Montone is a rare village that’s just the right size. Big enough to have a bank, post office, shops and restaurants; small enough to allow the locals to stand around all day in the piazza debating the meaning of life. And San Paolo is, in our view, the best house in Montone!

It’s got everything you could wish, even a chapel and two gardens, when even one garden is considered a rarity in a medieval village. The chapel is still consecrated so the purchaser could offer weddings as a sideline. It’s not known how old the house is but it does have a small fresco and being on the edge of the village, in effect forming part of its walls, must make it several hundred years old. It was restored by the current owner many years ago with excellent taste and attention to detail and, with the furniture included, is ready to go.

The flight of stairs in the main picture lead to the front door, which opens into the sitting room, which is the central room of this floor: to the right is the dining room/kitchen and a scullery kitchen with door out to the hanging garden. To the left is a corridor to two bedrooms, a bathroom and the wonderful panoramic balcony. A spiral staircase leads from here to the lower floor with two more bedrooms and two bathrooms. There’s a historic fresco of the cross in an alcove on this floor.

The remainder of the lower floor is occupied by the chapel, entered through the arched door on the left of the facade. Buying a house with a chapel isn’t probably your first priority but it’s there if you’d like it. And you could always go into the weddings business.

Montone is perfectly placed in northern Umbria, handy for Umbertide, Perugia, Gubbio and all the sights of Tuscany. It’s a popular holiday destination, as Summer’s Leases can confirm, and the property could be offered for rent straight away to provide some immediate return. We think it’s an excellent proposition.