This Italian getaway has the best of both worlds: located in the heart of the countryside with all the benefits of having a lively historical city and charming villages nearby. The medieval town of Castiglione del Lago is the nearest market town (6 km), sitting high on an olive tree-covered promontory jutting into the west side of the lake. The town's magnificent medieval castle and palace dominate one end of the old town, the 19th-century church of Santa Maria Magdalena the other. In between are small shops, restaurants, cafés, bars and bakeries and, on Wednesdays, an outdoor food, crafts, clothing, and sundries market. Below the town are public beaches where you can rent a paddle or rowboat, and nearby there is a pizzeria, gelateria, volleyball and soccer games, tennis courts, cafes and a disco. Or, simply float on your back in the lake, gazing back at the ancient town up above on the hill. For touring, Castiglione del Lago provides easy access to the superstrada linking Perugia and eastern Umbria to Siena, Chianti and western Tuscany, and is the embarkation point for ferries servicing the lake islands.
Within an hour's drive of the Villa, there are many historic Umbrian and Tuscan hill towns such as Assisi, Arezzo, Cortona, Montepulciano, Montefalco, Orvieto, Pienza, Perugia, Deruta, Spello and Montalcino, as well as other less well-known, but perhaps more charming, smaller villages, each with its own art and out-of-the-way restaurants and cafes waiting for you to discover. Many of central Italy's other leading historical and cultural centres (Rome, Florence, Todi, Siena, Spoleto, Gubbio, Montalcino, and Urbino) can be reached in less than two hours.
A few suggestions on how to spend your time with us:
~Relax by the pool, practise yoga, paint, sketch or read on the yoga platform or in the Lotus tent
~Taste Umbrian's excellent wines. To start, walk next door! We are bordered on one side by the vineyards of a world-class, family-run winery. Enjoy either an informal short tasting or a long, sit-down informative one, and then return home with a table wine (vino sfuso) tucked under your arm, or some bottles of one of the best reds, whites or Rosato to be had in Italy.
~Do as the ancient Romans and bathe in the warm, healing Tuscan hot springs. Rich in minerals, the waters are naturally heated and relaxing. Your skin will feel so soft afterwards.
~Visit and shop in the walled medieval villages of Deruta, famous for beautifully painted ceramics since the Renaissance, and Montefalco, the centre of traditional Umbrian textiles. Or in an ancient village reinvented as the production centre and outlet store of one of the most luxurious cashmere designer labels in the world. Or hunt for treasures at one of the tempting outdoor antique markets.
~Explore the olive groves, vineyards and woods of the hills around Lake Trasimeno on hiking, mountain biking or horse-back riding excursions. Sail, windsurf, swim, kitesurf, paddle, row, on the lake. Climb mountains, spelunk underground, navigate whitewater rivers.