Migiana di Monte Tezio · Umbria

Same family.
Same stones.
A hundred years.

A private century-old estate on forty hectares of Umbrian hill country. Three bedrooms, an eighteen-metre saltwater pool, a private lake. Fifteen minutes from Perugia.

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4.91 · Superhost on Airbnb

100yrs

One family

40ha

Of land

Guests at a time

4.91★

From 33 reviews

The estate

A working farm, kept.

Fontenovo was an agricultural estate long before it was a place to stay — olive oil and wine, made on the land the house sits on. The Carabba family has held it for over a century.

The apartment offered to guests has three double bedrooms, four beds, one and a half bathrooms, a well-equipped kitchen with a dining table for six, a living area with a fireplace, and two terraces overlooking the valley. The interiors were composed by Giovina Carabba, a textile designer in Rome whose hand-woven rugs anchor every room.

Sleeps: 6 guests
Bedrooms: Three doubles
Bathrooms: One and a half
Pool: 18m saltwater
Land: 40 hectares
From Perugia: 15 minutes

The family

Gioacchino & Cristina.

Gioacchino is an agronomist; he and Cristina spent their working years at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They live in Rome and come back to Fontenovo as often as the road allows. They are the fourth generation to keep this house.

They speak English, French, Portuguese, and Italian. They respond to enquiries within an hour. When you arrive, they greet you in person — and then they leave you to the quiet, unless you would rather share a glass of something at the long table outside.

Their daughter Giovina, a textile designer in Rome, gave the rooms their present face.

The olive tree in the photographs was planted by Gioacchino's parents in 1962. It still stands, sixty-three years on.

Gioacchino and Cristina sitting on the stone wall beneath the olive tree their parents planted in 1962 — Gioacchino & Cristina · today

Eugenio and Eleonora, Gioacchino's parents, on the same wall in the 1960s — Eugenio & Eleonora · 1960s

The house

A fireplace inside. A long table outside. Time to use them both.

The living room

A working fireplace, hand-woven rugs by Giovina, the kind of sofa you read on for an afternoon.

The kitchen

A dining table for six, a view of the valley through the window. Nespresso, dishwasher, every pan you need.

Three bedrooms

Three quiet rooms with linens chosen by hand and windows that open onto forty hectares.

The pool & garden

An 18-metre saltwater pool — no chlorine. Sun loungers, an outdoor dining table, a fire pit, and a pergola for long lunches.

The land

A private lake.
Forty hectares of hill country.

The estate stretches across forty hectares of unspoiled Umbrian countryside — woodland, olive groves, and a lake you can swim in. You will rarely meet another person here. The pool is saltwater. The lake is fed by the hills.

"You will be the only guest of the estate."

Umbria

You are on the mountain.

Monte Tezio rises behind the house — a regional park with trails, wild horses, and the view of half of Umbria from the top. Perugia is fifteen minutes down the hill. Rome and Florence are two hours by car. The closest airport, Perugia (PEG), is thirty minutes away.

Lake Trasimeno, Assisi, Gubbio, Città di Castello, and the Tuscan border are each within an easy hour. In July, Perugia hosts Umbria Jazz; in summer, Spoleto its festival. You can do as much or as little of that as you like.

15 minPerugiaUniversity city, Etruscan walls, chocolate.
30 minPerugia Airport (PEG)Sant'Egidio, with car rental on site.
35 minLake TrasimenoItaly's fourth-largest lake. Quiet beaches, fish restaurants.
45 minAssisiUNESCO; Basilica of St. Francis.
45 minGubbioA medieval town built up the side of a mountain.
2 hrsRome & FlorenceBy car, or by train from Perugia Fontevegge.