People : Witness of the Territory twentieth century – and to start his career there . Back in London , he partnered Alan Bates at the National Theatre , while returning to New York again , he played Prince Yusupov in Rasputin opposite Peter Stormare . He went on to found the Playground Theatre in West London , experiment with dozens of characters from classical and modern theatre , write and stage successful plays all the way through to his recent and memorable portrayal of Picasso , immersing himself in the artist ’ s character , and perhaps beyond , with the same desire to experiment and put his reputation at stake . He hopes to bring this Picasso to Italy soon where , as fate would have it , Peter has not yet performed live . Despite this , it should come as no surprise that this restless traveller of different worlds , both artistic ( in addition to theatre , also incorporating singing , dancing with Lindsay Kemp , and even martial arts ) and real ( he has acted in Paris and St Petersburg , Jerusalem , Off- Broadway , Germany , Poland and Ukraine , which he has publicly supported several times since the Russian invasion ), ended up buying a villa in the heart of Umbria . This is not only because , as we have seen on previous pages , the Italian Grand Tour was invented across the Channel , but because Umbria , Tuscany and many other regions of our country have long been the soul place for an ever-growing community of educated and cosmopolitan people , perfectly represented by Peter and Naomi . “ We got to know this area thanks to an invitation from some friends in London , who own a house half an hour from here ,” they say . “ We planned to stay for a week , but we went back three years in a row .” Love at first sight soon turned into an enduring passion . In 2001 they had the opportunity to buy Villa Col di Casale and did not want to miss out , even though it was in a pretty poor state of repair at the time . They waited a few years , then fully renovated it between 2006 and 2008 , and started furnishing it “ with a lot of furniture that we bought in London and , having brought it here , found that it fitted perfectly .” What was the first feeling , or reason , which convinced you to put down at least some of your roots here ? For the only time in the conversation , Peter and Naomi hesitate : “ It ’ s very difficult to point to just one aspect . We could say that we were struck by the landscapes , the history , the light and the sun , but also by the clouds , the culture , the hospitality and the humanity of the people and , altogether , the peace and tranquillity that you can only breathe in here , or the food , the wine … In all honesty , it was the incredible combination of all this that won us over . A combination that anyone should be able to experience , at least once in their life .” Willingness to share their experience is – along with the concern expressed with typical English frankness , but no less sacrosanct for that , “ to make some money ” – the main reason the Tates decided to make their home available for short periods . This led to their meeting two years ago with Emma Villas , or rather , with the Emma Villas people (“ Filippo , Anna ”) with whom they immediately
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Mr and Mrs Tate love to invite their friends from New York , London and Paris , including international actors , because that is the kind of world they live in
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