Quick viewing(Text Mode)

Umbria & Le Marche

Umbria & Le Marche

©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd

Umbria & Le

Why Go? For years Italophiles have waxed lyrical about ’s ...... 567 natural, artistic and culinary wonders, without so much as Lago Trasimeno...... 578 a passing nod to neighbours: and Le Marche. How ...... 581 they have missed out! This phenomenally beautiful yet un- ...... 583 sung region is in microcosm: olive groves, vineyards, ...... 591 sun-ripened wheat fields stippled with wildflowers and hills plumed with cypress trees roll gently west to the snow-dust- ...... 594 ed Apennines and east to the glittering Adriatic. In between, ...... 598 castle-topped medieval hill towns wait, glowing like warm ...... 599 honey in the fading light of sundown. ...... 605 Then there are the region’s artistic attributes, as the Parco del Conero...... 609 birthplace of masters and Perugino, and sprightly composer Rossini; while St , ...... 610 St Benedict and St Valentine make the spiritual pilgrimage ...... 615 here a profound one. So next time you glance at the map and ...... 617 your eyes alight on old-favourite Tuscany, why not press on Monti Sibillini...... 619 south? You won’t regret it.

Best Places to Eat When to Go ¨¨La Taverna (p575) Perugia °C/°F Temp Rainfall inches/mm ¨¨DivinPeccato (p580) 30/86 8/200 ¨¨Osteria dei Priori (p587) 20/68 6/150 ¨¨Tempio del Gusto (p597) 10/50 4/100

0/32 2/50 Best Places to -10/14 0 Stay J F DNOSAJJMAM ¨¨B&B San Fiorenzo (p574) Feb Celebrate all May Hit Le Jun & Jul Get ¨¨Casale della Staffa (p580) things at Marche’s lost in music at ¨¨Palazzo Seneca (p599) Norcia’s Mostra beaches, as the Spoleto Festi- Mercato del wildflowers bloom val and Perugia’s ¨ ¨Acanto Country House Tartufo Nero. on the Piano Umbria Jazz. (p609) Grande. ¨¨Misia Resort (p603) 567 Umbria & Le Marche U GetgPermtburiinaia Around

------

Umbria (mansions). (mansions). centro storico ¨

palazzi (www.regioneumbria.

(www.sistemamuseo.

(www.umbriaonline.

(www.bellaumbria.net)

EBSITES Around

W

Museo Umbria

075 963 70 01; www.umbriamo Online

% Umbria 892021; www.trenitalia.com) sparsely

( - on accommo Find information U

Perugia is Umbria’s petite and petite imme is Umbria’s Perugia % The official Umbrian tourist website. tourist Umbrian The official Get the inside scoop on Umbria’s on Umbria’s the inside scoop Get Getting 8 u museums and upcoming events. and upcoming museums USEFUL ONMBRIA Bella Umbria Regione Sistema com) it) dation, events and itineraries across across and itineraries events dation, Umbria. Accommodation and restaurant listings listings and restaurant Accommodation and festivals for Search Umbria. for or date. location by events eu) Back in the 21st century, Perugia is a party- a is Perugia century, 21st the in Back B ses head from Perugia to most towns in the P loving, pleasure-seeking university city, with with city, university pleasure-seeking loving, filling and nightlife the up pepping students cafe terraces. The hopping summer event line-up counts one of Europe’s best festivals. with Together its jazz spiritual sister, diately diately likeable capital. Its (historic centre) rises in a of helter-skelter piazzas and stairways arched alleys, cobbled by framed magnificent History seeps through every shadowy cor ner of and streets an these wander aimless travel. time like feel can them through bilita.it) fills in the blanks. erugia POP 162,100 with patterned valley a above hill a by Lifted and swift runs River the where fields, clear, University of University and Perugia the famous Uni Foreign for (University Stranieri per versità ers), which art teaches Italian, and culture to thousands of students from around the world. 8 While having your own wheels certainly makes it easier to reach those off-the-radar hill towns and rural corners of Umbria, it is possible toget to many places by public transport with a little pre-planning. area; check at the tourist office or the bus sta tion for exact details. Trenitalia (Ferrovie dello Stato; Mobilità criss-crosses Umbria, but the regional ------(truffle), (truffle), tartufo Umbria is a land unto it unto land a is Umbria Following Following the collapse of the Western one the became of region the Eventually In tradition. artistic a has strong Perugia Separated Separated from Le Marche by the jag Foodies are in their element here, with UMBRIA fine fine cured meats from bodied local Norcia wines finding their and way onto full- menus. habitants, the tribe who settled east who tribe the settled Umbri habitants, of the Tiber around 1000 BC, establishing the towns of Spoleto, Gubbio and with supremacy for regional Assisi. They jockeyed to the of west – the the Etruscans river the – the and Orvieto until of Perugia founders 3rd century BC, when both. them the conquering Romans through, came marching , the region spent much of over by fought Ages being Holy the Middle and (Ghibellines) advocates Empire Roman supporters of the Pope (Guelphs). Intrigu ingly, it was during this turbulent promi to came period Francis St peace-loving that Assisi. in nence long- its to not was this though States, Papal term like historians benefit. Indeed, to say that in in time stopped Umbria 1540 when the pope imposed a salt tax. The standstill, resulting a to culture Umbrian brought war which is partly why the hearts of medieval preserved. well so are towns Umbrian paint fresco to home was it century 15th the master his and Pinturicchio Bernardino ers (known as who Pietro Vannucci Perugino), tradi cultural Its Raphael. teach later would the of form the in day this to continues tion History Umbria is named in honour of its first in Italy’s heart, heart, green Italy’s self, the only Italian region that borders nei borders that region Italian only the self, Removed ther the sea country. nor another from outside influences, it has kept alive many of Italy’s old-world You’ll traditions. see in grandmothers aprons making pasta by hand and front doors that been haven’t century. a in locked it contrasts Sibillini, Monti of the spine ged fall gentle the with beauty in-your-face wild, wildflower- and hills overlapping of rise and flecked meadows. The their Etruscans, left Romans have families feuding medieval and indelible imprint on its pretty hill towns, up to on creep seems on you history where every corner – from the Gothic wonder of calling. saintly Assisi’s to Orvieto the rich earthiness of the

Top View