Umbria to some is the true Italy, being Italy’s only region that does not touch the sea or another country and like Tuscany, it bloomed during the Renaissance period and many of the sites we visited are from that period. For our stay in Umbria we had booked a country house near the tiny village (if you can even call it that) of Torre Del Colle from which you could see Assisi on a distant hill above the valley. The main attraction of Umbria is the numerous hill top villages and towns that dot the countryside (yes its hilly there) and the famous pilgrimage city of Assisi where Francis of Assisi is buried. The towns we visited were the big cities of Perugia, Assisi, Orvieto and Gubbio, along with the smaller villages of Spello, Trevi, Montefalco, Bevanga and Todi to name a few. Although each is different, they all look magical perched on top of a hill.

One of the really cool features of three of the towns Orvieto, Perugia and Gubbio was the method of getting from the public carpark located outside the town walls, to the central plaza, which always is located high above on the hill. In other parts of Italy you would simply walk up endless steps, here they have built a series of escalators or lifts that go up through the rock to the peak so you don’t end up tired even before you start to look around these great towns. The carpark at Orvieto even had a lift straight to the top ☺

Our first few days was spent looking at the smaller villages of Spello, Trevi, Montefalco, Bevanga and Todi, which provide great exercise for your legs as you walk up and down them. All are medieval villages with cobblestone streets surrounded by olive groves and vineyards - very picturesque indeed. We devoted more time to Assisi, which is a town of churches, with the great Basilica that houses the body of St Francis’s in the crypt below. Unfortunately you can’t take photos inside but it was amazing to see, with a choir singing in the undercrofts sections of the basilica during our visit. Above Assisi stands the ruins of a castle and below on the valley floor is the cathedral of Santa Maria degli Angeli that is built around the church St Francis built. His church is now housed inside Santa Maria making it a church within a great Renaissance cathedral. As mentioned before Assisi is now a great pilgrimage sight and is the most visited town in Umbria.

Perugia is the capital of Umbria and located almost in the centre of the region, and to top it off when we were there, they were holding their annual chocolate festival. Needless to say we had to drag Lisa out of there; I think those nail mark will be there for centuries to come! Perugia has some brilliant buildings located around the centre square, and its great to sit and watch the people go by. While we enjoyed Perugia, its not the most interesting city in the region except for the chocolate which we bought. (it cost 37 euros a kilo) so for two squares it cost us 7 euro; but they were huge and tasted so nice!!, pictures of it in the gallery.

To the West of our accommodation was Orvieto and Todi, both similar with Todi being described as the miniature Orvieto by some and the best place in the world to live. Not sure about that as it was full of flying pigeon feathers on the windy day we visited. We think all the pigeons go there from Orvieto to hide as in Orvieto; pigeon is a favourite local dish. It is very similar to Orvieto but without the great cathedral within its walls, and much steeper to get up as well, as they don’t have those wonderful escalators and lifts to get you to the main plaza.

The town of Orvieto is perched on top of a great hill, but they have a lift, which was great, with a huge Cathedral in the main plaza, and we do mean huge for the size of the town, you can see how it stands out from the pictures Kane took from the clock tower over the rooftops. When we arrived there was a mass of people around the cathedral with soldiers in an honour guard out the front. There was about to be a wedding in the cathedral (the groom was in the army and the brides dad was in the police from the looks of it) with tourists and all, and when the happy couple exited the cathedral they were so absolutely pelted with rice while they tried to kiss on the steps for the photographer, that they had to hide under her veil again.

Underneath Orvieto is a huge series if caves that have been dug out of the rock by the Etruscans during the Roman times to hide from the Romans, to more recently where they were used for commercial purposes. Digging is now banned due to safety and structural reasons for the town above. You can visit the underground city on a guided tour. The two caves we visited were used as an olive press and storage room and the second a pigeon breeding cave, to think they breed fast enough normally. Some were also dug as shelters during WWII but would have been unsuitable as the rocks are very crumbly and they would have buried the shelter if it was hit by a shell. Luckily Orvieto was spared by both sides to protect the Cathedral, with the lower town at the base of the hill being flattened in the fighting.

Our last and best stop in Umbria was the northern town of Gubbio. A wonderful city and more enjoyable as we got there early to visit it before the tour buses arrived. Getting to the top was reasonable easy as they have installed a series of lifts for use ☺

So ends our visit to Umbria. A wonderful place and well worth spending even more time.

Umbria Web gallery