Umbria by Lynne

I know we’ve been featuring a few recent articles on Italy but about 25% of our clients seem to be going there in the next year so we feel it warrants a little extra attention.

After ten days of touring the length and breadth of Italy in a bus with 35 people on board, the thought of two weeks without unpacking while staying in a 12^th century hilltop town in Umbria was appealing to say the least. As it unfolded, it was even better than the plan had promised.

Umbria isn’t the most famous of Italy’s regions, with its neighbour Tuscany getting all of the press, but what our group of 2 couples found when comparing between the two was that Umbria had just as many beautiful towns and interesting places to visit but they were also much less crowded than the more well known Tuscany (and probably much cheaper too). The scenery was spectacular, the people friendly, the food amazing! With our own apartment in the small town of Montone and a “supermercato” in nearby Umbertide we were even able to experiment with cooking. The staff in the Coop Supermarket, none of whom spoke English, became used to the sight of 4 Aussies darting in all directions to buy beer, wine, cheese, fruit and all of the other necessities of life, helping us to find the correct money and welcoming us with smiles each time we visited.

From Montone we visited such places as Orvieto, Todi, Gubbio, Assisi and Spello, all of which were within an easy drive of Montone. Each of them was packed with “Kodak moments” around every corner; wonderful little alleys with window boxes of colourful flowers, cobblestoned streets, shop windows filled with cheeses of all shapes and sizes, mushrooms and truffles, beautiful clothes and of course – gelato! Each town visit required a willingness to walk up and down hills, to jump aside when cars came along that somehow managed to fit into alleys and streets that would hardly constitute a bike path at home and to drive back to Montone via charming country lanes and highways lined with crops of tobacco and vineyards. In Montone we made it our mission to charm the locals, a difficult task with the seemingly shy group of inhabitants of this town of 1500 people, with its 6 or 7 restaurants and 2 bars literally below the apartment. Montone was charming in its own right, with its clock chiming each quarter hour between 8.00am and 10.00pm, its tiny piazza, it’s group of mostly men discussing perhaps football, politics or food from 7.00am until late at night until we wondered what on earth they could find to talk about for such a long time.

A day trip to Orvieto uncovered the most amazing cathedral (duomo) of the many beautiful cathedrals we had seen.  Another perfect day!  And the next day, we did it all again in another town. Bella Italia indeed!

Travelscene Samford would like to thank Lynne for this lovely travel article.  Don’t forget that only Travelscene American Express lets you travel anywhere, any time and pay with your membership rewards points so contact us on 3289 3700 and let us help you turn your American Express membership rewards points into your next trip.