The Ca' Matra Farm Holiday
The Ca' Matra Farmhouse is close to the town of Cittą di Castello, in the province of Perugia. It is located at the base of the Umbrian-Tuscan Apennines, where Pliny the Younger used to have his villa.
The farmhouse and the outbuildings have been recently renovated, in order to make them cozy and comfortable for incoming guests. Nonetheless, the renovation hasn't altered the original general appearance of the place, and the materials used in the construction are the same.
The main building was built around a 12th Century Lombard observation tower, and is now divided into three apartments, each offering two bedrooms furnished with simplicity, according to the rural tradition, and two more independent rooms.
The garden surrounding the farmhouse is decorated by native trees (cypress, field maple, hornbeam, pomegranate, European cornel) and hedges (viburnum, arbutus, boxwood, rosemary, laurel) that enrich the environment and offer shelter to robins and wrens.
We dedicated special attention to the rose garden, a place where colours and scents blend together in a beautiful mix, and to the grove, where we grow endangered fruit trees organically.
The swimming pool is located in one of the corners of the garden, blending in perfectly with the surrounding natural environment.
It offers a unique panoramic view of the High Tiber Valley and its hills where the medieval towns of Monte Santa Maria Tiberina, Citerna, and Anghiari rest.
Pliny the Younger
Pliny the younger was one of the most interesting personalities of the Flavian era. He was born in Como in 61 AD, and was able to study law thanks to an inheritance from an uncle. For some trials, he collaborated with Tacitus whom he held in very high regard; in fact, he held him in such high regard that once, during a trial, Pliny gave a speech of appreciation about Tacitus, instead of giving his speech against the defendant.
We were touched by how, in a letter to Domitius Apollinaris, Pliny described the area where our farmhouse is located, near his Villa in Tuscis:
"The features of the country are exceedingly beautiful. Picture yourself an immense amphitheatre, that only nature could create. Before you lies an open and endless plain surrounded by a range of mountains whose summits are covered with tall and ancient woods... But though there is plenty of water, there are no marshes; for being on a slope, whatever water the ground receives without absorbing runs off into the Tiber... you see now the reasons why I prefer my villa in Tuscis to those which I possess in Tusculum, Tiber, and Praeneste."
