Thinking about travel this summer? Here's a great experience from last year. Ursula and I flew to Rome and then drove up to a beautifully restored group of farm buildings which my mother had rented for the family and friends for two weeks.
Not a typical rental, it is the home of a friend, whose mother bought the property and did all the restoration over five years, starting in 2000. It is high on a hill, far into the country, five kilometers up a dirt road and buzzing with birds and bees and tons of lavender.
Over the years I've stayed in houses in Italy a number of times (here's my last post on a trip to Tuscany in 2009), and what was remarkable about this visit was the hot, dry, wild but silent landscape of Umbria and the house itself, which was large and lovingly restored with many, many careful details and some modern touches as well.
What do you do in a house like this? You relax. You congregate for meals, talk and read, you spend a lot of time down at the pool (it was very hot) and you drive out most days to tour the surrounding towns and try the local restaurants. You also stay up late. Due to the hot weather and big, winey lunches, dinner was often just finishing at midnight as the cool evening settled in. While the surroundings were stunning, what is most memorable are the many conversations had and the deeper check-in that you get with friends and family members when you're this far away. Good homes do this - they comfort, they inspire and they set the stage for people to connect. In the end of the day, that's what it's really about.
>> Castellaro's Website
>> Map of Spedaliccio, near Umbertide (the house is right off the road here)
Inside Downstairs
Inside Upstairs
Outside
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In my next life I'd like to be Ursula. She is a lucky girl!!! Looks fabu!
I am taken with what you wrote:..."Good homes do this - they comfort, they inspire and they set the stage for people to connect. In the end of the day, that's what it's really about" I have always said that home should be the best destination you can imagine. I would love to see more articles here that approach how we design and decorate our environs to reflect these ideas of connection and inspiration and comfort...in a deliberate fashion. Your photos of Umbria are incredible, a fitting follow-up what would be to bring the sense of all that beauty/comfort and connection - home.
Umbria is one of my favorite locales in Italy. This home is lovely -- how I'd love to be there right now!
This home, the surroundings, make me wonder "What If I had been born and raised here?" I think surroundings like this are powerful beginnings for a different kind of person who takes off from a much more informed platform that naturally provides a much wider vista. Unspoken ambiance.
LOVE ITALY!!!
the house and property looks AMAZING!
your photography is beautiful!
I couldn't be more jealous!
thank you for sharing!
Lingering on each photo made me feel as if I just took a mini spa day. Wonderful. I just added a destination to my Bucket List!
Pure heaven on earth...
The key words here are"lovingly restored".It is so evident that the owners love this house.
Man, I wanna belong to YOUR family, Maxwell! Maybe an adoptive Auntie? I wouldn't be too much trouble, really.
One word~~perfection !
two words: no fair.
Everything you said is so true and not easily achieved but well worth aspiring to. These pics could be many locations(in terms of the 'feeling') as it so much IS what you make of a place, space, environment. Great post and wise words. Thanks!!
Oh how I enjoyed this post! Esp after just returning from a trip with my boyfriend to Manarola and Treviso, Italy! We would much rather skip the big cities (despite missing the the big ticket items) in exchange for an authentic, quiet experience, sans other tourists...
Beautiful photos!
What a lovely house - I wonder whether my parents know the owners, they've had a house in the Niccone valley for over 30 years! I can confirm that it's absolutely beautiful.
Here's my parents' house: http://www.umbrian-garden.net/
I miss it when I'm not there...!
But please note - it's Spedalicchio, not Spedaliccio!
You are one very, very fortunate man. Who gets to travel like this? It seems you are always somewhere. Yes, you are one fortunate man.
Love it. Do you know who those paintings are by?
I'm with mon-truc-en-plumes. Looks like heaven to me.
Can I please come with you guys next time you go. Please, pretty please.
Any encounters with wild boar Vanina or Maxwell?
Hi Maxwell Thank you for your newest travel update. Having read your acount of Turkey we stayed at the Nisanyan Hotel in Sirince as well as took a short 4 day cruise on a Turkish wooden boat last month. Wonderful experience! Thanks you it was beyond all expectations.
Please adopt me Maxwell -- as a long-lost sister! I love this house, and love Italy. What you write about it is exactly what I feel.
Sailing along the Turkish coast on a gullet is on my to-do list; what another fantastic vacation!
Maxwell, I think I may be the long lost sister of your friend who owns this house. I was stolen by gypsies and then escaped by stowing away with a traveling south american family who took pity on me and allowed me to live with them until I could find you all again. My prayers have been answered! Which room is mine? I'm packing light- just my bathing suit and appetite!
Bellisimo!!
Seconding Apt 3f's comment. The line about what real homes do "they comfort, they inspire and they set the stage for people to connect" is really sticking with me.
Your mother is too kind. The home is perfect and the grounds are beautiful. Such great memories Ursula will have.
loved this post! just beautiful! Made me dreamy just looking at each picture.
I too have been influenced by these posts and have booked a gullet trip for september 1st. After reading maxwell's coount of him time in turkey Im really looking forward to it!
This house is beautiful!
This is really something special. Soul-soothingly good.
Wow! So beautiful. Just where I would want to be vacationing in bare feet on yummy tile floors. The design and decor is perfect for the home and setting.
Kristine
Beautiful... and perfectly captured.
Holy moley, that house is PURE LOVE! <3
Calgon—take me away!
Wonderful!
How much did this cost?
so lovely and calm and homey
Beautiful photos. I'm Italian and can't wait to go again, hopefully next year. I'm a writer and it's a dream of mine to go for several weeks to just take in the landscape, food, wine and write to my heart's content.