Vacation in Lazio/Umbria

We are spending a week in Italy for vacation with Daph's parents. We rented a villa from a relative I had never met (thank you Paula) who are some of the nicest people in the world. Robin and Jeff live in Rome but have this villa just outside of Orvieto. We are half way between Rome and Florence in Torre Alfina.

The town in over 1000 years old, has two restaurants, two gelato stands, and one huge castle. The villa is spectacular. Not only does it have imported sheets, a fully equipped kitchen, and wonderful grounds - the owners also are pleased to provide you open access to the vegetable garden and the wine cellar. They also have over 100 travel books on Italy and the region and a preprogramed GPS with atms, grocery stores, favorite restaurants, hospitals, everything.

Here are some pictures from the backyard looking up at the castle. The wine cellar is in the foreground. The have a caretaker who takes care of the grounds and offered to take us to the butcher shop to get a selection of meats and then grill it for us. He also offered to take us to the winery to get the bulk wine and then have the kids help bottle it.

Here is the side of the house with the amazing tree.

Brian asked if I would set up the Wii for him. This is lost on an 8 year old.