Bella Italia 2018

I have to say we are getting a little bit better at this driving and navigating business, although it is stressful. We somehow mananged to find our accommodation for the next few nights, and it is a beauty. Bed & Breakfast Castello Di Belforte is located on a small hill in the Umbria countryside, 3 km from Todi and it is the remains of a castle built in 1444. It is also a working farm with an extended Italian family living on site, one that does not speak any English.

This was truly an amazing, funny and unique experience. After driving down a tree lined drive we were greeted by our lovely non-English speaking hostess with a tray of delicious Italian coffee and cake to enjoy while sat under the grapevine covered arbour. Very Italian and what a great first impression. Whilst the castle isn’t fully intact it still has a great amount of charm and the fact we are staying in a building built in 1444 is just hard to believe. We are staying in a building more than 300 years older than our country.

While I was expecting to see fields of grapevines and lush green hills, we have come at the end of the season and most of the fields have been ploughed and the dirt has been tilled, so there is more of a sea of brown than green in the fields beyond. I was a little bit disappointed by that. However, the gardens around the castle, the hedges, pots overflowing with flowers, all add to the charm of the castle, along with the cats of the castle. Seeing them made me miss Pip.

The biggest surprise is our room. With the original curved stone walls but modern touches, it is a fabulous room and bathroom. Probably our biggest bathroom so far on this trip and a great shower. The only downside is the thickness of the stone walls means that wifi does not work very well in our room although Brad found the trick was to stand or sit in our doorway with your phone outside to get a signal.

The funny thing we discovered while doing this, is there is a very tiny kitten at the castle, who once it discovered our door was open and it was warm inside, would clumsily make its way down the steps so it could chew on Brad’s toes. Obviously here, cats are outdoor cats, but this poor kitten looked like it needed some love and attention. We were besotted and found it quite difficult to put it back out into the cool night air. I must admit it was a funny sight with Brad standing naked at the door, phone outstretched and a kitten nibbling his toes.

Our stay here included a typical Italian breakfast served daily. We would have to say these were some of the best breakfasts we had on our entire trip. Our hostess made some sort of warm egg dish every morning, (different every day), we had pastries, croissants and homemade cakes to choose from, fresh fruit and lots of Italian coffee. We usually only have one cup of coffee in the mornings but for some reason when our hostess would enquire if we would like more and we would say no and shake our heads, she would still bring another pot out that we would then feel obligated to drink. I guess it got us energised for our days out.

Being that the castle wasn’t in a town, there wasn’t anything nearby to walk to for dinners. We were out all day exploring the surrounding areas and at night we would just want something easy to eat and have an early night. Thankfully not too far from the castle was the very, very small village of Fiore. It had a church, about ten properties and a restaurant, Ristorante Rosa Dei Venti. When we came across it we thought we were in luck as there would be no problem getting a table, but boy were we wrong.

It was quite a large restaurant and they were fully booked. We had no idea where all the people had come from and it still amazes me how late the Italians eat. One family was coming in with their young children at about 10pm when we were on our way out. The lovely staff, again with very little English, offered to seat us in their reception/bar area/order pickup area and proceeded to set the table there with tablecloths, décor etc. We were just happy to be able to get something to eat and didn’t need all the extras, but it was lovely that they made the effort. While we did feel a bit self-conscious sat there with people coming in and out, we thoroughly enjoyed the food. And the bonus was the three mini jars of homemade liquor they gave us at the end of the night. Whoa they were strong. I think the Italians enjoyed seeing our expressions as we drank them. It was a great night and we returned the following night but for a takeaway pizza to enjoy back in our room.

The other funny/uncomfortable event was the Sunday afternoon when what seemed like the entire Italian family turned up. We have learnt that Italians are expressive and loud so we are unsure whether our quiet hostess was just excited or angry at her husband, but there was a lot of shouting going on all afternoon. This is when I really wished I had mastered the Italian language. Brad and I were too uncomfortable to leave our room.

We really enjoyed our stay here, it was such an authentic experience and having a car allowed us to explore a lot of unique sites in this region. We would thoroughly recommend this place and would love to stay here again.Läs mer