Torre di Moravola

Rooms

The 7 rooms and suites are each unique but share features - grey Pietra Serena stone floors, concealed lighting, kingsize beds elevated on wooden platforms, a smattering of antiques, white armchairs and neutral soft furnishings. Thick stone walls ensure rooms are cool without the need for noisy air conditioning.

Bathrooms are ultra-modern with sunken stone bathtubs, marmorino plaster walls, glass screened power showers and fluffy robes; decadent stuff.

Designed as mini towers, the West, East, North and South Tower Suites have downstairs bathrooms and bedrooms reached via steel floating staircases. We loved the West Tower Suite with its blue cushions and brown silk eiderdown, small writing desk and flower-framed balcony. The South Tower Suite is very big, with a downstairs seating area and space enough for families upstairs. The one-level room is the West Suite, on the first floor; L-Shaped with a terracotta plastered bathroom.

The Main Tower Suite is at the very top of Moravola’s central glass staircase and occupies the whole upper tower. Entered via low wood doors, a modular sofa and fluffy white rug sit in front of an original fireplace, while several feet above your head, a metal balustrade runs around the tower. Vertigo sufferers should avoid the climb to look through the archers’ windows. A small bedroom leads off the main living area, and through a skylight above the bed we watched shooting stars at night, and in the morning, swifts scuttling across the glass. There's a vast dressing room under the eaves with its own terrace, and the bathroom has a huge stone tub, rain shower and medieval-style trapdoor-covered loo!

We have yet to see recent addition, the Forest Spa Suite which has more of an Asian aesthetic, and is set apart from the original buildings surrounded by woods with long views over the valley. The suite has a decked courtyard and small oval pool, a hammam and a sauna.

Features include:

• Bathrobes
• Fan
• Hairdryer
• In-room treatments available
• WiFi

Eating

Moravola follows the Slow Food principle and ingredients are sourced locally; food is simple but delicious. Breakfast is included and lunch and dinner is by request. If you’re taking over the tower, meals can be worked out in advance.

Breakfast (included) consists of breads, cakes and pastries, prosciutto and cheese, fresh fruit, muesli and homemade jams, as well as a number of cooked options; it's taken on the East Terrace. Lunch, eaten beneath the viewing pavilion by the herb garden, is light antipasti or a bowl of pasta - we enjoyed a traditional pasta with wild boar sauce the day before our wedding (supposedly providing the groom with ‘strength’!)

Dinner could be roasted suckling pork (porchetta) seasoned with herbs from the garden or delicious lasagne. There's no charge for bottled water, either at poolside or tower grounds, or for teas and coffees throughout the day, which is handy.

If you want to eat out, the delicious and reasonably priced Erba Luna restaurant in neighbouring Montone is a picturesque spot; its terrace hugs the town walls. If you don't have a car, the owners will ferry you to and from if they're free.

Features include:

• Bar
• Restaurant
• Vegetarian options

Activities

• Swim in the dark-tiled, 25m infinity pool or lie in the sun and read
  
• Take a yoga session under the stone pavilion at the end of the pool or have a holistic massage in the spa, treatments are inspired by Roman techniques
  
• Have a sundowner in the sunken seating area by the fire pool - swallows score the twilight, flames dance across the surface of the dark pool and the valley falls away beneath you
  
• The medieval cathedral of Assisi (which holds the remains of St Francis), and the hill towns of Perugia, Citta de Castello and Gubbio are easy day trips
  
• Explore Montone. The local walled hilltop town with winding, vertiginous cobbled streets has existed since 800AD
  
• A nature reserve surrounds the tower - keep an eye out for wild boar and deer, hoopoe, golden oriole and falcons, and listen for owls and nightingales
  
• Take a bird’s eye view of the area with a microlight flights, or hike, bicycle and horse ride through the surrounding woods and valleys; all can be arranged by Seonaid and Christopher
  
• Moravola can also arrange for guests to go foraging for wild mushroom and porcini, with picnics in the woods and followed by cooking lessons in the evening. Or guests can collect olives from the groves to take to the stone ground mills followed by olive-oil tasting in the evening
  
• Accompany Seonaid to the small Madonna del Confini church near Moravola and see the clearing above the church where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a shepherdess
  
• Your visit could coincide with one of the many cultural festivals in the area: Medieval Music, Opera Orvieto, Umbria International Jazz Festival (July/August), Umbria Film Festival (first week of July in Montone itself when the tiny medieval square is transformed into an open-air cinema)
  
• Art courses can be arranged on demand with visiting artists who lead the classes; groups can be taken to medieval villages in the mornings, or can paint on the terraces at Moravola if they prefer

Activities on site or nearby include:

• Art classes
• Birdwatching
• Cooking classes
• Cycling
• Hiking
• Historical sites
• Horse riding
• Museums / galleries
• Shopping / markets
• Swimming
• Traditional cultures
• Wildlife
• Yoga

Kids

To preserve the peace for other guests, kids between 2 and 14 years are not accepted unless the whole property is booked. Extra beds, baby cots and baby monitors are all available for babies and older children, however.

Best for:

Babies (0-1 years)

Family friendly accommodation:

Cots Available, Extra Beds Available

For more family-friendly places, see our Kids Collection

Location

Torre di Moravola is 10 minutes' drive from the medieval village of Montone in Umbria, central Italy.

By Air:
The nearest airport is Perugia (50km). Rome and Florence airports are approx 2.5 hours away; Bologna Forli airport is a 3-hour drive. Click on the links below for a list of airlines serving these airports.

From the Airport
Torre di Moravola offers transfers from Perugia, and can arrange pick-ups from Bologna, Rome and Florence - see Rates.

By Train:
If you'd prefer to travel overland from the UK, you can reach Umbria quite easily from London. The nearest station is at Umbertide, 6km from Montone. Trains run from Perugia to Umbertide. Visit the excellent Seat 61 for information about train travel from the UK.

By Car:
Most guests hire a car for their visit - see our car rental recommendations.

Detailed directions will be sent to you when you book through i-escape.com.

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