WELCOME TO PEKKO

Everyone ask “What is PEKKO?” Actually Pekko is a Country House born from the obstinacy and passion of the two owners: Paolo and Tiziana.

 But Pekko is also Paolo’s imaginary friend that was present during all this childhood; he is a cheerful , naughty and mischievous child, to which Paul, of course, pointed all the blame of the pranks that combined. Even if many years are passed Pekko is always equal, blond and scamp, you will find him always playful in his playground, in the rooms of the Country House. Hide and seek, Blind man’s bluff, Spinning top and Kite are just some of his favorite games and his overwhelming enthusiasm will bring you in his world. The destiny is strange since Pekko is also the Finnish patron god of crops, in fact the first time we have been here the 3 hectares and more of olive groves were in a state of neglect and the building was almost uninhabitable due to the plants, unusable and partially collapsed. Maybe it was really Pekko to bring us here, to let us falling in love to the place and to persuade us to restore it. At the beginning may people, clearly not able to see the swan hide inside the ugly duckling, told us we were fools but the place history and the incomparable beauty of the landscape pleasing us from here fill us with the desire to bring this complex project to its end.

 It took two years of our life to have the field and the house back to their splendor becoming our and, if you would like, your home.

During the restructure we have been often surprised because several elderly people from the surroundings came to visit us, each one with a story tied to this field and to what once was a ruin. Stories tied to the toil, the sweat, the local bonds, the human relationships, the hospitality and the religion. We don’t have yet complete the historical picture but this place have been one of the hermitages founded by Carlo Carretto, also known as the Prophet from Spello. We don’t want to relate here the story of brother Carretto but in 1965 he settles in Spello where the Fraternità dei Piccoli Fratelli del Vangelo (Brotherhood of the Little Brothers of the Gospel) obtains the use of the former Franciscan monastery of San Girolamo, close to the cemetery. Soon Carretto’s spirit of initiative and the prestige who he enjoys let open the community to the acceptance of who, believers or not, wish to spend a period of reflection and of search of faith through prayer, manual work and exchange of experiences. To the convent where the Brotherhood reside several houses spread around mount Subasio are added and converted in hermitages and this house was just St. Eliseo. Carretto himself wrote “… a house where the olives are harvested. It is located in the middle of an olive grove which protect it from the wind coming from mount Subasio. It is a comfortable hermitage which can be used for families or serious people… so we send there the canons and the monsignors who want to experience the joy of seclusion!” 

La Country house

Pekko Country House has been converted from the part formerly used as hermitage, the external cleaned and consolidated let us to bring back to life the different shades of the typical pink stones of mount Subasio.

With the same stone both the historical center of Assisi and Spello have been built.

Wishing you a nice day or lulling in a resting pause, just in front of the rooms, there are our beloved plants of lavender, rosemary, juniper, (obviously) our olive trees and a landscape of unmatched beauty of the Umbra Valley.

The enlargement is connected to the original body by mean of a small arcade perfectly recalling the traditional architecture of the hamlets in the region. It frames the landscape of the underlying valley as a wonderful painting.

During the stay you will also enjoy of the magnificent view from the breakfast room and from the near terrace, both available also for private events.

The Cellar

We will be happy to show our guests the small cellar that contains the most precious treasure PEKKO EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL.
In the popular tradition of the Umbrian countryside, a slice of homemade bread, preferably toasted over the coals, and oil is not only a gesture of hospitality, but above all a gift made of passion and sweat.
For those who want to discover it, there is a taste waiting for you accompanied by the discovery of every secret hidden behind every drop.

The Pekko’s Country House is located inside an olive grove of more than 3 hectares

Those are mostly grown  of Moraiolo, which enjoys the excellent east-west facing, which is sunny all day.

The olive grove represents in an excellent way the terraced (gradonati) Umbrian olive groves.
The importance of the area lies in the historical persistence of a typical Umbrian culture, which has strongly characterized by many centuries the whole regional landscape, thanks to the work of remodeling of the slopes.The dorsal Assisi-Spoleto is one of the fruitful regional areas for the cultivation of olive trees, which dominates the landscape with a continuous band that has been moving toward the top of the forest fees, distancing himself from the valley floor.
On steeper slopes is visible terracing and lunettes. The terraced (gradonati) olive groves are today in good condition, both for the maintenance of the irregular layout, and for the preservation of many secular trees .

Patients care are needed to allow the growing on rocky cliffs, even where gravity seems to make impossible any form of agricultural activity.

It was necessary to work on steep slopes and stony, create one land shelves, the embankments, or give shape to small circular or semicircular terraces, bounded by stone walls, the lunettes precisely, meticulously and patiently built around individual plants d ‘olive, or even realize the terraced, using dry-stone and putting in place the stones one by one with an ancient craft made of precision, effort and much perseverance.

Once all this was done and  before to plant the olive trees, it was necessary to fill the back of the stone walls of land taken from the plain, carried far on the backs of donkeys and patiently put in place with the toil and sweat man.
This is an essential work to make possible at least those minimum cultural practices of which this tree, as well as frugal, still need and also to allow the harvest of precious fruit having the necessary space for the stairs that allow the collection of the drupes from the highest and more uncomfortable branches .

It is for the respect of the effort of many people and passion for our olives clinging to the pink stone of Mount Subasio (the sacred mountain of St. Francis)  that we obtain our oil!

The exposure  combined with the rocky composition of the soil allows the cultivation of high quality olives from which an excellent oil is produced.

The chemical analysis carried out  revealed parameters that place the olive oil at the top end either in quality and organoleptic properties.

The flavor also can be defined as medium-intense fruity, green type.

The taste is balanced with good bitter and spicy sensations.

In general, the sensory and compositional characteristics show that our oil is of high quality and meets the conditions necessary to be exploited and marketed in the best market segments.
Intensive oil and elegant at the same time, ideal as a dressing, but also for cooking.