From their rustic home, originally a fortified watchtower and perched high above expanses of empty Umbrian countryside, Searle explains that they "came to be here because of Neil. As an artist, he was drawn to the physical beauty of Umbria- rolling hills, olive groves, forests, stone villages. He also loves it because of all the fresco cycles that abound in this area and which so inspire his own art."

The couple live in Castel Ritaldi, a tiny, dot of a village outside of Montefalco- itself a small, perfectly beautiful hilltown in a region bristling with small, perfectly beautiful hilltowns. Having lived the past 15 years completely immersed in the traditional rural lifestyle of central Italy, and, with combined interests encompassing the art, music, wine, food, culture and history of the region, Searle and Moore are highly qualified, (and fascinating), commentators on all things Umbrian. Their enthusiasm for the area is infectious. "The beauty here isn't just in the landscape," they claim. "It's also in the people and the simplicity of their way of life. We've truly found pleasure in the straightforward approach to food, for example. You learn to create variety out of what is seasonally available and make do with that." "Dealing with zucchinis for two months as a staple requires imagination" adds Searle, "but luckily, gluts also run to things like apricots, pecorino cheese, truffles and wine!"

 Living Italy, their boutique-scale tour company, harnesses all the passion they share for their adopted home. It capitilises too upon their years of relentless research into the area's tucked-away nooks and crannys and of relationships forged with producers, providores, restaurateurs and cooking teachers. Attracting a largely Antipodean clientele, Searle and Moore's specialist tours (punters can choose a walking, art, music, Etruscan,  or food and wine tour, for example) provide an entree into Umbrian life that few could hope to access on their own. They are  adamant there is much more to Umbria than "Assisi and Perugia; it's the little, out-of-the-way places that are special and without us", they insist, "you won't easily find them." 

Such places (and people) might include Ettore Benedetti Del Rio, bio-dynamic farro and lentil farmer, who serves the small Living Italy groups lunch in an atmospheric,  centuries-old farmhouse kitchen. Or expert truffle-hunter Felice Bartoli,  whose isolated property, near Spoleto, lies at the absolute end of an obscure winding road that climbs way above the snow line. Cooking classes, a feature of the food and wine tours, are mainly conducted in the basement kitchen of Villa Pambuffetti, an exclusive family-run hotel in Montefalco. Principal teacher is the effervescent Alessandra Angelucci, owner of the Villa and a passionate advocate of the foods of the region. Ceramics shopping at Deruta (Searle knows the best outlets) tutored wine tastings with devoted makers of the delicious, much-lauded Sagrantino; al fresco lunches at private homes, guided tours around Roman traces in Bevagna and a night at the opera in an historic Teatro in Spoleto,  are made all the more memorable thanks to  Searle and Moores' personable and knowledgeable approach. Each group is treated too, to a relaxed dinner at their home. Fiorella, Searle's neighbour and a fabulous traditional cook, might provide some of the fare. Typically she'll drop by with trays of stuffed vegetable antipasti that have slow cooked in her wood-burning oven. Or, she'll commandeer Searle's kitchen table and effortlessly transform an unpromising heap of flour into perfect strands of strangozzi, or 'priest stranglers', the region's famous pasta, then pair it with her own special sugo. "She and her ancestors have been putting the same thing on the table for around 800 years," Searle points out, by way of demonstrating that tradition and history imbue every part of life here.