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Here's Some Great Places
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The Green Heart
Ireland is not the only place with a "green heart." The very center of Italy is the land bound region which I consider the crossroads of Italian history and culture. Umbria is the gate between Rome and Tuscany, between the Adriatic and Mediterranean. With its olive oil, awarded wines and rolling landscapes Umbria provides a mirror reflection of Tuscany, without the traffic, the scooters, the tourists or museums. For many Umbria may not be as well known as Tuscany. But therein lies its charm and unique appeal - all the beauty of central Italy without the baggage. Traveling the roads of Umbria is a journey full of surprises, continuously suspended between the signs of a well-preserved past and a vocation for the future that is alive and exquisitely beautiful. Umbria today, reinventing itself fashionable but without overdoing it, has much to offer visitors: sport, culture, museums, epicurean delights, healing waters, and musical events of international renown. Here are a few ideas for each season:
Spring Festivals in Umbria
Calendimaggio
It is a spectacular evocation of medieval and Renaissance costumes and life. The two ancient medieval wards, the "Parte di Sopra" and the "Parte di Sotto", engage in a spectacular challenge which takes the form of theatre shows, songs and choruses, dances, processions, archery, crossbow and flag-waving displays. The districts compete in a singing contest among the spectacular floral decorations, torches and candles.
Ceri Race Festival
It's one of the most unusual popular religious events in Italy. It is imbued with strong mystical emotion which fascinates the public. The "Ceri" are three gigantic wooden structures weighing about 400 kilos each, surmounted by statues of St. Ubaldo, St. Giorgio and St. Antonio. Youths carry them on their shoulders from the historic part of the town to the top of Mount Ingino, where the basilica of the patron stands.
Race of the Ring
Dating back to the first half of the fourteenth century, it is a contest of skill in which young men of the ancient "Terzieri" (Fraporta, Mezule and St. Maria) take part. A ring is suspended from two lengths of string running between the houses: the youths, dressed in traditional historical costume, attempt to centre it with a lance. During the race town streets are decked with flags and lit by torches for exhibitions. Summer Festivals
Festival of the Two Worlds
It was established by Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958 with the aim of creating an opportunity for Italian, American and European cultures to meet and exchange ideas. Today is one of the most prestigious international artistic events and offers performances of theatre, dance, prose and lyrics performed in very suggestive spaces such as the Cathedral Square, where the final concerts of the Festival take place.
Umbria Jazz
Launched in 1973, today is one of the most important jazz music festival in the world. The event lasts ten days during which, from morning to night, in the historic center of Perugia take place many concerts covering the entire music kinds to meet the tastes of the public. During the Festival Perugia becomes a meeting point for tens of thousands music lovers, coming from all over Italy, from Europe and the United States.
August in Montefalco Festival
An intense calendar of artistic, cultural and enogastronomic events. Ensembles of strings and wind instruments filling the charming streets and squares of the historic center with melodies, shows for kids and pleasant evenings in the Taverns of the Town Quarters. August in Montefalco culminate in the fascinating procession, the crossbow contests, the flag-wavers, and the choreographic "Flight of the Ox". Fall Festivals
Italian First Courses Festival
A festival for promoting quality first courses in Italian cuisine: pasta, rice and soups. It is divided into various sections, such as the tasting of first courses at taverns in the historic center, tasting guided by Grand Chefs, and the cooking school of the Great Masters. And also shows with comedians and artists in the fifteenth century setting of the Auditorium San Domenico, with tasting of first course dishes.
Orvieto with taste
A prestigious wine and food event aimed at rediscovering and protecting traditional flavors and products. A slow food itinerary for experiencing flavours and aromas while strolling through the streets and historic buildings, guided food and wine tastings for comparing Umbrian and Italian foods and wines. It includes events sponsored by the international network of the "Cittˆ Slow", the "Cities of Good Living".
Eurochocolate
A great event dedicated to the lovers of the "Food of the Gods", which every year transforms the squares and the historic center of Perugia into a lively open-air chocolate shop. Amateur and semi-professional workshops, tastings, exhibitions and other events are held in the historic town centre. This is a unique, varied festival, which features the biggest names in Italian and international confectionery making. Winter Festivals
Umbria Book Fair
Originated as the fair of publishing in Umbra, it has become an important appointment in the Umbrian cultural panorama, in the enchanting surroundings of historic center of Perugia. The fair is a five days of new releases, meetings with authors, debates, conferences, aperitifs with music and literary desserts all revolving around books where writers, philosophers and intellectuals from Italy and abroad take part.
Fair of the Prized Norcia Black Truffle
An agricultural-food products fair that promotes the typical specialities of the Valnerina: the prized black truffle from Norcia, sausages and salamis, cheeses, Castelluccio lentils, spelt, and wild berries. The exhibition area also includes crafts, farming implements, and typical national food products. Folkloristic entertainment, conventions, shows and sports competitions are all centred around the truffle.
Saint Valentine Celebrations
The entire month of February is dedicated to celebrations in honor of St. Valentine, Terni's first Bishop. Among the various events is "Terni-St. Valentine. A Year of Loving", that awards a yearly prize in recognition of a special act of love: past awards include those given to the memory of Israelian Premier Rabin and to Mikail Gorbaciov. The events include conferences, concerts and theatrical performances.
PERUGIA One of the best preserved and largest medieval hill-towns in all of Italy, and just north the "City of Silence" - the small medieval hill town of Gubbio. It is a picturesque and quieter region providing visitors a sense of living history, rather than that of the past. Other wonderful towns to visit include Spoleto, Spello and more. Umbria shares its Tuscan neighbor's rich heritage in the planning and construction of hill-towns. Its farms are green and the valleys and lands run to the east into the delta basin off in the Marches. Strolling Through the Lively Narrow Streets of an Ancient Village by Cecilia Martino Perugia is a city not just worth tasting famous for the yearly event dedicated to chocolate delicacies but a visit is an absolute must. The atmosphere of the town perched on a hill is particularly lively due to the presence of a well-known university, an institute of studies for foreigners and numerous specialized schools. Young and bubbly, life in Perugia takes place along the streets and in the numerous locales offering hospitality at cheap prices. Shops, art galleries, street markets and pubs dot the narrow streets of the lively Umbrian town. Piazza Grande is the hub of city life. Converging in the marvelous monument complex, now Piazza IV Novembre, are the Palazzo dei Priori, the Cathedral and the Fontana Maggiore, the city symbol and considered the most beautiful and famous of the Middle Ages. Among the most significant monuments are the Palazzo della Penna, the Pozzo Etrusco (Etruscan Well), the San Severo Chapel and the Cassero di Porta Sant'Angelo, as well as the Rocca Paolina, today the centre for museum services where one can find information and documents on the city's artistic and cultural wealth. Palazzo della Penna , located between Viale Indipendenza and Tre Archi, houses important, prestigious art collections and hosts on-going displays of exhibits from Italian and foreign museums. The large Pozzo Etrusco , known also as the "Sorbello well", leads to the dungeons of the Palazzo Sorbello. The entrance ticket is valid also for the San Severo Chapel which boasts a famous fresco by young Raffaello portraying the Trinity, surrounded by angels and saints. At the end of Corso Garibaldi, just outside the walls and near the small church of San Matteo degli Armeni di San Basilio, is Porta Sant'Angelo , also called "Porta degli Armeni", a crenellated tower from the 14th century, which dominated the entire area of the Sant'Angelo hill. Later on, a caisson was raised with its moat. The suggestive structure was only recently recovered from the Perugia Town Council in order to house the Museo delle Mura Urbiche (Museum of the City Walls), founded in order to document the evolution of the city's urban planning. For a plunge into medieval Perugia, don't miss a visit to the Rocca Paolina , commissioned by Pope Paolo III Farnese in 1540, after repressing the revolt by the people of Perugia, remembered as the "Salt War". As an alternative visit, the necropoli in the city outskirts are interesting, along the main roads: del Palazzone, Ipogeo dei Volumi, Ferro di Cavallo, Madonna Alta. Not all of them can be visited, but objects found there are on exhibit at the National Archaeological Museum. TODI Todi: gift of the royal eagle by Rossana Cacace Todi is a small hilltown. According to legend, an eagle set down on the place where the town was to rise. That eagle is the very one on the city crest today. There is a medieval atmosphere throughout the old town, in the narrow streets and in the more important squares. To best admire its beauty one should start off from the marvelous Tempio di Santa Maria della Consolazione near the Todi gates. It was built between 1508 and 1607 to a plan by Bramante and realized by various and important artists such as Peruzzi and Sanmicheli . Climbing the Viale della Consolazione on the right is the Tempio di San Fortunato (15 th century). The crypt contains the remains of Jacopone, a noted man of letters of the 13 th century, and in a sacellum are those of the holy protectors of the city : Fortunato, Callisto, Cassiano, Degna and Romana. A path behind the temple leads to the Parco della Rocca. The Rocca or Colle di Todi at 411 metres altitude is the highest point of the city. Inside this beautiful park is the "Mastio", a sort of stronghold built in 1373. A must is the suggestive walk along the paths lined with lime-trees, horse chestnuts and pines. The Teatro Comunale ( 1876) is a truly splendid work by the architect Carlo Gatteschi . Not far away is the heart of Todi, the splendid Piazza del Popolo considered one of the most beautiful squares of Italy where ancient constructions can be admired: Palazzo del Popolo (1214), Palazzo del Capitano (1293), Palazzo dei Priori (1334) and the Duomo (11 th century) which preserves majestic paintings. Along Corso Cavour we come to a square and the Fontana Cesia , built in 1606 by the bishop Angelo Cesi, then Porta Marzia with the elegant renaissance balustrade. Then again the imposing Roman Nicchioni , whose origin is filled with mystery, and the Church of San Carlo , Todi's first cathedral, built in the 12 th century. Todi is surrounded by three concentric perimeter walls, characterized by bastions and by the famous doors, amongst which are Porta Armerina , built in the 14 th century, the remains of Porta Orvietana , Porta Romana from the 16 th century and the solid bastion of Porta Perugina. AMELIA Amelia, the oldest Umbrian city, rises on a hill, enclosed within a mighty circle of walls. It's layout is basically medieval with archaeological remains, churches and palaces of considerable interest. Tradition says that the town was founded by the legendary King Ameroe and during the Roman period had the name Ameria. Numerous evidence was left of the Roman period: the cisterns beneath Piazza Matteotti and the remains of the Gentiliana Roscia Mausoleum called "Trullo", outside the walls along the via Ortana. The strong walls that surround the city for about 720 metres, at times as much as 3.5 metres thick, offer the visitor a very suggestive panorama. Four gates open through the walls: Porta Romana to the south, main access to the town, Posterola to the north, Porta Leone to the east and Porta della Valle to the west. A truly unique experience is a visit to the thousand-year-old Roman Cisterns at Piazza Matteotti, an imposing Roman work of hydraulics built in the 1 st century AD. There are ten large areas for collecting water. CASTLES OF UMBRIA Assisi's Rocca Maggiore , the only city castle, a tall, square fortress. It was rebuilt in 1367 by Cardinal Albornoz over the remains of a building which, according to legend, was the home of Federico Barbarossa. Another ancient building rises near the castle, the Rocca Minore . Monuments can be visited every day from 10 am to sunset. For information, contact the ticket office (tel. +39.075.812534). Assisi is reached on the A1 motorway (Autostrada del Sole) to Perugia, then continuing towards Assisi on the Flaminia state road. Another place of interest not to be missed is Rocca di Spoleto , among other things headquarters of the Festival dei Due Mondi, the prestigious international review of ballet, cinema and prose, taking place every year in June and July. From various points of the city one can see the imposing fort sitting on the Sant'Elia hill. Built in 1300 by Gubbio's architect Matteo Gattapone, upon commission by Cardinal Albornoz, the castle is a heavy but elegant building, and was selected by many popes as their residence. Used at length throughout the centuries as a prison, it can only be visited from the outside. Guided tours can be booked (for information: tel. +39.0743.220311). To get to Spoleto, 70 km from Perugia and 28 km from Terni, along the Flaminia state road 3. In Torgiano, a few kilometres from Perugia, rises the Castello di Brufa . Built in the year one thousand, it is steeped in history and legend. It is said that when Giovanni Capestrano was locked inside a cell in the castle tower, he had a vision of San Francesco. In the fort rooms, the atmosphere is heavy with history. In the second half of the 1300s, the famous battle was fought for independence between Perugia and the Papal State. In more recent times the castle lent hospitality to the famous seventeenth century musician Andrea Bontempi, who composed numerous works in the pleasant castle rooms. The tourist offices must be contacted for guided tours (for information: tel. +39.075.988601). Torgiano can be reached along the European road 45 as far as Sant'Andrea d'Agliano, turning then towards Torgiano.
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