In The Heights.

Byline: RICHARD ALLEMAN editor: Valerie Steiker

Set in a medieval watchtower, an Umbrian hotel offers luxe modernityat a great price.

Commanding a hilltop between Gubbio and Monotone in the storied province of Umbria, a 1,000-year-old watchtower has recently been transformed into one of Italy's most strikingly modern hotels. The creation of architect Christopher Chong and his designer wife, Seonaid Mackenzie, Torre di Moravola was a ruin when the couple discovered it some nine years ago. Chong was impressed by its history (it dates back at least to the tenth century) and its "amazing stonework," while Mackenzie was captivated by its location. "The 360-degree panorama of three hidden valleyshome to red deer, wild boar, and soaring falconslooked just as I imagine it must have in the Middle Ages," she says.

While restoring the property, Chong was careful to respect its original dimensions, letting the ancient stone walls define the layout. At the same time, there was no attempt to create historically accurate rooms; instead the couple seamlessly incorporated twenty-first-century architectural elementsfloating steel staircases, sliding glass screens, sunken tubs. Chong also made extensive use of locally quarried pietra serena stone, which paves the ...