Villa Nocturno
Quiet splendour between Buje and Umag, where the sun sets into the sea every evening.
Discover the houseVilla Nocturno · Buje · IstraA house named for the night. Among olive trees, with a sea view.
Nocturno is music written for the night. The house bears that name because night is the loveliest part of the day here.
On a gentle slope between Buje and Umag, among olive groves and woodland, Villa Nocturno opens towards the sea. Above it sits Buje on its hill, with its walls and bell tower; below lie Umag and the open sea. The house stands 200 metres above sea level: high enough for the view, low enough to feel the sea. It looks where you look when you step out onto the terrace.
For the last few hundred metres the road runs through olives. Somewhere there the only sounds left are summer crickets and winter wind in the treetops. The car key is set aside and not taken for days.
About twenty minutes, every day
The sun descends over Umag. The sea turns copper, the coast becomes a silhouette, the sky washes from orange into purple. It lasts about twenty minutes. Then a string of lights along the shore remains, and the night for which the house is named.
The terrace, the pool and the hot tub look directly out to that line. It is not a view you search for, but the view that meets you when you step out with a glass in hand. On a clear night there are more stars than you have seen for years.
The house has its own rhythm
You do not come here to go further. You come to stay. And to come back.
The house in numbers
A five-star villa. 355 m² over two floors, four generous bedrooms, each with its own spacious bathroom. Up to eight guests, and with the studio apartment for two, ten. Around the house 4,000 m² of fenced grounds: olives, lawn, lavender and rosemary. The whole villa is yours. No neighbours over the hedge and no shared pool.
Highlights.
Water that knows no season
80 m² of water whose edge disappears towards the Adriatic. Heated year-round, warm in October as in July. In the water, four massage loungers—those you always linger on too long. On the terrace of the main bedroom a hot tub for three: hot water, cool air, the lights of Umag below. It is most beautiful after midnight.
A terrace with a view from every angle
The house embraces the terrace on two sides, the pool sits at its centre, and the sea is visible from a sunbed, from the table and from the fire. Lunch outside or inside, through open glass. In the evening a side fire pit for ten is lit beside the house, overlooking the play area, the pool and the sea, and the terrace becomes a sitting room under the stars.
A table that isn’t cleared until midnight
Glass walls open, a breeze comes in from the sea that never quite fails here, something crackles on the grill, the first lights in the valley come on. Someone pours Muscat from Momjan, someone picks rosemary and mint from the herb garden three steps away. In winter the glass closes, underfloor heating warms, and the bora outside clears the sky to blue. Dinner lasts just as long.
An estate where everyone has their own
A fence goes around the entire property and there is no road. The dog runs off the lead, the ball never goes far, the play area is shaded by olives and visible from every communal room. Children have their own world, you have your coffee.
For the part of the night that won’t go to sleep
The club is a separate, ventilated room with a bar, on the opposite side of the house from the living room. Whisky, cigars, cards, music for as long as needed, without waking anyone. Smoking is permitted in the club and in the pavilion; the rest of the house remains clean and quiet.
The Parenzana on the doorstep
The old Austro-Hungarian railway, today one of the most beautiful cycling routes in Europe, runs about fifty metres from the fence. You step out the gate and you’re already riding, through olives and woodland to Grožnjan and back for dinner. Locked storage for eight bikes, a washing area, tools and e-bike charging.
When to come
Spring and autumn are the loveliest times here. In spring the olives bud, wild asparagus is picked along the tracks, and the pool is already warm while the beaches are still empty. In autumn the sea is still warm, the roads are quiet, the vineyards are in harvest and the truffles are just beginning. Evenings are long enough that nothing need be done.
Tell us when you would like to come. Outside summer the villa can be rented even just for a long weekend, whether eight of you or just two.
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