Traveling to Rome & Umbria in September. Would like to stay 2 different areas in Umbria (approx 3 days each) and explore from there. Can anyone suggest towns which would be good base - offering choice of restaurants at night? Stayed in Siena & Montepulciano 2 years ago - Siena too large for our tastes (traffic/parking). Liked Montepulciano much better - would like to find similar towns.

You might consider one base for all six days...a town like Spello is reasonably central to all the major players--Assisi, Perugia, Spoleto, Montefalco, Todi, Gubbio. Even Norcia and Orvieto are doable. If you want to split your time, I would choose Todi and Spello (or Spoleto).

For the more northern part of the stay, I'd put near Assisi in the running.

Yes, two times three days just means moving your stuff, and adds nothing. Spello is one of the best choices; about the only thing against it is parking (unless you stay at the hotel Bastiglia). My usual choice is about 5 miles SW in Bevagna, which is flat and has better parking.

Bill

Gazetteer of Umbria

We stayed at Le Case Gialle with Silvana and Mauro(reviews on this website) last October and used it as a base to explore Umbria. I would highly recommend a stay with them. They are near Bevagna, easy driving to Assisi,
Perugia, Todi, Spoleto. The countryside near Bevagna is beautiful.

Betsy Bauer
www.betsybauer.com
Paintings Inspired by Italy

Hi Verona!
Why don't you take a look to my website?
Maybe you will find something useful for your Umbrian base.
Good luck choosing!
Corinna

SPELLO! We stayed at the Hotel Bastiglia and it was wonderful and we'd go again in a heart-beat. Spello is simply lovely, small and well situated for day trips. Have a good time!

I'm with Bill on Bevagna. It's a lovely very small town in a beautiful setting, where you could learn to feel at "home". And I would also vote for staying put in one place. Don't see the advantage of picking up, packing and moving rather than simply taking day trips. (But then again, I am getting lazy!)

My vote is for Assisi, great town with lots of great shops and restaurants, lots of places to explore and close to other towns. I would check with Anne Robichaud for accomodations. She has a connection with a family there who rents out apartments in their beautiful family home. Parts that date to 300 B.C.! But with all the modern conveniences and really lovely. The apartment I saw was very spacious, with a balcony that looked out on San Rufino church. It also had a washing machine! The family is very nice, the husband speaks some English and they often invite their guests to dinner.
It will be our pick when we go back.

I loved Citta della Pieve. It's Perugino's home town.

Città della Pieve is the only biggish town in Umbria I haven't been, so I'm glad to hear it, Mike: I expect to get there within the month! (That said, in terms of this particular thread, it's not a good base for Umbria: it's on the very fringe of the region, only 5 miles from Tuscany.)

True enough. I liked that it was close to Lake Trasimeno. I was fascinated to think that Hannibal defeated the Romans there.

If you're a Hannibal buff, Mike, you could take a day of your next trip and go look at Tuoro sul Trasimeno, thought by most scholars to be the site of the battle; despite my interest in Roman things, I'm not big on battles, so just sort of wandered thru the museum there, and around some of the battle plain (semi-signposted): but the comune has been pretty thorough about it, especially since there's almost nothing else to see there. (Here's my account of a day in Tuoro, but prepare to be disappointed! I'm sure you'd do better.)

Thanks everyone for the tips. Our reasons for staying in 2 areas are so that we can get a feel for 2 towns. Like to explore during the day and stay put in the town at night (no driving) so want to have a choice of restaurants within walking distance. Would Spello and/or Bevagna offer this? Assisi sounds great - but is the driving difficult there?

Bill,

Your account is pretty accurate - there's nothing to do in Tuoro sul Trasimeno except imagine what is was like 2600 years ago.

I wouldn't say I'm a Hannibal buff so much as I'm a fan of ancient Roman history, particularly the military aspects of it as the Republic evolved into the Empire.

Verona, yes Spello and Bevagna would work well. If, however, you're going to be moving anyway, they're only about 7 miles apart by road: you could get a more varied picture of Umbria by selecting 2 towns farther apart.

If one of them were Spello/Bevagna, Spoleto or Todi might make a good 2d base.

Still think that's a mistake, though.

Assisi is a great place, yes, bus I really like Perugia as well. the other thing is that Umbria is so small that wherever you go you will always be close to everything!