I'm looking for a general 5 day itinerary for Umbria with a little southern Tuscany thrown in - cities with some quaint hill towns (love those hill towns!) How far north and how far south do we go? Our home base is Todi.
I'm looking forward to your ideas!
Edna
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,
Posts: 306 | Location: Irvington, New York | Registered: 28 July 2001
Having lived in Todi for a coupla months and walked the area pretty thoroughly, I'll bite, surprise, surprise --
In the list that follows, asterisks indicate full-fledged comuni, for which see the clickmap on my Umbria homepage, which also links to a pretty much exhaustive collection of other people's sites in each case. No asterisks: not comuni, so information online becomes scarcer; most of these places, use the search engine on my site, I do have information and often photos.
*** Small and in a relatively immediate area, starting N and going more or less clockwise; follow along with a good map: Montemolino: castle, scenery Cecanibbi: castle, church Collazzone*: this is where Jacopone da Todi died Zampani (N of Massa Martana): very decayed but beautiful S. Terenziano: unusual double-decker church Villa S. Faustino: particularly attractive church Acquasparta*/S. Giovanni de Butris: church, Roman bridge Dunarobba: very atmospheric tiny town; nearby fossil forest Sismano: churches, castle, scenery Pesciano: the town's the star, scenery Porchiano: exceptionally attractive tiny Romanesque church [this is a different place from Porchiano del Monte, somewhat farther off, near Amelia, which is said to be very attractive, but which I don't know yet] Titignano: castle, scenery, visitable fresh cheese factory Torregentile
To avoid: Izzalini, which is a sad attempt to create a tourist trap.
I've skipped the better-known and often larger towns (Norcia*, Spello*, Bevagna*, Trevi*, Orvieto*, Montefalco* top my list, in order; to stay away from: Assisi*, Spoleto*; Narni*, Amelia* usually get very mixed reviews) because others are sure to weigh in, plus I have a feeling that wasn't your question --
Special mention. The area around Norcia is full of tiny towns well worth exploring and with sometimes phenomenal views of the Monti Sibillini: Cortigno, Sant' Anatolia [di Norcia, not the far larger Sant' Anatolia di Narco*, see above], Agriano, others I haven't been to yet -- no restaurants, bring a picnic lunch, or be prepared to eat in Norcia, lucky you. Castelluccio is a horrible dump in the middle of the most spectacular scenery: on balance, it's worth seeing.
If you are being very literal about hilltowns, I think the only places mentioned above that are not on a hill are Bevagna, Villa S. Faustino, Izzalini, Costacciaro, Norcia.
There are, of course, dozens more possibilities. Part of your fun will be in the planning those 5 days!
Thanx Edna -- and for the unwary, a correction. Inevitably, I goofed in that long post: both Costacciaro and Fossato di Vico are full comuni so should have had asterisks.
southern Tuscany - this is a good opportunity to explore the very southern part of Tuscany that many people do not get to from the Chianti region. I would drive from Todi, to Orvieto and then west to Pitigliano (incredible town carved out of a cliff - park and explore the town), then north to Saturnia (you can pop into the natural outdoors hot springs) for lunch at that restaurant we love Due Cippi (closed Tuesdays), then head towards home stopping in Sovana. That would be a longer day trip - lots of driving.
central Umbria - go to Montefalco to see the frescoes, then Bevagna, a nice little town, then up to Spello for lunch. Spend the afternoon in Assisi. We love Assisi! (Bill, I have never heard mixed reviews of any of those towns??) Or spend a whole day in Assisi and go somewhere else for the afternoon from here.
southern Umbria - we were in Todi for 2 nights in September 2001 and did a fun day trip to Amelia and then the roman ruins at Carsulae. I thought Amelia was beautiful. It has these really old city walls - you can read about it in Paul Hoffman's book "Umbria" - which might be a good book for you to have.
Spoleto - Beautiful town, great frescoes in the church, good restaurants, great shops. Fabulous passagiata in the early evening. The main shopping street is packed solid with people. You can do a nice walk from Spoleto across that old bridge and them to the top of the mountain. I might have some notes about this in our trip report from 1997 when we spent 3 nights in Spoleto.
Todi - visit all the wonderful towns close to you from the list that Bill provided. If you are following my concentric circles theory, you want to be sure to see what is close to where you are staying because next time you are in the area, you might be staying in a different location.
Don't forget to allow lots of time to explore Todi.
Perugia - You could also easily get into Perugia from here.
I would probably not go north of Perugia - leave that for another trip when you stay in that area. I would probably also not go to Panicale (even though I love it) - too long a drive and there are great places near you.
Orvieto - Orvieto for a day would be a good idea, or combine it with a few other things. We spent just a few hours in Orvieto on our last trip - had never been there before - and it is very close to Todi. For me, it was not as great a town as I had hoped. There seemed to be a lot of "tour bus" groups - I think it is a handy stop for tour buses going from Rome to Florence.
Deruta - We did not like Deruta, but you will probably want to see it. There were so many shops selling ceramics that it was impossible for me to buy any - too much choice and too overwhelming.
Norcia - I might also be tempted to do a day trip to the Norcia region as Bill described. We have not been to that area, but would like to see it.
Sounds like a great trip!!
Posts: 26599 | Location: Santa Fe, NM | Registered: 15 June 2001
Nobody has mentioned the wine museum in Torgiano, have they? I love it! In Torgiano is Le Tre Vaselle, a 4 star inn and restaurant that has a good reputation, but I have never spent the money. Anyway, if you are near it, the museum is nice. Our area is nobody's interest, but we've decided the best thing is to say there's nothing here, you'll hate it, don't bother. The German's don't believe it.
Posts: 2706 | Location: Umbria | Registered: 13 September 2001
My first post: long it was, but maybe not as helpful as it could have been. Taking a cue from Pauline and looking at all those places as actual itins, lemme redo the whole thing.
Only 4 days suggested -- the 5th is for Tuscany. Seems a good balance since surely, as you say, if you're going to be based in Todi, it's not really to see Tuscany. Numbered out of sheer personal mania; no particular preference, nor do I mean to suggest any kind of order:
Day 1: Around Todi. Â Â Â Since you're in Todi, it's always good to get a feel for the immediate area. (I lived in Chicago for ten years and had no idea of where the place was, so to speak, until I took the time out one summer month to walk to Iowa and back -- and now I know where I live.) The views onto Todi are extraordinary from two vantage points: NE from the small roads of the Duesanti-Petroro area, and W from the former main highway to Orvieto, now almost untraveled (79bis on your map). Neither area in itself is of outstanding interest; the latter road is a better suggestion because of its views over the Tiber and somewhat more interesting castelli -- Prodo -- and towns, on the side roads: Torreluca and the decaying town of Quadro if you really want a slice of Umbria. The temptation to stuff a trip to Orvieto into this will be enormous. Orvieto deserves its own day.
Day 2: Orvieto; the museums are prolly for specialists. The best church in town, other the Duomo, is all the way in the far corner, S. Giovenale. Strongly recommend the guided visit, arranged by the tourist office on the piazza del Duomo, to a tiny bit of "Underground Orvieto". Also recommend the Etruscan cemetery of Crocefisso di Tufo down below the town. That makes for a full day. From/to Todi, avoid the main highway 448 and take the 79bis.
Day 3: central Umbria. The essential places to see Bevagna and Montefalco; Trevi is wonderful and for some reason quite bypassed and makes a good addition. In moving around, avoid Foligno at all costs: highways, often poorly marked, and none too attractive; exurbia, light industry, etc.    Bevagna and Montefalco both have excellent restaurants. Montefalco has the view of everywhere in Umbria -- this is a day you want sun -- and has an excellent museum of Umbrian art at S. Francesco, but Bevagna is the more interesting town per town: the churches are far better, the piazza is one of the most remarkable in Italy (along with Todi's if much smaller), and Bevagna has important Roman monuments which Montefalco does not. The 6- or 7-km road between Bevagna and Montefalco is probably one of the most beautiful in Umbria. To sum up, a possible itin, if by my lights as usual way too much for one day, would be Todi to Bevagna via S. Terenziano and Gualdo Cattaneo (pit stops of a few minutes each, plus will the church at S. T. be open?); morning and lunch in Bevagna, then Montefalco. If you want to cram in even more stuff, Trevi and return via Castel Ritaldi where the one thing of great beauty sits on a little knoll quite by itself out of town about 2km North, maybe the best Romanesque sculpture in Umbria, the church of Pieve S. Gregorio. It will be closed, but it's the façade you want to see: a 10-minute stop but a memorable one.
*** The Valnerina and Norcia each make possible days but that's getting kinda far from Todi. Since Norcia is my favorite place in all of Umbria, I'll make a pitch for it though, over the Valnerina: one eats remarkably well there, the town is compact and quite flat, with wide streets -- very untypical of Umbria, because of Papal earthquake regulations -- and thus very walkable.
***
quote:We love Assisi! (Bill, I have never heard mixed reviews of any of those towns??
Boy do I not write clearly; it is Narni and Amelia about which the mixed reviews, some people finding them dirty and uneasy, others fascinating. Mind you I will gladly mix a review of Assisi: it has been touristified, as you might expect, to within an inch of its life, and is horrendously expensive and crowded. If you must eat there, bring your own food; one idea is to buy little pizzas and things in one of the shops along the street from the train station to the Basilica at S. Maria degli Angeli (where you will want to see two of the most important Franciscan sites: the Porziuncola, the little church St. Francis rebuilt with his own hands; and the place where he died, now encrusted with frescos): cheap and good. Â Â Â For a better idea of what a real Umbrian town is like in the immediate area, Spello on the other side of the mountain. If you do the Assisi thing, you definitely want to go from Assisi to Spello your first leg back to Todi, over Mt. Subasio, not on the busy highway in the plain.
I will also "mix" reviews of Spoleto, a town which has become famous primarily because of the Festival. It's full of beautiful churches -- the first-class Romanesque façade of S. Pietro is not to be missed -- S. Ponziano and S. Salvatore (see my diary on all these) -- but the town itself is shapeless and pretty commercial, and overall, per town, I'm not that fond of it. The aqueduct behind the town (medieval, possibly on a Roman base, opinions sharply divided) is one of the great sights of Umbria. If you don't fear heights, you'll enjoy walking across it, too.
While we're at it Pauline, Gubbio, though striking, is a place I emphatically do not like; there is a thick layer of smugness about them being Gubbio, the tourist office is notorious, even among Umbrians, for being unhelpful, and it's somewhat expensive. This is all historically Gubbio, too: they always were fractious, and pride themselves on being the last place in Umbria to give in to the Pope; and in fact, rather exceptionally in Umbria, the church architecture is not what one goes to Gubbio for, rather the Palazzi of the secular government.
I have always found the tourist office in Gubbio EXTREMELY helpful - one of the most helpful I deal with all the time. There are also very well prepared with information, maps etc.
Posts: 113 | Location: Perugia | Registered: 05 October 2001
For Deruta, I think the secret is to go into the old town section, not bothering with the shops along the highway. YOu want to get away from the souvenir-quality stuff. I have one special shop there that I love and from which I have bought many things. It is Deruta Placens (Centro Storico (historical center of town), via Biordo Michelotti 25, telephone 75/972277), a family-run workshop and store established by Mordenti and Novella in 1980. Novella is still there daily, with her son-in-law Andrea (Andrew), who speaks good English. Her daughter/Andrea's wife, Annalisa, is an attorney who gave up that field to design many of the wonderful ceramics and run another shop at Via Umberto I 16. You will see New York Times articles about Deruta Places, from both 1989 and 1998, on the wall in the main shop. To find the main store, follow signs for "Centro" and as you arrive in the main piazza, the shop will be on your right. There is parking in the piazza and nearby. The shop will ship for you. Please be sure to tell Andrea and Nicolini that Sally Watkins, travel agent from Austin, sent you!
Another fine shop in Deruta is Miriam, at Via Umberto I 15.
We're going to be in Umbria with side trips to southern Tuscany with my brother and sister-in-law our first week. They have never been to Italy so we'll meet in Rome first. When they leave we"ll continue to our remtal right outside of Siena (Agresto via Tuscan Enterprises). We'll re-explore as much of the Chianti region and other central and nothern Tuscan areas as possible for the next week.
We can't wait.
Edna
Posts: 306 | Location: Irvington, New York | Registered: 28 July 2001
Edna, I have a clock on the wall that is from Deruta - there is a shop torwards the end of the town on the right (coming from Perugia) and it only sells clocks. Some are really beautiful and I find them more useful that just an ordinary plate, for example.
There is is church near Deruta called Chiesa della Madonna dei Bagni - it is covered with pieces of maiolica left by people asking God for favours and other pieces of Deruta on the floor and walls. It isn't always open so get someone to ring in advance for you, 075 973455.
Posts: 113 | Location: Perugia | Registered: 05 October 2001
I do go to Deruta. It is simply a wonderful resource for pottery of incredibly high or infamously low quality. The goods are available in the widest range at Grazia de Deruta. The family has been doing this since the 1200s. They still make patterns from that era and from succeeding eras. My favorite service, of which I own 1 piece, is "Cordia Ricca" and is 16th century. It was made exclusively for Tiffany recently, as I believe they requested that the pattern be resurrected for them. But you could buy it at Grazia. However, at Grazia your experience will depend on who is running the store that day. Some members of the family are simply rude. Others are delightful. The elder of the family took me on a tour of the fabbrica a few years back and it was fascinationg. The next time I went a youthful fellow was there and I ended up telling him off. I've seen many people buying services as wedding presents...maybe I should get married?
Two years ago I took two women from Ohio whom I met at my hotel to see Deruta. We went to a small shop across from Grazia after seeing Grazia, and when the ladies asked about the process he offered to show them how he works. He proceeded to put clay on the wheel and to guide their hands and show them how to make first a vase and then a bowl. Both ladies are artists, so he just showed them how he cartoons and what kinds of pigments he uses. He locked up the shop to do this. That's where I bought my holy water container which you put by your door. I never did get the water, so it holds the mailbox key. As bad as some of the places are -- and some are awful -- this isn't to me a story of a tourist trap. It is a good place to practice developing your critical eye. If you end up buying one of those monstrous ceramic German Shepherds, you're on your own. Same for those signs with rude sayings in Italian. I had a surprisingly good lunch once at Hotel Melody? at the end of that road. Doesn't look good, but it was. There is a museum with the ancient ceramics, but I've never made it there. Grazia shows some of their oldest pieces.
The prices are high, but the goods are made by hand every step by people who are considered artists. These folks are very experienced at packing and shipping your purchases, and at some of them, your things will be made up for you so they will have to be shipped anyway.
Posts: 2706 | Location: Umbria | Registered: 13 September 2001
Sally and decobabe, thanks for the notes about Deruta! I just got overwhelmed by the place - wanted to buy something but was paralyzed by the choice. I did buy a little pottery think (holds my salt in the kitchen) in Gubbio our only time there. There are a few pottery places in Gubbio - but I agree with Bill about Gubbio (sort of). It is a long drive and there are lots of places just as good closer to Todi.
Bill says:
quote:avoid Foligno at all costs: highways, often poorly marked, and none too attractive; exurbia, light industry, etc
Absolutely, but it is hard to avoid sometimes. We got lost in Foligno a few times during the week we spent in Spello.
Posts: 26599 | Location: Santa Fe, NM | Registered: 15 June 2001
I agree with you about Gubbio. I didn't like it too much either. The tourist office was NOT helpful, the town seemed gray, gloomy and forebidding with none of the "magic" I have found in other hilltowns. The fact that it is always listed in guidebooks as one of the hilltowns in Umbria that are "must see" left me wondering why???
Leslie
quote:Originally posted by Bill Thayer: [While we're at it Pauline, Gubbio, though striking, is a place I emphatically do not like; there is a thick layer of smugness about them being Gubbio, the tourist office is notorious, even among Umbrians, for being unhelpful, and it's somewhat expensive. This is all historically Gubbio, too: they always were fractious, and pride themselves on being the last place in Umbria to give in to the Pope; and in fact, rather exceptionally in Umbria, the church architecture is not what one goes to Gubbio for, rather the Palazzi of the secular government.
There, that ought to be a bit more helpful?[/QB]
Posts: 715 | Location: Atlanta Metro Area | Registered: 01 July 2001
Now of course I feel guilty for steering people away from Gubbio. The info office I stand by what I said, also the smugness -- nothing like being stubborn -- but the town is strikingly beautiful, in many ways emblematic of medieval Umbria, and not to be missed in a slower trip thru the region. The Roman theatre is the second largest in the world, there are other Roman remains as well, and the Iguvine (Eugubine, etc.) Tables are a completely unique and fascinating document of antiquity that the tourist can get to within inches of. The Corsa dei Ceri is right up there with the Palio of Siena as an extraordinary show of civic pride and pageantry; again, not to be missed.
I just don't like the place very much; but it's prolly an error in taste just as I'm not wild about ancient Greece while realizing that in almost any field you can think of the Greeks outshone the Romans. No accounting for human inconsistency. Â Â Â Maybe as I keep on going back to nibble away at the many things there I still haven't seen, I'll change: another of the advantages to slow travel.
I've been to Gubbio twice and enjoyed being there both times. Just walking around the town..... I think that its austereness (is that a word? Austerity sounded too financial.) is quite beautiful. I've enjoyed taking the (possibly scary to some) funivia (funicular) to the top of the hill and the views from there as well as the Roman theater etc. I've also bought some nice pottery there -- I liked shopping there precisely because there was LESS to choose from than in a place like Deruta and it didn't drive me nuts. And some of the work is quite nice.
So that's my $.02.
Cheers,
Posts: 4725 | Location: New York City | Registered: 15 June 2001
It is funny all the things that make one decide whether or not they like a place. I am very judgemental about places and decide quickly but then can change my mind in a minute. I just thought it was too long of a drive from everything to Gubbio - but we quite enjoyed our day there. I would NEVER ride the funicular thing!!
I have not found very many Italian tourist offices to be friendly. I gave up on using them many trips ago. In Switzerland I go straight to the tourist office - they can book your vacation rental, sell you excellent hiking maps and always have great brochures for the area. In Italy I rely on my guide books. The office in Siena gives out a good map though.
Posts: 26599 | Location: Santa Fe, NM | Registered: 15 June 2001
Thoroughly agree with Pauline re: Deruta. We were just overwhelmed, but might take Helen's advise about actually visiting the town rather than the tourist strip. We ended up buying some Deruta pottery in a town on Lake Trasimino.
Gubbio. We were there for the crossbow palio, so have a different perspective. Also found the tourist office very helpful, but the Taverna del Lupo was a major dissapointment. Food was ordinary and the service reminds me of the superiority described by Bill.
I walked from the top of the funivia to the top of the mountain where there were some old ruins and fabulous views in all directions. The palio was magnificent, and the opening parade much more moving and stiring than even Siena. Must admit that it is a grey and gloomy town, but that was part of the appeal.
Norcia. Worth visiting at any time, and particularly in spring (June). Drive from Norcia up to the Piano Grande for a stunning view of wildflowers. We were there in late May in 2000 and they were just starting, and the bees were already the size of my thumb. This time we are going to drive up there the second week of June, when they should carpet the plateau/plain (I know, it is a kast plain) Cheers Gavin
Posts: 893 | Location: Sydney, Australia | Registered: 20 January 2002
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