When I got here the first time in 2013 I wasn’t expecting such a place. I felt like I was living a tale, reading the novel of a classic Italian love story set in a beautiful little village absorbed in the countryside of a valley. My friend Francesco moved here with his family a few years ago from a busy place like Milan and decided to renovate part of this paradise chasing a dream. Well, when you look at it you feel like he achieved his goal. Thank you my friend!
A medieval castle surrounded by walls built on top of a hill with a tower and, of course, a church is a story seen many times in this country. In Italy we have more Churches and squares than anything else. We have no place without a Church and a square, and possibly a bar where people get together drinking aperitivo before dinner. There you go!
But this. This is something that takes your breath away. In the past 22 years I have spent more time on the road living “The Life” everywhere I could get by any means, pushing on the throttle of my motorbike looking for freedom, collecting stories to tell one day with no regrets. It happened many times that you get somewhere you have never been and suddenly feel a connection. You can’t explain it, you have to experience it.
This is what we felt when we got to Torre del Colle for the first time. The village count less than 10 inhabitants and it is roughly 150 meters wide. Tiny! I’d count 200 steps to explore it all, enough to change our lifes. Yes, a life change within 200 steps. It might sounds like crazy, especially after living “The Life” in different continents, searching for more, rolling like a stone from country to country, story to story meeting so many people that at some point you kind of lose your identity. After so long feeling that way, you come here and feel like you are in the center of the world. Boom!
I travelled the world and I have learned my lesson in a village of 7 in the countryside of Italy: you don’t need to get far to feel free and attached to the nature. You probably just have to look better behind the corner from your backyard. The dream is closer than you might think, and a life with no dream is not worth it.
Until the end of the ’50 this village counted nearly 300 people. A school, the supermarket, the church and the bar, of course! Then they started to build roads around and most of them moved away, looking for more opportunities somewhere else in the world. A story told many times. But that’s why we thought doing it the other way round. From a busy world we moved to the village in pursuit of freedom. During the google era, the evolution means probably to stop and do a few steps backwards. Wherever it takes you. For us it is Torre del Colle in the heart of Umbria.
Which one is your?
Now, let’s talk about who lives in this castle…
Stay tuned!
Grazie Verity! You n.1. Let's hope to see you around soon. Ciao
Keep living the dream my friend. Wishing you health & happiness in your beautiful fairytale home