Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Once upon a time there was a pharmacist from Naples and her doctor husband who loved their jobs but wanted a place in the country to retire to when they got older. After much searching, Marta and Michele found an old tumbledown farmhouse set on a hill deep in the Umbrian countryside near Orvieto. It was called Polivere – the place of the free – because in Roman times slaves were granted their freedom here.
Marta and Michele set about renovating the house. They made cool tile floors and mellow stone walls. They built a swimming pool fed by natural spring water. And they planted a vineyard of merlot and sangiovese vines. The surrounding woods were filled with birds and deer and wild boar and, because you could only reach the house by a long and dusty track, Il Polivere was a place of perfect peace.
Marta was so happy that she wanted guests to enjoy this magical place too (and the money would help to pay all those bills), so she opened the house as an agriturismo. Time passed, until an English couple came to stay at Marta's for a few nights one summer, and found it so beautiful that they nearly cried when they had to leave. Each morning they sat in the garden eating breakfast and listening to the birdsong, while puppies played on the lawn. In the afternoon they swam in the pool and relaxed in the sun. And in the evening, when they returned from having something to eat, they sat outside in the darkness sipping Marta's home-made fennel liqueur and wondering how easy it might be to buy a farmhouse in Italy.
Two years later the English couple returned to Polivere, this time with their grown up children, who helped to harvest the grapes. This time Michele was there too, and they tasted wine and talked and ate fresh tomatoes under the clear skies of a summer night. And they all cried when they had to leave.
Like all good stories, this one has a happy ending. Marta is still there, and still welcoming guests, and the place is as beautiful as ever. If you go, though, a word of warning: watch out for the tears when it's time to leave.
Must be something in the air that affects your eyes.
Il Polivere, Strada Chianaiola, 2, 05016 Ficulle (Terni)
Tel 0763 838761
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