Borgo della Marmotta

Style

Rooted in rusticity

Setting

Picturesque Poreta hillside

Borgo della Marmotta is the kind of hotel you lose your heart (and your waistline) to. From a 17th-century hamlet, owner Filippo has created a rustic retreat that’ll soon have you under its Umbrian spell: romantic rooms with antique armoires and white-linened beds, tranquil olive groves and that deceivingly simple home-cooked fare that will never, ever, taste as good at home. You’re perfectly perched here for day trips to Spoleto, Assisi and Perugia, or you can just give in to the languid pace, take leisurely laps in the shrub-ringed pool and ask for another glass of spumante, per favore.

Facilities

Rooms

20, including six suites.

Checkout

9am. Earliest check-in, 10.30am. Reception is open between 9am–1pm and 2pm–8pm. Any guests arriving outside these times should notify the hotel in advance, and there's a €20 charge for check-in after 8pm.

More Details

Rates include breakfast (a generous Continental spread), served in what was once an animal pen (don't worry, it was a while ago).

Also

The hotel runs an olive tree adoption scheme – take a tree under your wing (from €100 a year) and you’ll be signing up to a regular supply of Umbria’s ‘green gold’.

Hotel Closed

Over Christmas.

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pet Friendly

Pool

On-Site Restaurant

Spa

At the Hotel

Gardens, library, free WiFi in communal areas. In rooms: flatscreen TV, minibar and Erbario Toscano products.

Our Favourite Rooms

Opt for a Superior Garden Room, for obvious reasons. All the rooms (each one set in its own building) are sensitively designed, with an emphasis on natural materials: ceilings striped with dark wooden beams, exposed stone walls, terracotta floors, wicker chests, local linen and cotton. Beds are either chunky doubles splashed with colour or delicate four-posters, and all rooms come with a private patio. Filippo’s mother is responsible for the interior design – she even painted the watercolours on the walls.

Poolside

A vine-clad pergola leads to the Bondi-blue T-shaped pool, surrounded by lush greenery and overlooking Poreta and Castello di Spoleto. Dark wood recliners punctuate the pool edge, blending in with the trees and shrubbery. Guests should note that the outdoor, unheated pool is open seasonally, from 1 June–30 September.

Packing Tips

Leave plenty of room in your suitcase – and fill it with bottles of the hotel’s own olive oil (Moraiolo, Frantoio or Leccino are all luscious blends), squeezed from the plump olives dangling in the garden.

Children

This hotel is better suited to couples.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

Rise early to nab one of the tables outside, and watch the hens pecking around the garden. Clusters of olive trees provide plenty of shady options, too.

Dress Code

Fit farmer: linen and lumberjacks. If you’ve always had a yen to do so, now is the time to wear a straw hat and dungarees.

Hotel Restaurant

The owners provide a delicious – mainly home-made – breakfast spread of sweet croissants, conserves, cold cuts and cheeses. The breakfast room has plenty of original details: intricate stone work, a beamed ceiling, and an imposing fireplace. A simple but oh-so-good lunch and three-course set dinner menu (updated daily) is served every day except Tuesday and Wednesday; dishes include radicchio pie with pecorino cheese and pork loin with plums. When the restaurant's closed, ask Filippo for local recommendations.

Hotel Bar

There’s no set bar, but there’s a respectable line-up of spirits on a tray in the cosy lounge. Just help yourself, and log your liquors.

Room Service

None – this is a very relaxed affair.

Planes

Sant’Egidio Perugia (PEG) is 40km away. Catch an internal flight or fly from London Stanstead with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com).

Trains

Spoleto is 10km away, and connects to Rome, Florence, Ancano and Milan (www.trenitalia.com).

Automobiles

Spoleto is a 10-minute drive away. The hotel has plenty of free parking (watch out for the hens, though).

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Take a tour of the family’s olive oil factory with Filippo, and choose an olive tree to ‘adopt’. Filippo will distribute advice on how to produce your own olive oil. The hotel can organise cookery classes for groups of up to 20, along with hunting, horse riding, bike rides and treks. Stock up on antipasti from the local delis to use as toppings for a home-made pizza, and test the hotel’s outdoor pizza oven. Go truffle hunting in autumn – Spoleto is famous for its black truffle. Unwind (literally) with a yoga class. Having exhausted the hotel’s extras, go exploring: seek out the ancient towns and villages nearby, such as Assisi (39km away) and Perugia (56km). In June and July, Spoleto holds its music and opera festival (Festival dei Due Monde); soak up the sounds with a concert or two. Go on a day trip to Porto Ercole, a beautiful fishing village two hours away by car.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .