Amazingly we still have good availability in late July this year, so it could be you poolside at Bellaugello
Click on the link below to choose your room, check prices and book, and you could be joining in the fun. https://www.reconline.com/ibe/reco/?bs=30003&idhotel=44593
Some years, now I guess decades ago the comune of Gubbio decided to “re-model” the piazza of S Giuseppe, known to many as the home of the church to Terence Hill – or “Don Matteo”. They called in the architect Gae Aulenti a Milanese architect who radically modernised the space. What had been a lowly market space, she remodelled into a trendy piazza with water feature and olive trees used in an architectural way.
Now, at Christmas time with the rainbow coloured lights I think this is a delightful space, however a dear friend of mine absolutely detests the use of trees in an architectural setting. So since forever, apart from the two happy yew trees that I style in my garden, one as a cone which you can see in the first photo, and is much admired and commented on, the other on the way to the Jacuzzi terrace a pyramid, all be it a bit lop sided pyramid I have avoided architectural plants.
Until this spring.
Dear Greta Thunberg is so right, global warming is a terrifying tangible fact of life.
I have noted how my annual bedding plants do not bring summer colour, but really struggle in the hot sun. Ten years ago I could fill pots with geraniums, surfinias, lobelia, pelargoniums. They would cascade over th posts and down walls and onto lawns. But over recent years no matter how much tender loving care and watering we give them, they just suffer. It is unfair.
The cute olive trees were sitting in prime location in the garden centre and they had a ‘we want to come home with you’ label on them, so they did. I planted them up and put them in the large urns on the main terrace. I love the effect, they look great and they should love the heat, May is flowering time and they are generous in their flowers. Maybe we can add their fruit to the olive harvest this autumn. But there is one tiny problem, each time I look at them I think of my dear friend and wonder if she is looking askance. Hmmm…
It is magical to pass by the bee hive and hear the loud buzzing of the bees as they come and go from their gaily painted pink home. This morning I was out feeding the chickens and as I passed by all was silent This afternoon coming g up from the Jacuzzi it was a ‘hive’ of activity. There was a smattering of sun and having been exploring the cherry blossom and flowers on the rosemary the bees were happily buzzing too and fro.
My first Bee video!
Come taste the honey it is delicious. You will find it on our breakfast table. Book your stay HERE
Every day brings a new surprise in the garden, another fruit tree bursting into flower. The bees are spoilt for nectar, and with the warm sun they fly determinedly from petal to petal. Song Birds are nesting in the tall Cypress trees, that now show above the roof at Bellaugello. Did I really bring them home in the front seat of the Cinquecento… It does not seem possible. Neither does it seem possible the garden was planted less than fifteen years ago.
Anyway, I digress, we have been busy cleaning and readying Bellaugello Gay Guest House for you and your friends. The leaves, mountains of them have been swept and blown away, a huge pile ready to become leaf mould to fertilise future plantings. The Pressure Washer has been out. Terraces cleaned, pool surround too. Yesterday we took the sunbeds and our fabulous pink and white candy stripe umbrellas out to the pool. Of course we just had to strip off and check out the sunbeds in the afternoon sun.
The delight of being clothing free is always a joy and here at Bellaugello you can be totally clothes free.
It’s a great environment for a holiday and to work in
As we worked conversations inevitably hovered around body image and confidence. Despite what you see on Twitter and Insta far from everyone has a perfect set of defined abs, a cute bubble butt and envy creating dick.
Some guys Booking Bellaugello are new to public nudity, even in the showers at the gym they find it hard to be naked in front of others. Coming to sa clothing optional resort you understandably can be nervous about taking your clothes off in public. Don’t be, once you are naked it becomes relaxingly comfortable and liberating.
My guests come in all shapes and sizes, fellow guests do not judge, and different builds attract different guys. Some of us are hairy, do we shave or trim or stay furry, Some are smooth, maybe a pubic bush, maybe not. Tattoos piercings, including PAs are on show, as are cockrings, maybe metal maybe rubber, they all have a place. If you wear a cock cage, or use ball weights do not be shy, go for it. Worried about getting a hard-on? Don’t be, hard-ons are natural and beautiful. And if you just feel you are ‘mr average’ with not even a tiny tatto be happy, you are in great company.
Enjoyed the post? Leave a comment, let’s open the discussion. If you have questions please ask. Either by posting a comment or contacting me through the website.
I’m often asked what is the easiest way to cum to Bellaugello. Whilst I adore train travel, and especially the Freccia Rossa service from Paris to Milano, be decadent splash out and travel Executive Class there are only 10 luxury seats in the carriage and steward service. I also like the NightJet sleeper services from all over Europe to Florence and Rome, via Munich.
However I realise many of you guys need to travel by air. So here to help is the Summer 2023 destination map of.
Our local airport, Perugia S Francesco d’Assisi is small but perfectly formed, and a mere 45 minute drive to Bellaugello.
You can create a two or three destination holiday – Beach and Bellaugello include Sicily, Malta and Sitges
The timetable is in Italian but I’m sure you can easily translate the destination points.
Here is a link to the: Perugia Airport Website to find out more. Car rental desks are also present when the flights land and depart.
As well as other companies flying to the airport Lufthansa offer a daily flight from Munich to Ancona Airport, just one hour over the Apeninnes in Le Marche.
Further away are Florence and Rome Fiumincino airports with much wider choice of flights. Florence is handy from Scandinavian countries, Rome, for you guys from over the Atlantic and points further. Both are about 3 hours drive to Bellaugello.
We are happy to arrange a car and driver to meet you at any of the airports and bring you to Bellaugello. Our driver charges €75 for the trip from Perugia Airport or station to Bellaugello and €340 from either Rome or Florence to Bellaugello. You pay him direct, and he speaks English.
Cum on, book that flight and book your Bellaugello Break, it could be you in our pool
Sunday 26th March 2023
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As a Scotsman I never, in my wildest dreams, dreamt to one day be climbing into the branches of an olive tree in Umbria, Italy, let alone my olive trees to be picking olives to make my own Olive Oil. But it is a reality.
Toward the second half of October I look out the nets, crates and ladders and other paraphernalia ready to take them all to the Olive trees and together with friends start the olive harvest. It’s a task I adore. Increasingly we pick earlier each year. I remember days when it was bitterly cold and the wind was biting. With global warming we now start earlier, the olives are ready sooner, the mills open, and we generally pick in just T shirts and shorts. To date I’ve not attempted naked picking, it may happen, who knows….
I’m not going to write too much of the procedure here, I wrote extensively in the past, so scroll back through my posts a good few years and you can learn exactly how we pick and press the olives, and what is my favourite meal of the year.
So nets spread on the ground we pick in company. Some on the ground reaching up into the lower branches, some on ladders propped on sturdy and sometimes not so sturdy branches, and some of us climbing into the trees. It is a delightful sociable time. Lots of gossip, laughter and scandal. Frequent breaks always refreshed by a bag of apples, those small rosy ones picked off the trees that grow wild in the valley, crisp and juicy.
Picking done, it can take some days, we head off to the Frantoio in our local town of Gubbio. We still go to Frantoio Rossi, read about the procedure in a previous post. The process is traditional, as it always has been. I know the vogue is for laboratory sterile air-free mills, but we are dealing with a foodstuff. We pick with love and I think the olives deserved to be treated with a bit of dignity, not as a laboratory experiment.
Anyway back home with our green gold we toast saltless Umbrian bread over the wood fire, rub the slices with garlic and sprinkle with salt before dousing the bread liberally in what is green peppery pungent oil. The peppery green-ness subsides after a couple of weeks, so it is always magical dinner washed down with local red wine.
Here at Bellaugello Gay Guest House we sprinkle our oil over salads, we cook with our oil, we bake focaccia and other breads with our oil. Our oil is an ingredient in our ‘Panzanella’ a cold sunup crammed full of fresh fresh vegetables, and our oil has been known to be used as a sun cream…
We put a small bottle of our Olive Oil in the rooms here at Bellaugello. Each room has a kitchen corner, so it seems fitting to give you a taster of our oil to smother on your tomatoes, mozzarella and salads.
We also have Bellaugello Olive Oil for sale in the guesthouse. Bottles of 250ml and 500ml. Great for your kitchen and great for gifts. Pick some up when you stay Bellaugello
You wake us as the sun peaks through the window, it’s going to be another glorious day. Stumble out of bed, I hope you have slept naked. Grab a thick fluffy towel from the large bathroom of your suite. Open the main door and wander onto your private terrace. A long languorous stretch, a flex of arms and maybe a yawn and repositioning of your jewels. Walking a few paces, you admire the large view, the tranquillity punctuated by the sound of wild birds and buzzing of bees feeding greedily on nectar. There is a splash… is that guys swimming already in the infinity pool, maybe you go and check.
A walk over the lawns, underfoot deliciously damp with morning dew to the pool, the water crystal clear and sparkling, and seemingly falling over the infinity edge, into the mist lingering languidly low in the valley below. Wow! this pool is stunning, the views huge and the sunbathing space generous. No, it is not guys swimming but one of the Bellaugello team taking Hagbard the pool robot out of the water. Overnight Hagbard has worked to clean the pool. Yes, this magical place even has a name for the pool robot cleaner.
A slow saunter back to your suite, and flick the lever on the outdoor shower. Immerse yourself in delicious hot water, heated ecologically by the solar panels that Bellaugello use.
Yours could be the shower on the private terrace of the spacious Giardino Suite, the duplex room with huge commanding views south over the valley towards Monte Subasio and Assisi. The room is just a few paces down the lawn from the swimming pool, the terrace enjoys sun almost all of the day. As well of the shower you will find there sun loungers and a table with chairs so you can eat ‘al fresco’ or, if you must work or surf the internet there is, like over all the property a good wifi connection.
Maybe you have reserved the Azzurro Suite, the room with not only a terrace but also a small private garden with sun loungers. The Azzurro Suite is in the oldest part of the house, traditional in feel, and many windows so making it light and airy. The suite overlooks the swimming pool with views to the Apennines. The shower is decked with wisteria, the long pendulous violet flowers fragrant and blowsy every May.
Like the outdoor shower of the Giardino Suite, this shower is not totally public, nor totally private, but has oodles of delicious hot water.
Works by Il Perugino A major exhibition at the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria runs from 4th March to 11th June 2023
Following a major renovation programme the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria – the National Gallery of Umbria which sits in a very prominent position in the main Corso of Perugia finally re-opened in a much enlarged form last year. I suggested, when in the city, to take time and visit the museum to many of my guests, all of whom returned to Bellaugello very enthusiastic about the experience. I thought it about time I went myself, and finally got to visit earlier this week which fortunately coincided with a major exhibition of early works by the 15th century Umbrian painter Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci from Castel della Pieve, known as “Il Perugino”.
Walk up the Corso, the principal street of Perugia, our regional capital and one quickly sees that this is a proud, strong and elegant city with centuries of history. Elegant buildings follow elegant buildings, the stone white with dappled grey streaks, mullioned windows and heavy ancient doors lead up towards the Piazza IV Novembre, the large open space in front of the Duomo, which has in its centre the magnificent 13th century Fontana Maggiore, which decadently celebrates a strong water supply to the city.
The Duomo, or cathedral of San Lorenzo, is, like most in Umbria plain facade and took over two hundred years from laying the foundation stone to being consecrated. But I digress, back to the gallery;
Walk through two heavy imposing doors into the inner courtyard, pass by the bronze Griffin and the Lion, symbols of the city that after centuries of living on the wall of the Sala dei Notari – the city chambers have now been retired. Their places having been taken by more recent copies, and head left to the ticket office and inevitable gift shop.
The ticket, which includes the entire museum and the Il Perugino exhibition is good value at €10
Now the steady climb, past the council chambers, you are walking a broad staircase with well-worn marble steps. Climb to the third floor, the signage is not the best, and you are greeted by different spaces, some light, some dark, hand over your ticket and enter the room which commences with paintings by contemporaries of Perugino.
The exhibition is brilliantly curated by Marco Pierini and Veruska Picchiarelli and includes at the end a video display showing the skills and attention to detail and huge amount of work of some of the extensive team behind the exhibition.
A picture tells a thousand words, so here are a selection of some of the paintings that hit my eye.
So, many more paintings some from The National Galleries of UK France and Germany the exhibition continues.
I all to briefly continued through the extensive galleries in the remainder of the museum, learning about paintings architecture and furniture. A few pictures follow, and of course no blog post on paintings would be complete without a painting by a follower of Caravaggio.
The Perugino exhibition runs until 11th June, tickets including the entire gallery complex is €10.
To learn more:
Click here for the website of the National Gallery of Umbria
When you leave, cross the Corso and head to Sandri, the most traditional café in Perugia, glorious painted ceiling, elegant staff, superb coffee and sublime cakes and exquisite homemade chocolates
If you can tear yourself away from our infinity swimming pool within an hour’s drive you can be on top of the Apennines, in the Monte Cucco Regional Park, you can drive much of the way up the hill, leaving a few hundred metres to climb to the summit where you have views both westwards to Monte Amiata in Tuscany and eastwards to the Adriatic sea north of Ancona. This is a great starting point for a good hike.
Trails are well marked, and varying in degree of difficulty and steepness and length. Several are circular, and for the more adventurous some require leaving a car in a different spot to where you begin.
Oh, and yes, there are also many good mountain bike trails. We now have an agreement with an Bike rental in our local town of Gubbio. For €35 a day you can rent a mountain Bike with suspension so you have no need to bring your own.
The main vehicular access point to Monte Cucco is from the village of Sigillo, one of those villages nestling in the foothills. In years gone by Sigillo and its neighbouring villages including Costacciaro, Purello and Villa col dei Canali were alive with mills, all powered by water from the Apennines which tower above them. From grain to wood, to paper production, the mills were busy. Today there is only one water mill still in working order.
Anyway I digress. Take the narrow winding road SP244 that leads up and out of the village and after couple of km there is a car park on the right. Park there and put on decent pair of waterproof hiking boots. The route is easy, not steep, but at some point I will have you walking through a stream. The open woodland narrows, you follow the stream, at one point climbing with the aid of a metal ladder and handrail further into the gorge. You will walk in the stream for a few metres, before the gorge opens out and you find the source of the water, actually spouting out of a cleft in the rock. Those with lots of energy can continue, and climb up to the road above, returning by the road. I like to retrace myself steps back to the car.
If you drive on up the road shortly before you reach the summit car park you pass the observatory and IT masts, to me always so sinister looking, but I’m sure innocent.. I do however, maybe even hopefully, expect to see a character out of a James Bond movie fly out.
From the car park you have several hiking options. Climb to the summit and return to the east passing the entrance to the Grotto of Monte Cucco, an extensive, deep cavern system which can be visited by guided tours. The views to the north and east over the neighbouring region of Le Marche are large and dominant.
Or head directly eastwards and into scrunchy Beechwoods in the Val di Ranco. You can then either continue down towards the remote village of Pascelupo (where you have arranged to have a car meet you!) or turn southwards and head into the restaurant at Tobia, where they cook great rustic food over a wood fire. Very welcome on chillier spring or autumn days,
A successive post will take me to the other side of the park, to Isola Fossara and Pascelupo, two villages deep in the Apennines that time has forgot, and to two remote abbeys. There is just so much to explore when staying Bellaugello
One of the greatest joys for me is seeing just how guys love their time at Bellaugello. Often arriving stressed and tired, guys soon remember how to relax and restore a sense of sanity. We are situated in a magical valley, you have space, quiet, a stress-free environment where you will be in the company of like minded men to simply enjoy your vacation.
I am so lucky in having so many fabulous men staying at Bellaugello. I’m so happy to have made all the friends I have made in the years I have been opening my home to guys from all over the world. So, so many of you guys have become firm friends. I see familiar names in the reservation book and am already looking forward to meeting again, catching up on news and gossip and a glass or two of local wine.
The guys in the photo are from Scandinavia and took this pic during a stay in April. Next thing I knew was they were in the pool…..
…and of course between dips in the pool, there was a quick dash to our Finnish Sauna
And so Bellaugello awakes, the season begins, guests arrive and yet further friendships are made.
Oh! and don’t worry if you are a single guy, not all of us are partnered, not all of us holiday with our partners. As a single man you will be warmly welcomed at Bellaugello. Many single guys stay Bellaugello, and many return again and again, soo good.
Maybe you are a thruple, we have beds large enough to comfortably accommodate you. During the booking process simply change the number of guests as appropriate. If you are coming as a thruple, please let me know you wish to share a bed, or are simply three friends preferring separate beds.
You are all equally welcome