Property for sale and real estate in Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany

Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany

About Central Italy

Why choose Umbria?

If you haven’t visited Umbria, or even Italy, then you will naturally find it difficult to know if you want to live here!  Many of our clients have had holidays here time and time again and know for certain that this is where they want to be.  Others have only read about it in books or seen it on TV.  We had one man who had never been here before, saw a property on our website, flew over one morning, made an offer for the house in the afternoon and flew back that same evening!  He had been searching the Internet for 3 years!  The contracts are now all signed, work has started, and his wife still hasn’t seen it yet!

We ourselves bought the first house we saw - on our second ever visit to Italy, and first visit to Umbria.  I don’t suggest that this is the best way to do it, but some people just know when a thing is right.  We want to help you make the right decision, not encourage you to be impetuous!

First you need to be sure which country you want to buy in, be it a holiday home or permanent residence.  Let’s assume you have already decided on Europe as we can’t cover the whole of the world here!  If that’s the case then the only really serious alternatives are Italy, France and Spain.  Countries such as Portugal, Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey may appeal to the real pioneers but we will pass these over too, if we may.  The languages are more difficult, there is less help and support available and we know little about them.

Language

Wherever you go you will need to commit to learning a new language, which is a time-consuming affair.  It is also major part of ‘The Great Adventure’ and probably one of the most fascinating things about moving to a new country.  Most of us learnt French, German or Spanish at school and a few of us learnt Latin too.  After three years my Italian is still pretty basic even with a lot of contact with Italians.  However I now find that the Italians who used to speak to me in their limited English are now speaking with me in Italian so I must be improving!  Many words are the same as English, with just a vowel added to the end, and the pronunciation rules are pretty rigid so you can read something out loud and usually get it right.  Learning Portuguese, Greek or Turkish seems a pretty daunting task and is probably the main reason why most people have chosen one of the other countries mentioned.

France

With a basic knowledge of French many people choose to live in France or have a holiday home there.  It has other things going for it too.  It is closer to Britain than Spain or Italy, and the northern part is especially easy to get to now there is the channel tunnel. The French had a history of war with Britain right up until the last century and they still have it in for our lamb and apples!  There is a resistance to speaking English with foreigners even if they are fairly fluent.

Spain

The coast of Spain is almost entirely holiday homes and many, many Brits and other English-speaking foreigners have bought there.  The advantage of this is that you don’t need to speak any Spanish at all and you can still get your newspapers, fish and chips and Guinness in nearly every resort!  It also means that it is ‘closed’ in winter.  Go inland just a few kilometres and you will find it is a different story.  The centre of Spain is hardly visited by foreigners at all by comparison, except the major cities such as Madrid.  You can really get away from it all here, yet still be within striking distance for a day at the beach.

Italy

The oceans don’t have a big effect on the weather in Italy as it sits in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.   It does get colder than you would expect because Italy don't benefit from the warm Gulf Stream, but the proximity to the equator partly makes up for that.  It seems to me that Italians really like the British people, and are very tolerant foreigners in general.  We certainly helped them through a difficult spot in the last war, even though they changed sides!  They love trying out their English even if it is only a couple of words remembered from their school days.  Italy is very rich in history, architecture and scenery.  The Mediterranean coast is never very far away with many beaches and plenty of seafood around.  There are many places of interest to visit from Venice to Pompei and Italy is world-class in food, ice cream, coffee, clothes, wine, and even fast cars.

OK, so now we’ve it narrowed down to Italy.  Historically the main regions of interest to foreigners have been Tuscany, Liguria, Umbria, and more recently Le Marche.  Other seaside areas such as the Amalfi coast and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia are also popular.

The north of Italy gets some pretty rough weather in winter from the Alps, whilst the south gets as dry as a bone in summer.  Somewhere in the middle would seem a good choice. Across this part lie the regions of Tuscany, Liguria, Umbria and Le Marché, which may account for their popularity.  The popularity of the various regions is also affected by the films and books that have been created about them, ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’, 'My House in Umbria', and ‘Extra Virgin’ being but three of them.  So, how do you choose which one?  Tuscany has received a lot of media attention for many years.  You will still find many people who have not heard of Umbria and Le Marché, but very few people have not heard of Tuscany.  Prices there reflect this and if the last part of your address begins with ‘T’ instead of ‘U’ or ‘M’ then you will be paying nearly double!  The countryside is very similar with all the things that have made Tuscany famous, sunflowers, vineyards and olive groves.  Umbria is much smaller than Tuscany and although it has no coast it does have several lakes including the biggest one in the peninsular, Lago Trasimeno, with nice man-made beaches, warm shallow water, plenty of water sports, and three lovely islands to visit.

Liguria was the first area of Italy to get any proper holiday resorts.  It was the playground of the rich and famous many years ago and prices still reflect this. 

Tuscany

The countryside:  The Tuscan scenery is beautiful with gentle rolling hills covered in sunflowers, vines and olives.  However it tends to be quite similar all over the region.

Places to visit:  Siena, Florence and Pisa head a pretty impressive list of interesting cities and towns.  The wine producing areas around Montepulciano and Chianti are especially famous.

Weather:  Being near the coast it is somewhat drier and hotter than Umbria.

Prices:  High prices due to its trendy image have meant many summer holiday homes for the wealthy, which are often closed up for the winter.

Accessability:  Fly in to Pisa. 

Umbria

The countryside:  Umbria is known as the green heart of Italy, with good reason.  There is a wide variety of scenery in this region, from the flat plains of the Tiber Valley through rolling hills to the snow-capped Apennine mountains.  There are several beautiful lakes including Trasimeno and Corbara.

Places to visit:  Many places of interest to visit including Assisi, Perugia, Todi, Orvieto, Gubbio, Deruta, Lake Trasimeno and the Marmore Falls.

Weather:  Slightly cooler than Tuscany with a higher rainfall giving a lush green countryside.  There is enough rain to make things grow but it usually comes in short bursts instead of endless days of drizzle.  Warm summer breezes waft up from Africa whilst the Apennines protect it from the northerly winds.

Prices:  Not so famous and trendy as Tuscany so property prices are quite a lot less.  More expensive than Le Marché.

Accessability:  Fly in to Rome, Bologna, Ancona or Pisa.  With Perugia now having an international airport and Ryanair flying in from Stanstead, Umbria will certainly become more accessible.  This will mean a greater demand for property here and, of course, a rise in property prices. 

Le Marché

The countryside:  The Apennine Mountains dominate Le Marché giving a ruggedness to the region with a narrow coastal band.  This produces some dramatic scenery but makes getting around somewhat tedious.  It is also quite earthquake prone.

Places to visit:  Le Marché has fewer places of interest compared to Umbria or Tuscany.  For those seeking a quiet retreat to rest and flop in and out of the pool this has its advantages.

Weather:  The winds and rain come down from north-east, hitting the Apennines and producing some dramatic thunderstorms.  The sun is behind you on most beaches.

Prices:  Cheaper than both Tuscany and Umbria.  There are some real bargains to be had in Le Marché.  Since Ryanair chose Ancona as a destination prices have been rising rapidly.  We have heard a rumour that Ryanair may be pulling out of Ancona which will slow down things down.

So now you know why we chose Umbria!  Biased?  Who me?