Hi John,
Thanks for the kind invitation. I do believe a story about your> property would make an interesting article.
It turns out that Umbria is my favorite region of Italy and I looked long and hard for a property myself (I wish I had known of your site a couple of years> ago!) but eventually I bought a place in in the Lunigiana.
We seem to have somewhat parallel lives going here. The first house I ever rented in Europe was Calboccia, near you around Umbertide. I also know Bill Hocker, of model soldier fame; I worked with Bill on an archaeolgical project on Sardinia, where he was enlisted to do architectural drawings of the Nuraghe, while I handled the archaeology and the cooking.
I also have a website offering properties in the Lunigiana as a help to the agency from which I bought my house. I also attended the University for Foreigners in Perugia to work on my Italian. I really enjoyed your stories on Tunstill's Umbria. Not so different than life in the Lunigiana or in the interior of Sardinia for that matter. That category doesn't get a lot of page views but I'll write something on the joys of Umbria soon and maybe we can get something going on that. I'll be in Italy in late spring/early summer. Perhaps we can arrange a visit then. Thanks,
James Martin
Europe for Visitors http://goeurope.about.com/
http://goeurope.about.com/od/umbrialodging/index.htm