Agriturismo Ristorante Calagrana — Restaurant in Umbertide

We stayed for 2 nights at Calagrana on our recent 3 week trip to Italy and had a lovely time. As the review title says, the welcome is wonderfully warm, the accommodations are comfortable and the food at the onsite restaurant is absolutely excellent. ||||Location - Calagrana is set on top of a small hill providing wonderful views of the surrounding Umbrian countryside. It feels pleasantly rural and 'off-the-beaten-track' despite being very well-positioned for visits to Perugia, Gubbio, Sansepolcro and Arezzo which are all within an hour's drive. The last 1.5 km to get to the agriturismo are on an unpaved road but it is sufficiently well-maintained that a normal family car will have no trouble (although you may not want to risk your low-slung sports car).||||Facilities - We had a lovely large room (called Mentuccia) which had a raised sleeping area with a very comfortable kingsize bed as well as a substantial living area with a small sofa and a writing desk. The bathroom is also a good size but could do with some updating. The shower is a shower-in-bath arrangement which I personally dislike (they always feel dangerous to me). I believe that one of the rooms (Paprika) does offer a walk-in shower so if you share my prejudice, you can ask for that one - it was unfortunately unavailable during our stay due to an electrical problem in the room. Mentuccia does come with access to an absolutely charming balcony/terrace where we sat out for some blissful hours on our first evening. Be aware though that it is shared with the room next door. The property also offers a lovely-looking pool - I can't comment in detail as it wasn't pool-weather during our stay. ||||Restaurant - this is, in my opinion, the standout feature of a stay at Calagrana. The food is sophisticated and uniformly excellent and the restaurant space itself is comfortable and friendly. It is clear that it is hugely popular with local residents and was completely full on the evening we ate there. Definitely make sure that you ask Ely to book you in for all the evenings of your stay. We only did one dinner and regretted that we hadn't been able to do both. There is a very nice wrap-around terrace which offers excellent views, although it was sadly too windy during our stay to sit out (we made do with the very cosy interior) - a good visit for us to revisit in summer! ||||Ambience - a key element of the charm of a stay at Calagrana is the warm family welcome that you experience - Ely and Alberto are delightful hosts and their young son and even the dogs all add to the sense that you're staying with some friends who have a lovely farm in the Italian countryside. We were travelling with our own dogs which is sometimes a stressful experience, but we were immediately put at our ease. This is definitely a fantastically dog-friendly place to stay and we will not hesitate to book ourselves in the next time that we're...

We stayed for 2 nights at Calagrana on our recent 3 week trip to Italy and had a lovely time. As the review title says, the welcome is wonderfully warm, the accommodations are comfortable and the food at the onsite restaurant is absolutely excellent. ||||Location - Calagrana is set on top of a small hill providing wonderful views of the surrounding Umbrian countryside. It feels pleasantly rural and 'off-the-beaten-track' despite being very well-positioned for visits to Perugia, Gubbio, Sansepolcro and Arezzo which are all within an hour's drive. The last 1.5 km to get to the agriturismo are on an unpaved road but it is sufficiently well-maintained that a normal family car will have no trouble (although you may not want to risk your low-slung sports car).||||Facilities - We had a lovely large room (called Mentuccia) which had a raised sleeping area with a very comfortable kingsize bed as well as a substantial living area with a small sofa and a writing desk. The bathroom is also a good size but could do with some updating. The shower is a shower-in-bath arrangement which I personally dislike (they always feel dangerous to me). I believe that one of the rooms (Paprika) does offer a walk-in shower so if you share my prejudice, you can ask for that one - it was unfortunately unavailable during our stay due to an electrical problem in the room. Mentuccia does come with access to an absolutely charming balcony/terrace where we sat out for some blissful hours on our first evening. Be aware though that it is shared with the room next door. The property also offers a lovely-looking pool - I can't comment in detail as it wasn't pool-weather during our stay. ||||Restaurant - this is, in my opinion, the standout feature of a stay at Calagrana. The food is sophisticated and uniformly excellent and the restaurant space itself is comfortable and friendly. It is clear that it is hugely popular with local residents and was completely full on the evening we ate there. Definitely make sure that you ask Ely to book you in for all the evenings of your stay. We only did one dinner and regretted that we hadn't been able to do both. There is a very nice wrap-around terrace which offers excellent views, although it was sadly too windy during our stay to sit out (we made do with the very cosy interior) - a good visit for us to revisit in summer! ||||Ambience - a key element of the charm of a stay at Calagrana is the warm family welcome that you experience - Ely and Alberto are delightful hosts and their young son and even the dogs all add to the sense that you're staying with some friends who have a lovely farm in the Italian countryside. We were travelling with our own dogs which is sometimes a stressful experience, but we were immediately put at our ease. This is definitely a fantastically dog-friendly place to stay and we will not hesitate to book ourselves in the next time that we're...

Calagrana is a world lass destination, made so by the amazing chef Alberto and his beautiful family who run the farm and restaurant. The Niccone Valley is one of the most picturesque places on earth, and the hotel as well as the restaurant have sweeping, dreamy views from the hillside. The accommodations were quaint, rustic, clean, and charming, just what you might imagine an ancient farmhouse to be. We had the Glicene apartment, which was perfect for us and the kids. The pool area is also quite beautifully situated, and a welcome respite from the hurried sightseeing of tourists like ourselves. The family who runs the place was delightful and friendly: a well-read proprietess, an even more well-read and charming daughter who helps in the restaurant, and an extremely precocious young man who made our trip even more special by his innate friendliness. ||But the real attraction of Calagrana is the food. This is a food destination, and chef and owner Alberto Chiappa is a tour de force of Italian cuisine. He is a pasta master, and taking a class (which we highly recommend) or even enjoying his food is like taking a painting class from Da Vinci. I can't imagine what it might be like when the local wild boar comes in. ||I won't wax nostalgic over the tagliatelle di tartuffo, the risotto with quail, the chicken-liver pate... Alberto presents a small but distinguished list of local wines as well. This place is run with precision and intention, and the food is either made onsite or locally sourced, and organic. Of course Alberto makes three kinds of bread daily, including focaccia, my God (now I'm remembering his warm croissants served during breakfast).||The only criticisms I have were that, in spite of the beautiful croissants, the breakfasts were somewhat sparse, with cold cereal and so on, and not a lot of variety. Also, the restaurant menu does not change substantially from one day to the next, although many of the menu offerings are different every third day or so. ||Still if you are looking for places to spend a week in Umbria, Agriturismo Calagrana should be on the top of your list. Sure, you can go more swanky for the digs, but you won't get better food, or a more pristine view of the Niccone Valley to sip...