La Torre di Pila Wedding Videographer, Umbria

La Torre di Pila sits on a low hill in Pila, a village about ten kilometres southwest of the centre of Perugia. From the top of its stone tower you can see Perugia on one side, Assisi across the valley and, on a clear day, Lake Trasimeno. We have filmed a wedding here ourselves (the short film at the top of this page is from Anastasia and Artem's day), so this guide mixes the venue's history with what we saw on the ground. It covers the villa itself, how a wedding there usually runs, and why we like working in Umbria.

From watchtower to villa

The oldest part of the estate is a fifteenth-century watchtower. In the eighteenth century the Marchesi Monaldi, a Perugian noble family, built a large house with a garden around it. In the early twentieth century the property passed to the Bartoccini family and later to the Congregazione di Carità of Perugia.

The villa you see today mostly dates from 1930. Count Francesco Maria Guardabassi, a painter and singer from Perugia, bought the estate and hired the Roman architect Ugo Tarchi to rebuild it. Tarchi borrowed from Roman and Tuscan Renaissance residences and reworked elements of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Italian garden, the pond, the swimming pool and the open-air amphitheatre were added in those years, along with a four-kilometre aqueduct to bring water to the fountains.

During the Second World War the villa was occupied first by German and then by Allied troops, and it was looted and left empty for decades. In 1989 the Perugian entrepreneur Maurizio Petrini bought it and restored it. His family still owns and runs the estate, and the villa is listed as a building of historical interest.

What the estate looks like

The park covers about five hectares. Around the house there is a formal Italian garden with fountains and old trees, then the pool, a swan pond and the amphitheatre, which is a small outdoor theatre with stone seating.

Inside, the main rooms have frescoed walls and ceilings and are furnished with historic pieces. Walking through them feels like being on a period film set. The cover photo was taken in one of the bathrooms, which has green marble, a pink damask settee and a copy of Botticelli's Venus painted on the wall. The tower is now a furnished lookout room with the stone walls left exposed.

How a wedding at La Torre di Pila usually runs

The venue describes three main settings for the day:

• The ceremony in the outdoor amphitheatre, with the hills behind it.
• The aperitivo in the Italian garden or around the pool.
• Dinner in the garden, by the pool or in the frescoed rooms if the weather turns.

At the wedding we filmed, the symbolic ceremony took place in the amphitheatre, the aperitivo was served on the terrace, and dinner was set outside between the villa and the garden, by the main entrance. That layout kept guests moving through different parts of the estate during the day, which also gave the film more variety.

Both symbolic and civil ceremonies are possible here. For a legally binding civil ceremony, check the details with the venue and the Comune di Perugia well in advance.

The estate has its own guest accommodation, so part of the wedding party can sleep on site. At our wedding some guests stayed at the villa and the rest nearby. Wedding listings put a comfortable guest count at roughly 40 to 120 people. Catering, rentals and flowers usually come from outside suppliers, so most couples work with a planner.

How the villa looks on film

Our favourite spots were the historic rooms, the Italian garden and the amphitheatre. Umbria in the late afternoon gets a soft, golden light that falls across the hills for a long time before sunset. At La Torre di Pila the garden faces open countryside, so there are no buildings or roads in the background of most shots, only hills and, in the distance, Assisi and Perugia.

The house gives us a second set of backgrounds. Frescoed rooms, marble and painted furniture make the getting-ready part of the film look different from the outdoor scenes. You can hear the fountains in the garden, and that sound ends up in the film alongside the music.

Weather in the hills can change during the day, and that is not always a bad thing. On our wedding day it was sunny in the morning, then clouds came over during the ceremony, which gave us soft, even light on faces in the amphitheatre, and it cleared again for the sunset.

The drone works well here because the shape of the estate is easy to read from above: the tower, the house, the geometric garden and the park around it. We flew without restrictions after checking the airspace map for the date, which is worth doing for every wedding since rules can change.

Why we like filming in Umbria

Most destination couples in Italy look at Lake Como, Tuscany or the Amalfi Coast first. Umbria is next door to Tuscany and has a similar landscape of hills, olive groves and stone villages, with fewer crowds and quieter roads. Guests can spend the days around the wedding in Assisi, Perugia, Spello, Todi or on Lake Trasimeno, all within an hour's drive.

For us the region means long, unhurried golden hours and villas where the couple has the whole estate to themselves for the day. That gives a film more time and space than a busy hotel terrace.

Practical notes

• Getting there. Perugia San Francesco d'Assisi airport is the closest. Florence is around two hours away by car and Rome around two and a half hours, so many guests fly into one of those cities and drive.
• Where guests stay. Some rooms at the villa itself, the rest in Perugia, Assisi or the agriturismi nearby.
• Best months. May, June and September are the most comfortable for an outdoor ceremony. July and August are hot, so plan the ceremony for late afternoon.
• Parking and noise. There is enough parking for guests, and no road runs right next to the villa, so the ceremony and speeches are quiet.
• Contact. The estate is run by La Torre di Pila (latorredipila.it), and you book directly with them.

Frequently asked questions

Where is La Torre di Pila?

In Pila, a village in the comune of Perugia, Umbria, about ten kilometres from the historic centre of Perugia. The address is Strada della Torre 12.

How old is the villa?

The tower dates from the fifteenth century. The house was enlarged by the Monaldi family in the eighteenth century and rebuilt in its current form by the architect Ugo Tarchi from 1930.

Where is the ceremony held?

Usually in the outdoor amphitheatre in the park. The terrace, the garden, the poolside and the frescoed rooms are used for the aperitivo and dinner.

Can we fly a drone at La Torre di Pila?

Yes. We flew the drone here with no restrictions after checking the airspace map for the wedding date.

Can guests stay at La Torre di Pila?

Yes, the estate has guest accommodation, though larger groups usually also book rooms in Perugia or Assisi.

What does a wedding film at La Torre di Pila cost?

Our wedding films start from €4,500, and travel within Italy is included. Send us your date and we will reply with the details.

Planning a wedding in Umbria? Send us your date, see more of our weddings on the work page, or compare regions in our guide to wedding locations in Italy. If you are also looking at Tuscany, our Tuscany wedding guide covers the neighbouring region.