"Imagine an immense amphitheater, one that Nature might construct. Imagine a long spacious valley surrounded by mountains [...] Forests stretch downward artistically from the slopes of these mountains [...] One feels as though he were gazing at a scene far removed from reality, an imaginary scene painted with the most exquisite brush-strokes.” These are the words used by Pliny the Younger in the 1st Century AD to describe the upper Valley of the Tiber that surrounds the Sant’Illuminato Holiday Farm. The slopes surrounding the valley are still covered with lush woods and studded with medieval castles, abbeys, and tiny picturesque churches.  

The rustic farm buildings are constructed in  ancient stone and mellow oak, with airy loggias overlooking sunny courtyards.  Their massive walls provide a natural form of climate control, shielding the cool interiors from the heat of the summer sun and preventing heat loss on chilly winter days. The winding roads are lined with ranks of tall cypress trees, and as sunset approaches, the cicadas tune-up for their evening symphony, and the darkness sparkles with fire-flies.  The sense of peace and tranquility is almost overwhelming…It wasn’t always like this, of course.  For centuries, this part of Italy was part of the Papal States, but battles raged incessantly during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries for control of individual areas.  Sir John Hawkwood, leader of the band immortalized in Conan Doyle’s “The White Company,” lived some fifteen miles from the Farm, and his castle is one of the two hundred hill-top sites (monasteries, convents, churches, towns and villages) that can be easily explored from the air.   All are located within a fifteen minute flight of the Farm’s newly constructed airfield.   If rain threatens, guests can take a bus or train to explore the Medieval city of Perugia, whose covered streets and labyrinthine passageways inspired many of the optical illusions created in the 20th Century by the Dutch artist, M.C. Escher.  Some of his more famous predecessors -- Giotto, Raphael, Michelangelo, Il Beato Angelico, Piero della Francesca and Luca Signorelli, to name a few -- lived and worked in these valleys, travelling from town to town with a mule and a box of paints, hoping to find a wall or a ceiling to decorate, a meal and a bed, or, if the stars were kind, a patron (or better yet, a patroness). Examples of their art are everywhere, and not just in the large cities.  

The countryside and villages are full of tiny churches, convents and "palazzi" decorated by these artists.  The calendar is filled with cultural events, like the Festival delle Nazioni di Musica da Camera (International Festival of Chamber Music), and fairs, harvest festivals, town markets, and Medieval tournaments.   Side trips to the historical towns of Assisi, Gubbio, Perugia, and Arezzo require less than an hour’s drive, and slightly more than an hour is needed to reach Orvieto, Siena and Spoleto, and Florence.The area is also the birthplace of the Renaissance of Christianity that was stimulated by St. Francis of Assisi.  Like all young men of means in those days (13th Century), Francis fought in the numerous wars waged by his Assisi against adjacent towns, and in 1202, at the Battle of Anghiari, he was captured and imprisoned.  In those dark days, his only solace was a copy of the Life of Saint Jerome, which Francis read devotedly.  

The pampered youth emerged from his cell a changed man, and his teachings revolutionized the Catholic Church. After years of wandering through this area, he preferred to establish his church at the foot of the hill at Porziuncola and not in Assisi, like most of the guide books say. But Assisi is Assisi, and a stroll through its winding streets or a late afternoon flight over its rose-colored skyline is an experience that’s hard to forget.