Daily Mail - 17.08.2019

Daily Mail, Saturday, August 17, 2019 Page 61

Escape: Short haul

traditional holiday horror of trying

to find a villa in the pitch dark with

inept instructions and a dodgy

map, we spotted a poster for a

production of Verdi’s La Traviata

in the city’s theatre, due to start in

20 minutes.

Like any adventurous Briton

abroad, we made a beeline for the

venue, paid £15 for a ticket — and

found time to scoff free ham rolls,

olives and other snacks with a

glass of non-Sainsbury’s Orvieto

Bianco Superior in the foyer bar.

No evening meal needed.

T

he rousing performance of

Verdi in the 1866-built Luigi

Mancinelli Theatre (with

frescoes by Cesare Fracas-

sini, no less) gave us the oomph to

find our villa at midnight without

a hitch. Apart, that is, from the

bewildering sight of a porcupine

scuttling along the dark road

behind a badger.

Waking up the next morning to

a view of vineyards, tumbling

ploughed fields, a ruined chapel in

the garden, and a lake and moun-

tains in the distance was special.

The house may have once been a

rundown farmstead which took

five years to renovate, but the high-

tech gadgetry was stupendous.

You know the sort: a dishwasher

with a floor-projected green LeD

spotlight which signals wash com-

pletion; a glass induction cooker

hob (which made our stove at

home seem like a crude Palaeo-

lithic pot) and a sound system to

control the speakers in every room

and poolside via a mobile phone.

Our favourite local restaurant

was Trattoria del Moro Aronne in

Orvieto — the house speciality

starter, nidi di rondine (thick

pasta sheets shaped liked birds’

nests with pecorino cheese and

warm honey), followed by rabbit

with herbs (served by a self-styled

joker-waiter, who placed the dish

on the table with a flourish saying:

‘Now ear’s yore Bugs Bunny!’)

If you insist on cooking your own

food in your villa, make sure you

buy the ingredients from a corner

shop run by one of those classic

granny-types made famous by

movies such as Cinema Paradiso.

Our favourite was Centro Spesa

store in Strada di Stranieri Rosa

Maria in the village of Porano,

where the eightysomething owner

spoons out ricotta cheese as if it

were ambrosial food of the gods.

Sleeping ten people, the villa is

perfect for extended family gath-

erings or groups of friends.

One admission of failure on our

part: the high-spec TV proved too

tricky for us — despite three

remote controls, detailed instruc-

tion manuals and notes on how to

tune into english-language

programmes, we were defeated.

Talking of remote controls, there

was a zapper, too, to operate the

whirlpool spa bath in one of the

bedrooms, which could easily have

accommodated six and still

have room to spare.

highlights beyond the villa were

an evening trip to swim in nearby

Lake Bolsena, 44 sq miles of fresh-

water in the bowl of an extinct

volcano. And the hauntingly eerie

Civita di Bagnoregio, known as

the ‘Dying City’, a medieval hamlet

which looks about to crumble into

oblivion as the hilltop it’s perched

on is threatened by erosion.

A

VISIT to the Tenuta

Vitalonga Winery was a

joy, tasting 14-day-old

mosto — the first pressing

of grapes and stalks from the very

recent harvest. Indeed, it was no

surprise to learn that the great

Tuscan artist Luca Signorelli was

told by the Pope that when he

finished the frescoes in Orvieto

cathedral’s San Brizio Chapel, in

1504, he must be paid with as

much wine as he wanted.

Today’s architects may not

create such masterpieces, but the

infinity pool at villa Segreto Gel-

somino was something to behold.

A last morning’s swim as the sun

rose over the brow of the Umbrian

hills, with Monteverdi’s The Coro-

nation Of Poppea playing on the

poolside speakers, and you

couldn’t be further from the mad-

ding crowds of July and August.

TRAVEL FACTS

TUSCANY Now & More (tuscany

nowandmore.com, 020 7684

8884) offers Segreto Gelsomino

from £2,837 for seven days for

six people (maximum ten) on a

self-catering basis, and features

a range of properties across the

region and Italy. It can also

provide private chefs, excursions

and other services on request.

by HUGH

GORDON

U

NBeARABLe heat. Roads

blocked with nose-to-tail

cars — not to mention all

those Dutch caravanners.

Mosquitoes on biting raids

every night.

Sadly, these are intrinsic elements of too

many Mediterranean holidays in peak

season. So why not choose September or

early October instead? The weather is still

sunny. The pools and sea still warm. And

tourist sites are relatively deserted.

Our base for a late-September week in

Umbria was Segreto Gelsomino, a hill-top

villa six miles from Orvieto. This etruscan-

heritage city may not have the fame of

Siena, Florence or Perugia. Indeed, I had

always associated Orvieto with a tart white

wine I’d bought under-age from Sainsbury’s

when its own brand cider had run out.

But now, Orvieto wines are drooled over

by wine buffs who speak of how the vines

have ‘taken advantage of the soft tufa

[chalky limestone] rock and are perfect for

all occasions’.

After an hour’s drive from Rome, we

reached the city at 7pm and found free park-

ing next to the cathedral (about which Pope

Leo XIII suggested: ‘On Judgment Day, its

beauty will carry it right up to heaven’.)

In search of somewhere to eat before the

Checking in...

Griff Rhys Jones

Comedian, actor, presenter

Late break: The golden

Umbrian hills. Inset, Villa

Segreto Gelsomino

Fewer people, lower

prices — and that magical

scenery at its glorious best

Umbria in

autumn?

Bellissima!

MOST MEMORABLE PLACE VISITED?

CONSTANTINE in Algeria, a city out of a dream

world, teetering on a volcanic plug surrounded

by a deep moat. Dating back to Roman times, its

combination of topography and French colonial

and Arab influences make for an alluring mix.

EARLIEST HOLIDAY MEMORY?

STAYING in a fisherman’s cottage in Gorran Haven,

Cornwall. I used to run down to the beach by the

harbour wall with my siblings. The days were end-

less and the Cornish ice cream slightly yellow.

WHAT CAN’T YOU TRAVEL WITHOUT?

A SILK sleeping bag liner — so you sleep clean

wherever you are.

WHAT’S YOUR BEST SAILING HOLIDAY?

THE Mediterranean coastline, which is remote

and rocky, if you can get on a boat and avoid the

resorts. I love Corsica and the inlets of Menorca,

and the Amalfi coast is staggering when viewed

from the sea. Best of all was a trip to the Baltic —

there are 80,000 islands on the Finnish coastline.

DREAM DESTINATION?

MORE of Italy, and I must do Canada by train.

YORK MEMBERY

n Griff rhys Jones: All over The Place

tours from september 3, ents24.com

Pictures: ALFONSO DELLA CORTE/ROBERT HARDING