Where to Stay in Italy: Visiting La Segreta in Umbria
How I Found the Umbrian Countryside’s Best-Kept Secret (And Almost Didn’t Want to Share It)
There are places you stumble upon, and then there are places that feel like they chose you. La Segreta, a 70-acre estate in the rolling green heart of Umbria, is firmly in the latter camp. It doesn’t just whisper sweet nothings through its olive groves and lavender bushes — it practically sings you an aria while handing you a glass of fizzy rosé.
I arrived at La Segreta in the tiny town of Collazzone expecting a charming farmhouse stay. What I found was a deeply personal love story written combined with twenty years of grit. I’ve also, like many of us who have called Florence home for decades, have a growing disillusion with the mass tourism approach that our city has taken, crowds upon crowds on any given day and high rents, too many short term rentals and golf carts and just cheap souvenir/gelato shops masquerading as artisans. This is why I think it is quite important to remind people that there are fabulous places beyond Tuscany that deserve merit and your visit.
Restoration Meets Revelation
When owner Eileen Holland and her husband Lorenzo bought this plot of Umbrian wilderness in the late ’90s (yes, in lira), there wasn’t much more than a crumbling shell: no roof, no windows, just a big, audacious dream. “It would take a day just to find the right nail,” Eileen laughed, recalling the early dial-up-internet days of restoration with three small kids in tow and a road that washed out so often they’d have to walk the rest of the way home. (That road is now paved — hallelujah.)
Their first major project, The Farmhouse, became a labor of love (and muscle memory), tackled bit by bit set on 70 acres of olives, vines and woodlands. And when it came time to transform La Casetta, their second guesthouse, they began… one week before Italy went into Covid lockdown. Of course they did. It was worked on “in bits and spurts,” but by then, they had the town behind them — literally. Each has its own pool, terraces, outdoor kitchens, and of course, AC.
La Segreta isn’t just Umbrian in look. It’s Umbrian in essence. Eileen worked with local artisans on every detail — the beds, the drapes, the linens, the ironwork — each made by hand, often by people who live just a few villages over which is something I truly respect. The soap is handmade. The olive oil is pressed within 24 hours of the harvest. Even the ceramics were custom-designed and crafted nearby in Deruta, a town with a 500-year legacy of clay and glaze, and also a delightful place to have lunch and a cheeky wander.
Eileen for me is a breath of fresh air, energetic and positive but is a person who can most definitely keep it real when it comes to the daily hurdles life can throw at you in Italy. Basically you know, our kind of people.
Nico, Annabelle and I were invited to visit La Segreta’s farmhouse for a few days with my friends Kat and Isaac last June during their annual summer festival and it was a sublime experience for us. We got the chance to explore Todi and Deruta and take silly photos in the vineyard as you do when you’ve had a few glasses of wine. There were fireside jenga games and long conversations, it was perfect.
My favorite part was simply rocking up and joining a village happy hour at the one tabaccheria/bar in town and a no frills delicious dinner at the local Trattoria Al Leone. Eileen and Lorenzo know basically everyone and have completely integrated and it made me think that there is a sense that there are people who think they want to live in Italy versus those who actually do and make it happen a place as small as this one.
La Segreta is the Best Kind of “Secret”
Let’s be honest: you don’t come to Umbria for minimalism. You come for feast and feeling. La Segreta delivers both in spades. You might start your morning with a cappuccino roasted by a tiny family-run business near Lake Trasimeno (Eileen’s find!), nibble toast drizzled with house olive oil, then stroll into the village for a spritz with Eileen’s neighbors — the ones who actually play bocce in the piazza. The pasta is made from wheat in their fields, eggs from their backyard, and the honey is produced by a family near Assisi that has set up bee hives in Eileen’s organic vineyard.
Afternoons are for sun-drenched swims, garden strolls (yes, you can harvest your own tomatoes and rucola), and maybe a well-earned nap. One hidden gem? A jasmine-covered outdoor tub off the Farmhouse bedroom that’s basically tailor-made for golden hour.
Evenings? Pure magic. Think: pasta rolled by a private chef, grilled meats cooked over a wood-burning brazier, and a bottle (or two) of Agri Segretum’s own red wine, best enjoyed while watching the sun dip behind Piedicolle from a medieval stone wall. At La Casetta, that’s just a short stroll away with a bottle under your arm.
And yes, that hidden pool? It’s still a surprise, even after you know it’s there.
Seasons of Segreta
Each season here is a chapter in an ever-evolving story.
Spring means wildflowers, white wisteria, and asparagus hunting.
Summer is all grilled dinners, late-night swims, and town feste.
Autumn brings truffle hunts, wine harvests, and olive oil so fresh and fragrant it’ll ruin supermarket bottles forever. Guests are welcome to join the picking — or watch their olives get pressed at the frantoio like honorary locals.
Winter? Quiet, fireside, introspective — best with a bottle of red and a simmering stew.
The Soul of Umbria
There’s something special about the genuine-ness of this area. You’re off the radar but never out of touch. Montefalco, Todi, Perugia — all within 30 minutes. Florence and Rome? Two hours. But even better are the under-the-radar gems: Leo’s Umbrian prosciutto at the local trattoria, San Francesco’s frescoes in Montefalco (Gozzoli and Perugino, all to yourself), and the kind of e-bike rides that leave your quads screaming and your heart singing.
Guests always rave about the same thing: how it all feels personal. From the fizz of their seasonal pink wine Cinino, to the sachets of homegrown lavender and jars of honey left as gifts, to the olive oil in the kitchen that you'll be begging to bring home in a suitcase.
Final Thought:
La Segreta isn’t a hotel. It’s a lived-in fairytale, restored by hand, with stories tucked into every stone and Eileen and Lorenzo go above and beyond for their guests You come here for peace, but you leave with a pantry full of good olive oil and wine, a head full of memories, and a sneaky plan to return next fall — when the truffles are back, and the wine is just beginning to blush.
But be warned: it’s the kind of place you tell your closest friends about… and then secretly hope they don’t book your dates.
Great piece, Georgette! La Segreta sounds idyllic. It’s been a while since I was in Umbria and this is exactly the kind of place that would lure me back!
You capture La Segreta’s magic perfectly, Georgette!! Beautiful piece!