La Dolce Vita: follow Ed Sheeran and Colin Firth to Umbria, where holiday homes are a third cheaper than Tuscany
“We have some incredibly good opportunities in Umbria for buyers who want a country house in central Italy,” says Amy Redfern of Knight Frank. “In Umbria you can get at least 20 to 30 per cent more for your money than in Tuscany and properties are more recently renovated and in better condition.”
Umbria is Italy’s green heart, a thinly populated, landlocked region of steep mountains, dense forests and agricultural plains. Flights from London land in Perugia and further afield at Bologna, Pisa, Rome and Florence.
Last year two severe earthquakes, one close to Norcia in south-east Umbria, testified that Italy’s mountainous backbone, the Apennines, is Europe’s most vulnerable earthquake area. It comes with the territory.
WHAT TO BUY
In Umbria renovated stone country houses start from £368,000,with good three- and four-bedroom homes from £552,000-£735,000 says Redfern. The Niccone Valley is most sought after, along the Tuscan border taking in vineyards, sweet chestnut and oak forests.
One outstanding estate, substantially above prices elsewhere, is the privately owned Reschio Estate, 3,000 acres around a 12th-century castle and 50 large farmhouses crafted and polished within an inch of their lives.
Top-end facilities include cookery classes and stables filled with Andalusian horses. Twenty-four homes have been completed and sold to international buyers. Fully restored remaining properties start from £4.5 million.
UNDER THE UMBRIAN SUN
Ten miles from charming Cortona, made popular in Frances Mayes’s book Under the Tuscan Sun, Knight Frank is selling a five-bedroom stone house, restored with a swimming pool, for £575,000. The 200-year-old façade is draped in wisteria while a rear terrace is shaded by a vine-covered pergola.
Every summer the ancient hill-top town of Spoleto hosts a 17-day festival of music, opera and dance. The Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of Two Worlds). Spoleto is south of Perugia and east of Orvieto, two minutes from the autostrada or a 90-minute train journey from Rome.
In Spoleto’s historic centre close to the rail station, Gate-away is selling a delightful one-bedroom apartment for £82,000. A two-bedroom 1,571sq ft apartment in a restored palazzo is £365,000.
Eight miles outside Spoleto on the edge of a small village a three-bedroom detached stone house, renovated in 2008 and with wondrous views from its well-planted garden, is newly reduced to £455,000. In Trevi, 18 miles from Spoleto and Assisi, a modernised two-bedroom village house on a south-facing plot with terraces and gardens is €565,000 (£520,000), also through Knight Frank.
Celebrities with Umbrian homes include actor Colin Firth and musician Ed Sheeran, both living close to Città della Pieve, south of Perugia and also close to the Tuscan border. To rub shoulders with them, The Viewing has a fully restored stone and brick farmhouse with six bedrooms and 2.5 hectares of land including olive groves for £902,000.
‘WE’VE HAD AMAZING TIMES HERE’
In 2007 Celia Gould and husband Matthew went house-hunting in Umbria just three weeks after they met. House-hunting so early in their relationship was insane, agrees Celia, but luckily it ended happily.
The couple bought a farmhouse in the Niccone Valley and spent two years renovating it into a six-bedroom family house. They got engaged there, have had many happy holidays there with daughters Rachel and Emily, now six and four, and rented it successfully as well.
“We have had amazing times at our Umbrian house,” says Celia, 41. “Matthew is a diplomat and we lived abroad for many years so used it as our base to meet up with family and friends, having long, happy meals outside.”
Favourite days involve picking fresh produce at Umbertide market and shopping in Cortona, then a swim and an evening Aperol. Ten years on and now in Hertfordshire, Matthew and Celia are selling their home for €1,295,000 (£1,190,000) through Knight Frank.