Last year, my friend Tammy had talked for months about renting a castle for
her 50th birthday and inviting various friends. Initially she looked at a location in France,
but decided on a fabulous place in Italy – Castello di Montegiove,
located in the Umbria region halfway between Florence and Rome.
I flew into Rome and met Tammy and her friend Jenny at
the airport. They both teach at the
International School in Moscow. We
rented cars and drove two hours to the castle.
After stopping in Fabro for groceries and gelato, we made it to the
castle, which is nestled in the commune of Montegiove.
I had seen photos of the castle, grounds and
surrounding countryside before I arrived.
It was one of those situations where you see it online, and it looks
amazing, and you hope it’s that amazing when you get there. I’ve heard the stories where it’s not. As we approached the castle on the winding
roads, our eyes got bigger and bigger, and our mouths might have even dropped
open a bit. Everything I had seen online
was just as incredible in person.
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| The castle and our apartment (circled) |
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| Looking out from the castle grounds. |
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| Sunset through one of the Il Maraiolo windows. |
Castello di Montegiove is a family-owned property with
a castle, rental properties, farm and vineyard.
Owners Lorenzo Misciattelli and his wife, Rikke, live in the actual castle. They moved to the property from Denmark in
2002. Lorenzo’s great grandfather owned
the castle and Lorenzo would visit him over the summer as a child. It’s quite the estate.
Tammy booked Il Maraiolo,
the largest of the apartments (converted from olive mills), hoping more of her
friends could make it. It sleeps six, so
with only the three of us able to go (and two more arriving later in the week),
we each had our own room for most of the week.
The first day traveling to Europe is always
exhausting. My flight took off in the
evening and after the overnight flight, I arrived at 9 a.m. the next day. I never sleep well on a plane. Supposedly the best way to overcome jet lag
is to immediately conform to the time zone to which you just arrived and go to
bed at your usual time. No naps. Difficult to do, but it works. For this trip I got a little boost from the
infinity pool. Italy is oppressively hot
in the summer. Heat and fatigue are a
powerful combination. We took a dip at
around 5 p.m. and the cool, refreshing water revived my body and spirit enough
to stay up until dark.
Someone asked me what my most memorable moment of the
trip was. There were so many. The one that immediately springs to mind is that
first day in the pool, arms folded on the infinity edge, looking out over the
rolling countryside, thinking, “Ahhhhh. I
made it!”
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| The pool was on the opposite side of the grounds from our apartment. What a view! |
During the next week at the castle, we fell into a
routine of a leisurely breakfast, yoga, walks, pool time, reading, writing, and
visits to the local wine bar, La Bottega di Memmo e
Gilda. The only places within
a short walking distance from our apartment were a church and the wine
bar. We heard the church bells
constantly and frequented the wine bar for dinner multiple times.
We had dinners in and out, with our most memorable
being a traditional Italian dinner of lasagna, chicken, zucchini and eggplant,
and salad made in our kitchen by Mara, a local from the commune.
For dessert? A pan of tiramisu
with a candle that played, “Happy Birthday” when you lit it (for Tammy).
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| Buon Compleanno Tammy! |
Our evenings were low key. One night we watched Under The Tuscan Sun (Tammy had never seen it!). The other nights we played games. I
brought UNO and Spot It. Laughter rang
through the apartment each night.
Tammy’s friend Jenny, and later joining us, Dana and her son, Benjamin,
were so much fun. You’d think a
13-year-old boy would be bored hanging out with not only his mom, but three
other “older” women. He is a delightful
kid and seemed to have a great time with us.
He isn’t your “typical” teenage boy though – he and Dana currently live
in Kenya. I sent him home with my Spot
It game and he was so appreciative. “But
you love this game!” he told me. Yes,
but I can easily get another game at Target.
It’s a little more difficult to order one from Amazon to be delivered to
Kenya.
As lovely as the castle and grounds were, we did get
out and see other sites in the area.
Fonteverde
spa in San Casciano dei Bagni. Tammy
wanted to get a massage, so who was I to argue?
We each had a separate, hour-long massage and then lounged in the
thermal pools, which were wonderful.
Check out the website for the incredible scenery.
Day
trip to Lake
Trasimeno. We heard that
Colin Firth has a house on/near the lake.
We walked along a paved bike trail and saw sunflowers as far as the eye
could see. Next time I would love to
explore some of the towns around the lake.
Day
trip to Orvieto. It’s a walled city with a beautiful duomo in the
center. Along with strolling through the
streets, we took in a panoramic view of the city and surrounding countryside
from the top of the Torre
del Moro.
Hike
to Greppolischieto. We chose one of the shorter trails from the
castle and hiked a couple hours to this tiny village. We saw a few cars and motorcycles while
walking on the dirt road, but once we got to the village, we saw no one. From what I can tell, it’s a place full of
rentals and no one actually lives there.
It was cool to look across the hills and see the castle from whence we
came.
La Scarzuola.
This unique site is right down the road
from the castle/village. We took a tour
and it is a fascinating place! I’ve never seen
anything like it. The tour guide was
quite entertaining as well.
Some funny happenings in Italy – Each night before going
to sleep, I read in bed. One night, I
saw something crawl on the floor out from under my bed. It was a SCORPION.
I promptly grabbed my flip flop and pounded
it to death. This was at around 10
p.m. Rikke had told us to be on the
lookout for scorpions, but let us know they weren’t poisonous. Still, it was startling to actually see one
that close. The next morning I told
Jenny and Tammy, and Jenny asked, “Is that what I heard last night?” Some have asked me how I went to sleep after
that happened. I shone my flashlight
under the bed and all around the room, saw nothing, and fell fast asleep.
The second time we visited the wine bar, Tammy walked
through the door in front of me. The
owner’s mother was inside with two of her friends. She saw Tammy and her eyes travelled from
Tammy’s feet up to her head and her eyes grew large. As I walked in behind Tammy, her eyes got
even bigger and she exclaimed, “Mamma mia!”
We all burst out laughing. Tammy
speaks a little Italian so she conversed with the ladies a bit, but our
communication mostly consisted of laughter.
On our last night, Tammy and I moved the patio chairs
so we could lounge and watch the Blood Moon lunar eclipse. It was very cool and we were lucky to see it,
as it wasn’t visible in North America.
What a way to end our first week of her birthday celebration.
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| The moon is right in the center. This wasn't the closest moon photo, but I liked the trees. |
Along with wanting to stay in a castle, Tammy wanted to visit Slovenia. She’d heard so
many good things about it, so I agreed to accompany her for a second week of
adventure. And what an adventure it was!
