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General Information October 2010

The building and its location

Casa Capella is a rustic family home, complete with its idiosyncrasies. The retention of much of its original rustic construction and layout contributes to its character. However this could present some possible hazards, especially to babies, small children, and the elderly. (for example uneven steps, unguarded stairs, low sill heights, etc.) Children will need supervision.

Although capable of sleeping more, the house is let on the basis of a party size of no more than six people occupying the property at one time. We are sorry, but we are unable to accept pets.

Our neighbours are all Italian, friendly and respectful of privacy. The house itself is back to back with another, quietly occupied on and off. The chapel was restored in 2001, and may occasionally be used by a few of the locals for a Mass.

How to get there

If travelling by road, the distance from the channel ports is about 1000 miles.

Travel by air will most likely be via Perugia, Rome, Pisa, Bologna, Forli, Rimini or Ancona and from which you can expect a car journey of respectively 30 mins., 2½, 3, 3, 1½, 2½, or 2 hours. The house is some 2 km above the medieval monastery or 'Badia' (itself c.3 km south of Umbertide), on the road signposted up to the 'Eremo da Monte Corona'. To avoid confusion detailed instructions will be sent to you when a firm booking has been made and the full fees paid. Parking is available for a maximum of two cars.

Arrival & Departure

Unless otherwise arranged, bookings are from Saturday to Saturday. In order to allow time for preparation for new tenants, we require that departure is not later than 10.00am and arrival not before 5.00pm. Keys will be sent to from the U.K you before your departure; to be returned to us in the post on your return.

Services, Furnishings & Equipment

Casa Capella is served by local mains water from Monte Corona, which were completely overhauled in 1993. In, or after, times of drought there may be occasional interruptions or drops in water pressure, which also effect the operation of the hot water supply.

Hot water is available via gas fired instantaneous boiler. The dining room has a wood-burning stove. The bedrooms and living / dining room also have gas fired heaters. There is an ample supply of lamps and electrical fittings, a compact disk/cassette player, tv, ironing board and iron.

There is a telephone for your use for incoming calls, for local calls (starting 075), for calls to us or on our behalf, and for other outgoing calls with pre-paid telephone charge cards (which can be purchased at local tobacconists). Although your telephone usage will be monitored at the exchange, we ask that other outgoing calls without use of a pre-paid card are avoided.

The house is let inclusive of all charges for reasonable use of electricity, wood, gas for hot water and cooking, and cold water. Likewise for gas fired heaters before 24 April & after 23 September (but between these dates at extra charge). We reserve the right to make charges in addition where your party's use of any of these services is found to be unusually high. We ask you to bring your own beach towels. Bed linen, kitchen and bath towels will be provided, and if your stay is for longer than ten nights, we will provide a change of these each week. Additional linen used will be charged for. The house will be cleaned and the linen washed before and after your visit. In between, we leave it to you. We ask that you leave the property reasonably clean and tidy on your departure. There is no local collection of rubbish; and as elsewhere in rural Italy, you will need to regularly take your refuse up to the municipal bins at the top of the lane, to avoid invasions of mice, ants, etc..

Casa Capella is a family home; and during your stay we ask you care for the house and its contents as you would your own. Our Italian neighbours on the hillside (who have limited English) look after the house and garden in our absense. A full manual of hints, tips, appliance instructions and local information is provided in the property for your use during your stay, and we encourage our guests to contact us, or our Italian housekeeper nearby, for help if needs be.

Contract & Payment

A contract will exist between you and us once we have sent you written confirmation of your booking. We will send this once we have received a payment for, towards, or in connection with a rental of the property, in accordance with the terms set out below. All charges are in £ Sterling (GBP), and payments are generally required in £ Sterling (GBP), with cheques drawn on a British bank. Please make cheques out to N.C. & C.M. Eager.

By special arrangement, we also accept Bank Transfers in GBP (national or international), and IBAN transfers in Euro, subject to your meeting all associated costs. Likewise with International Bank Drafts in GBP, which will be accepted subject to clearance within 4 weeks of presentation. Please contact us for further terms & our account details if you wish to pay using one of these methods.

For a booking made in excess of six months before the house is to be rented, a non-refundable deposit of £100.00, against which further payments will be offset , will, on our acceptance, reserve the property for the period you require up until six months before that rental period starts. Otherwise, for a booking made more than 8 weeks in advance, payment may be made in two stages :

For us to confirm your booking we ask for the names of all adults staying, the address and contact numbers of the person making the booking on behalf of the rental party, and an initial non-refundable payment of not less than 30% of the rent for the total rental period, or £110, whichever is the greater.

We require receipt of the balance of the rent (and any other advance charges), together with the deposit against damage/breakages and extras - the "breakages deposit" (generally £150) -, all not later than 6 weeks before the start of the rental period.

If you fail to pay the due charges and the breakages deposit by the due date, we reserve the right to cancel your booking and retain any funds already sent.

For bookings made 8 weeks or less in advance, the total rent and any other advance charges due, together with the breakages deposit, will be required to have been received by us before we confirm your booking.

To satisfy Italian and European regulations, we are obliged to notify the local police as to the names and full details of the rental party (names, d.o.b’s, passport details); and you are obliged to provide forthwith, such information on our request. Rather than impose on you to fill in forms on arrival, when you are settling in, we will usually ask you for these details in advance before your rental starts.

The breakages deposit is refundable, and will normally be returned to you, less any bank transfer/draft charges and international postal charges, within 28 days of your returning the keys to us after the end of your rental period. We also reserve the right to deduct from this deposit (and if necessary charge you in addition) for any chargeable service not already paid for (e.g. heating, use of telephone, additional linen and/or towels); for any loss to us resulting from losses, breakages, or damage caused to the property or contents during your stay; for any unusually high consumption of fuel; and also for the cost of any extra cleaning if the property is left in an unreasonable state.

If you cancel your booking after having paid all charges but before the start of your rental period, and confirm the cancellation to us in writing, we will return your breakages deposit and, without any obligation on us to do so, will generally try and find another party to take the house for the period. If, as a result, we secure a rental, and receive rental monies for the period you booked in excess of your non-refundable deposit, we will return such excess to you less our costs.

We reserve the right to notify you before acceptance of your booking if there are any changes to the details or prices set out. The Conditions and Terms of Contract, and all matters arising therefrom, are subject to English law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of English courts.