After reading many wonderful postings here, I'm considering spending a few days visiting Assisi, Spello, Spoleto & Trevi.
I am a first time visitor planning to use public transportation (mostly trains) and interested in art, local markets, gardens, hiking, biking, and exploring old churches.
Would appreciate feedback on:
1. How much time to devote to each town (I know its all subjective)
2. Which town to use as a base. Spello and Trevi look good, but I read that they were very steep and was wondering if fighting the hills would be a good way to end a long day of exploration. Thought Spoleto or Assisi be better, but worried that Assisi might be too "dead" in the evening and/or have too few eating options.
3. What other towns might I might add to my orginal list. I was thinking of Todi, Bevagna, Montefalco or Norcia but was unsure about how to get to them via bus or train.
Uh . . . that's all central Umbria; unless you also mean to ask about southern Umbria (say, S of Spoleto: Terni and the approaches to the Sabina, like Otricoli, Stroncone, Calvi, all three of them nice places, or Piediluco, quite beautiful on its little lake).
From the non-driver's standpoint (including yours truly), you want Foligno or S, because the main train line veers out of Umbria at Foligno: Spello is far less well connected to the rest of Umbria than Foligno, Trevi, Spoleto.
Spello and Trevi both make good bases. Yes, they're on inclines: but in the case of Spello, it's not really noticeable; and Trevi, which is very steep indeed — the actual center of town where most of the stuff is, including the best restaurants, is fairly flat.
Spello is more tourist-aware, although it still (for now) remains fairly authentic. The upper quarter (or third, terziere actually), Pusterula, is rapidly depopulating in favor of vacation apartments and Italians living elsewhere and coming in for a few weeks in the summer. If you are sensitive to noise at night, stay off the Via Giulia, the only carway up, which has a canyon effect: one motorcycle sounds like the Apocalypse, and four people chatting as they walk back from the theater can sound like fox among the chickens.
For all that, Trevi, though a bit deader than Spello at night (with, however, an even nicer and larger theater), has the better restaurants, and parking is far more convenient. Since it's also closer to Bevagna, Spoleto, Montefalco, etc., my take is that it makes a slightly better base than Spello overall.
Assisi is quite nice in the evening, but the streets are dark and quiet — a relief after the crowds of tourists have more or less gone — hey, if you want lively, you don't want any of these places!
Spoleto is very inconvenient for the non-driver — all sprawled out — and makes a less good base than Trevi; unless you want to look at the Valnerina, Norcia, etc. Few foreigners do — for the life of me I've never been able to figure out why. Near the station in Spoleto is possible, but it's an ugly trafficky area (big military barracks, etc.) and I'm not sure of any accommodations there.
Norcia is not a good base at all for the nondriver, unless you're big on nature hikes. I say this with regret, since it's my own personal favorite comune in Umbria, a beautiful town full of things to see, unspoiled, a coupla good restaurants, as historic as you could want, wonderful clean fresh air, beautiful scenery.
Todi, a striking medieval town where I lived for 2 months and which I am very fond of, is a poor base: train station alright but several miles from town, and, more importantly, on the side line from Terni to Perugia: a private line that has markedly deteriorated over the last few years, and the trains are very slow. Except for Todi, most of the first-timers' sights in Umbria are on the E side. Also, Todi has a rather notorious reputation for being very closed: you'll be thrown on your own resources maybe a bit too much.
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The train situation is this:
You also will need a road atlas, might as well get one as soon as possible. . . .
It would be nice to see a railway diagram that shows the stops along the line. A newbie often finds it hard to visualize locations.
I just went to the italian railway site, punched in town combinations and found assisi, spello, speleto and trevi were possible without train changes and often with 10 to 40 minute trip durations.
Degas, Assisi is the gem and worth a full day. I am surprised you have not mentioned Perugia. The main city is not much, but the old city on the hilltop is worth half a day. I cannot speak to Trevi, but certainly Spoleto is worth another half day. I assume you plan to include Orvieto either going or coming--do not miss it.
Orvieto does look like a great place and I do plan on stopping for at least a night on the way to Rome. Also want to visit civita di bagnoregio and maybe Todi (perhaps as daytrips by bus from Orvieto?).
Perugia is a case of my just not knowing enough about it. Somehow I was under the impression, perhaps a false one, that it was hard to get to the old city and the transportation system was confusing. I need to do more research.
Degas, setting aside what the towns themselves are like (sights, etc.), and only addressing your original question, "Which town to use as a base", they're all at least OK, but Assisi is the least good of the three, for (1) a non-driver (2) wishing to see Umbria (as opposed to having Tuscany in the back of their minds, for which on the contrary Assisi would be the better choice, and the best would be Perugia).
The immediate area of Assisi has, well, Assisi and Spello as primary sights, but nothing else; it is closer to Perugia than the others, but farther from everywhere else. The train station is at a considerable distance from town, and although there is a shuttle bus, it's still one more uncertainty and delay to tack on to the beginning and end of every daytrip.
Slightly better, Spello, since closer to everywhere (except to Perugia); but still on that spur line. That line does occasionally go on thru to Trevi, Spoleto etc. but sometimes not (i.e., for Spoleto you'll often have to change in Foligno, and getting to Norcia becomes even less convenient); and the frequency of trains is much less than of those on the Rome-Ancona, which is a main line.
For those reasons, the ideal location — as a base — is Foligno. Since Foligno is not so great as a town (although at lunch and in the afternoon it's a darn sight livelier than any of the places we've been mentioning, and it does have stuff to see, etc.), Trevi becomes the better base, on the grounds of attractiveness.
To sum up, Trevi and Spello are similar in terms of attractiveness, but Trevi is much more central, and thus the ideal location.
Now train travel is pretty good in the area, so all these considerations are relatively minor; your main concern at this point will prolly be where you can get the best rental, in Assisi, Spello, or Trevi: in town, though, since you're not driving. I don't know a good comprehensive listing for Assisi, but these are the ones for Spello and Trevi: in the latter case, notice that that's just the Rental Apartments page, see also the blue links for Hotels and Agriturismi.
Ho; did you find a place to stay? If you do, don't forget to share with us when you gebback. . . . Ulterior motive: I may now say, now that I've stayed in less convenient places, that Trevi is in theory the ideal base, but my own record is Todi 1994, Spello 1997, Spello 1998, Fossato di Vico 2000, Umbertide 2004; I hope to manage to stay in Borgo Trevi — that's the part of Trevi down in the plain near the train station — on my next trip, God willing. So natch, never having stayed in a rental property in Trevi yet myself, I'm curious!
Bill As someone who lives at the top of a mountain, I am not big on nightlife, but I am just curious: what does one do in Trevi at night? Is there anything at all open? Is there still only one restaurant in the village? I guess Trevi is a lovely base if one plans to cook every evening or to spend the evenings at the same place every night! Ciao Letizia
Well, village it ain't; mind you, yes, Trevi is quiet (my word), a bit dead might be the way others might describe it, like many Umbrian towns, including Spello and Assisi.
On the other hand there are at least 6 restaurants in town (within the upper town, within the walls; not counting those very nearby but outside the walls, and not counting at least one more in the Borgo near the train station). I've eaten in three of them, and that doesn't include the most expensive one — maybe some day I'll be able to afford it. . . !
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