the italy of the italians…
Thomas standing outside his ‘new’ home in Italy
You Are All Invited to My New House in Italy
18th - 26th June, 2026
A two bedroom house with its own church for sale in Italy for 17k? Ok what’s the catch? Well I felt the same when I first saw the advert back in December of last year. But four months later, having not visited it in person, but having completed everything online through my estate agent, I became the owner of a two centuries old farmhouse in the Lazio countryside only ninety minutes drive from Rome airport. It’s fair to say that having told the story a few times to my clients over the season, the link to the site where I found it, has been my most requested and most shared. This stuff actually is out there and what’s more, at Diamond Skies - we’d like to invite you to come visit with us as they say in the South.
Everyone has heard of these sorts of ‘ghost villages’ for sale in rural Italy and Spain. ‘I bought a village for one euro’ style articles have appeared in magazines and as the basis for TV series. Having lived now for ten years - just about the longest in one place - in Andalusia, I had begun to flirt with the idea of a change. It’s fair to say googling ghost villages, didn’t always throw up the results I was hoping for. However, I had subscribed to one site that scours the net for cheap properties throughout the Mediterranean and one day a picturesque stone cottage perched on a green hill, back in my beloved Italy caught my eye - the rest is quite literally ‘storia’.
Barge al fresco dining on our trip to the South of France this summer
This summer, Diamond Skies chartered our very own river peniche (barge) and embarked on our maiden cruise on the Rhone river and Sete canal in Southern France finishing up in Barcelona in Spain. Some of you reading this were fortunate enough to be on that trip - I say fortunate - as it was truly wonderful. An amazing crew, delicious cuisine and, as always with Diamond Skies clients, great company. I even brought my parents along on that trip, as I have always preached the merits of cruising on rivers. What perhaps surprised our clients the most, was the Camargue - the ‘Wild West’ of France. Its beauty, the people, the food and above all… if I had a penny for every time someone commented on how blissfully un-crowded it was, well. This was The Camargue - the where? Yes, not Paris, The Core d’Azure, the Alps, Nice, Normandy etc - not of the big hitters of France. This was under the radar, away from the crowds - and that’s what made it truly wonderful. Pezenas and Minerve were two other such places we went to, that similarly elicit a ‘where?’ that the group also fell in love with.
The lovely Minerve
And that’s the thing. Those of you who know me well and have travelled with me before will have heard my line about the modern tourist not descending from apes, but sheep. If you read the Diamond Skies newsletters - a big thank you to the many of you who do - you’ll have read my piece from my incredible trip to Scandinavia in low, low deepest, darkest season, January and how great an experience that was (despite the cold). In March, I drove my rental car the last miles along a countryside ‘strada bianca’ to my new front door - which I laid eyes on for the first time, house keys in hand and a signed deed in the glove compartment - what a feeling. But the best feeling of all? Discovering just what a wonderful, quiet, beautiful part of Italy I have accidentally made my new home. So? Well, me being me, I decided immediately to offer to share it with you all…
Some of the beautiful flowers in full bloom on my last visit
And so, The Green Heart of Italy trip was created - and this is it. I can’t wait to show you what a surprising corner of that great country, Northern Lazio and Umbria is. This is me inviting you to come and see for yourself - genuine, real, undiscovered, serene and inspiring Italy. It’s the unbranded trip. The trip is full of the ma and pa restaurants you know are best close to where you live, but tourists know nothing about. It’s the scenic drive you take your family and friends on when they come to visit, the secret spots that have always been known about by the locals, long before google maps and trip advisor.
Some delicious pizza with a view to drink in…
Tours now exist in Italy where the sheep (I am going to refer to them by their proper name as I know none of you would ever find yourselves on such a trip) have breakfast in Venice, stop for lunch in Florence and dine that same evening in Rome. I know, I know, crazy right? Yet they exist because they sell. And maybe people even have a good time on them as they know no different. To my shame, I have only been to the US once, to California, which I loved. If someone told me of a tour that was Boston, Nashville, New Orleans, Miami and Seattle, I’d say “wow that sounds cool”. You’d no doubt correct me, that, if that was over a week, it would be anything but ‘cool’. All of you I have met have told me about wonderful parts of the States I had never heard of within a short radius of where you live. I think every single one of you have said, if you come to visit we will show you x, y and z. Were you thinking we’d be driving tens of hours from your front door, just to see amazing parts of the country?
Glass of wine and yet another view…
On my second day of living in my new abode, I was told the story of how it was built by a gambler from near Bologna two hundred years ago. He’d cheated his way into some money, fled across the ‘border’ and settled here on this green hill, building a farm for himself and his family. As the story drew to a conclusion, there was a knock on my door and my ‘new’ neighbour - this was the first time I met him - offered to take me truffle hunting within minutes of said door, with his three little truffle dogs (something we will be repeating on our tour if you decide to join me). We struck black gold that day and him and his wife duly gifted me the very valuable find for my dinner that night - complete with recipe for how best to prepare it. It was perhaps my first exposure to, not the green, but the big heart of Italy that beats in these parts.
Some of the aforementioned truffles from my neighbour
So if you would like to hunt truffles in the heart of one of Italy’s famous truffle regions , enjoy a private cookery class with a Michelin starred chef, sample delicious wines, make chocolate in the lovely Perugia (home to Perugina chocolates), stay in beautiful luxury spa hotels in Perugia and Norcia and experience lesser-known Italy in June 2026, then click here.
I really hope to see you there.
A presto!
