buyers are younger — late thirties to early forties, rather than fifties — so they don’t have as much time to renovate.”

Gemma Knowles, an Italian property consultant, says buyers also choose properties that have been renovated because the comune — the local authority — can be very strict about alterations. This was the case for Ray and Penelope Wacks, who bought their ten-bedroom farmhouse near Volterra three years ago. They have spent almost €200,000 on the property, which includes an orchard, a stable, an olive grove producing 50 litres of oil a year and a swimming pool with views across the valleys. Penelope, 60, a retired barrister, says: “It took months for the comune to agree to let us install the pool — a lot of hard work.” (Podere Oliveto is for sale at €2.7 million. Contact 020-7993 2967, gkitalianproperty.com).

There are more affordable properties, such as farmhouses for less than €300,000 in Grosseto, south Tuscany, and Lunigiana, in the north. Knowles says: “These areas have not been so sought after because they are more forested — and they can get quite cold in the winter. But the properties are beautiful and you are only half an hour from the coast.”

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