Dream country cottage with lake views in Umbria near Orvieto

Traditional small stone-build cottage lovingly reconstructed with modern conveniences and situated on a hillside amid vineyards and olive groves. From the ample terrace you look down on the lake and up to the classic medieval village of Civitella del Lago and enjoy spectacular sunsets when the sun glints off the famous golden cathedral in Orvieto (20 minutes drive). Not a full-time rental property, the cottage is the owners' own home surrounded by a large garden with fruit trees (fig, peach, apricot, cherry) and a producing olive grove. Wi fi in all rooms, DVDs, central heating and separate guest suite. The perfect romantic hideaway, the cottage also makes a great base for a family holiday, perfectly positioned for day trips to Perugia, Assisi, Siena, Todi and many more and with local activities from horse-riding and lakeside center to wineries and hidden restaurants of superb quality and modest prices. Tenants have use of nearby hotel swimming pool (10 minutes drive).


15 minutes drive from the cottage, our nearest town Orvieto not only has all the facilities of a mid-sized city but is an unspoilt medieval town with an Etruscan heritage and one of Italy's two greatest Gothic cathedrals, home to Luca Signorelli's extraordinary frescoed visions of hell and resurrection.
45 minutes drive north of us is Perugia with its international university (and Ryanair airport!). Next door to Perugia, the white stone monastery-city of Assisi nestles in the hills.
Todi, chosen by Amex as the world's best town to live in, is 20 minutes away and stuffed with antique shops and boutiques. There is a major monthly antique market at Arezzo (50 minutes) as well as Piero della Francesca's masterwork The True Cross.
All around our cottage gentle rolling hills turn purple in the smoky summer sunsets and verdant vineyards and olive groves earn Umbria its nickname as 'Italy's green heart' . This is the landscape immortalized by the great Umbrian painter Perugino and unchanged in centuries.
Spoleto, Lake Bolsena (with lakeside restaurants) and the amazing 'disappearing town' of (Civita di) Bagnioreggio, are all easy day trips, as are Rome and Florence.
Deruta, a entire town devoted to pottery production, is half way to Perugia.
Wineries and olive oil mills dot the locality and are open to the public for tastings. We have neighbors who spend all their time working their way around the numerous terrific local restaurants, many not listed in any guidebook (but we have them all detailed for you, along with other local insider's information, in the House Book you'll find waiting for you in the cottage).