LIVING UMBRIA

Day 1 | Wednesday 21 April
Arrive Rome - To Montefalco
For centuries, Umbria has drawn travellers in search of an older Italy – a region of hill towns, saints and painters, where agriculture, food and community remain closely tied to the landscape. Our journey into this world begins at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, where we meet in the early afternoon before travelling north through the Umbrian countryside to Montefalco. Here we settle into Palazzo Bontadosi, our home for the next nine nights, allowing us to become familiar with the town and its surroundings. Once settled, we gather for an introduction to the tour over a welcome drink, followed by dinner together at local restaurant. Overnight Montefalco (D)

Day 2 | Thursday 22 April
The Balcony of Umbria
Perched on a hilltop overlooking the Vale of Umbria, the medieval town of Montefalco is known as the ‘Balcony of Umbria’ for its sweeping panorama, stretching from Perugia in the north to Assisi, Spello and Spoleto in the south. Its name – ‘Mount of the Falcon’ – honours the beloved hawks of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, through whom falconry was introduced to Europe. We begin today with a guided tour of the local museum, housed in the former church of San Francesco and home to one of the masterpieces of Renaissance art – Benozzo Gozzoli’s Life of Saint Francis fresco cycle, painted in 1450. In the afternoon we stroll through the olive groves and vineyards that surround the town, the latter producing Sagrantino, the ancient, tannic red wine for which Montefalco is famous, before winding our way through its walls, towers and picturesque streets. The evening is at leisure, with time to wander through the piazza as the town winds down for the day. Overnight Montefalco (B)

Day 3 | Friday 23 April
Bevagna
Food is at the heart of Umbrian identity, a cuisine of seasonal simplicity passed down through generations at the family table, and there is no better introduction than cooking it ourselves. A drive through the verdant countryside this morning brings us to the private villa of Casa Gola, near Bevagna. Here, our host, chef Luciana Cerbini, welcomes us into her home for a private cooking class, preparing local dishes with seasonal, organic produce from her vegetable garden. We also sample Casa Gola’s award-winning olive oils before enjoying a communal lunch of the dishes we’ve made. In the afternoon we proceed to Bevagna, the Roman Mevania, a quintessential Umbrian town on the ancient Via Flaminia, now famous for its medieval-themed ‘Gaite’ festival, in which citizens revive the dress, dishes and trades of their ancestors. A guided tour takes in the town’s magnificent piazza, considered one of the finest in Umbria. We also visit a recreated medieval house in the vaults that once supported the Roman theatre and a traditional water-powered paper-making mill, where we witness how paper was produced in the Middle Ages. On return to our hotel, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Montefalco (B, L)

Day 4 | Saturday 24 April
Neil Moore’s Tower House
The hills south of Montefalco are scattered with fortified hamlets that once guarded the approaches to the Vale of Umbria. Among them is Colle del Marchese, one of a network of medieval villages linked to Spoleto and positioned to control the southern reaches of the valley. Venturing into these hills today, we first pause at Giano dell’Umbria to visit the ‘Olivo Secolare di Macciano’, an ancient olive tree estimated to have been planted around 800 CE. From here, we continue to Colle del Marchese, where the rest of the morning is devoted to Neil’s labour of love – the 13th-century castle tower he has restored and called home for the past 30 years. This private visit to the estate and village gives us a more personal introduction to local life, as Neil shares the history of this fortified community and the work undertaken to preserve it. Lunch together at a nearby restaurant follows, before we continue to Foligno, the largest town in the Vale of Umbria, for a tour of Palazzo Trinci. This historic residence was owned by the family that governed the city during the Middle Ages, and its frescoed apartments are considered some of the finest early Renaissance treasures in Umbria. We then return to Montefalco. Overnight Montefalco (B, L)

Day 5 | Sunday 25 April
Pomonte and Tradition
Charcoal burning is among the oldest crafts of the Umbrian hills, a once-widespread tradition passed down through generations, of which only a handful of practising families remain. This morning we drive to the commune of Gualdo Cattaneo, once under the control of the infamous Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, who commissioned the military fortifications that remain largely intact today, and on to the nearby hamlet of Pomonte, our destination for the day. Here, we meet one of the last families preserving the centuries-old tradition of the carbonari, or charcoal burners. Weather permitting, we witness a traditional burn before sitting down to a barbecue lunch on the family’s estate, cooked over their own charcoal. The evening is at leisure on return to our hotel. Overnight Montefalco (B, L)

Day 6 | Monday 26 April
Weaving in Perugia and a Wine Tasting
Perugia’s long history as a centre of regional power was also shaped by the trades and guilds that sustained its medieval and Renaissance economy, including a strong tradition of textile production. Travelling north here this morning, we begin at the Museo Atelier Giuditta Brozzetti, one of the last hand-weaving workshops in Italy, housed in the former Franciscan church of San Francesco delle Donne. Founded in 1921 and run by four generations of women, the atelier still produces traditional Umbrian textiles on wooden jacquard looms, and we watch the weavers at work on designs drawn from the region’s medieval and Renaissance past. We then continue to the Collegio del Cambio, the frescoed audience hall of the bankers’ guild and one of Perugino’s masterpieces, before descending into the Etruscan well, a remarkable feat of engineering sunk more than 35 metres into the rock in the 3rd century BCE. After a break for lunch and time for individual sightseeing, we return towards Montefalco, stopping en route at a local estate, where the producers walk us through a tasting of the region’s wines, including the celebrated Sagrantino. Overnight Montefalco (B, Wine Tasting)

Day 7 | Tuesday 27 April
A Roman Ghost Town
Umbria is famous for its ‘ghost towns’, once thriving ancient and medieval centres that are now sparsely populated or entirely abandoned, but which nevertheless offer a fascinating glimpse into the region’s past. Today we visit one of the most significant, Carsulae, situated on the slopes of the Monti Martani along the ancient Via Flaminia. The road formed the principal axis of the Roman town and much of its paving remains intact. Our exploration of the archaeological area takes in the well-preserved theatre and amphitheatre, along with the remains of Roman shops and the basilica. Passing through the Arch of San Damiano, a Roman triumphal arch that marked the town’s northern boundary, we follow the Via Flaminia past funerary monuments erected for prominent local families. Together, these remains offer a vivid sense of Carsulae before its gradual abandonment around the 6th century CE. After our tour, we will enjoy lunch together at a restaurant in the nearby hill town of San Gemini before returning to our hotel. Overnight Montefalco (B, L)

Day 8 | Wednesday 28 April
Truffles in the Sacred Forest & Spoleto
The wooded heights of Monteluco have been held sacred since antiquity, and a winding uphill road this morning takes us through dense forest to the Sacro Bosco, or Sacred Wood, where we explore these layers of religious history. Umbria is also the heart of truffle production in Italy, and we continue to the village of Patrico for a demonstration of truffle hunting, followed by a rustic lunch in this isolated village high in the Apennines. In the afternoon we descend to Spoleto, a Roman stronghold that famously turned Hannibal from its gates in 217 BCE and was later the seat of a powerful Lombard duchy. We arrive by crossing the medieval aqueduct, the Ponte delle Torri, which rises 83 metres above the valley. From here we pass the Rocca Albornoziana – a fortress that became the residence of Lucrezia Borgia in 1499 – before touring the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, home to Filippo Lippi’s final masterpiece, and the remains of a Roman house. We then return to our hotel. Overnight Montefalco (B, L)

Day 9 | Thursday 29 April
Assisi and the Artist’s Studio
Few places in Italy carry the spiritual weight of Assisi, birthplace of St Francis and a place of pilgrimage for nearly 800 years. Travelling across the Vale of Umbria to the slopes of Monte Subasio, we approach the city as it rises above the surrounding countryside. Here we tour the Basilica of St Francis, begun in 1228, just two years after the saint’s death, and decorated by the greatest painters of the age, whose frescoes marked a turning point in Western art. The basilica and town form a UNESCO World-Heritage site, and after our visit there is a break for lunch and time for individual sightseeing. In the afternoon we return to Colle del Marchese, where Neil opens his studio. Here he elaborates on the oil painting techniques he uses in his own work, followed by a demonstration of how etchings are printed on his own press – his principal form of expression before he began painting when he settled in Italy. Returning to our hotel, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Montefalco (B)

Day 10 | Friday 30 April
Todi on the Tiber
Crowning a hilltop above the River Tiber so perfectly, Renaissance theorists held Todi up as the ideal city. Leaving Montefalco behind today for Orvieto, we first travel to this once-Etruscan town for a guided walk through its historic centre, taking in the impressive Piazza del Popolo and Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral. After a break for lunch, we continue south through the Tiber valley towards Orvieto, crossing a landscape of wooded hills and deep gorges. On arrival, we check in to our centrally located hotel, our base for the final four nights, before setting out on a short orientation walk through the town. In the evening we gather for dinner at a local restaurant, beginning the next stage of our stay in southern Umbria. Overnight Orvieto (B, D)

Day 11 | Saturday 1 May
Etruscan Orvieto
Sitting majestically high above the valley floor atop an expansive platform of volcanic tuff with panoramic views of mountains and cypress-dotted Umbrian fields, Orvieto is older than Rome, once a cultural and religious centre of the ancient Etruscans, and a favourite refuge of Popes throughout the Middle Ages. Our morning begins with a guided tour of the city, following its cobblestoned streets to the magnificent Duomo, known as the ‘Golden Lily’ of cathedrals for the mosaics that illuminate its splendid facade. Next, in the Chapel of San Brizio, we encounter Luca Signorelli’s fresco cycle of the Apocalypse – a masterpiece of the Renaissance that reflects the turbulent political and religious atmosphere of late 15th-century Italy. Following a break for lunch, a guided tour takes us into the Orvieto underground, a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers carved from the soft tuff by the Etruscans and re-used ever since. The rest of the day is at leisure, perhaps to visit the Museo Claudio Faina, whose Etruscan collections face the cathedral. Overnight Orvieto (B)

Day 12 | Sunday 2 May
Viterbo & Bomarzo
South of Orvieto lies Lazio – ancient Latium, from which we derive the word Latin – a region shaped by Etruscans, Romans and Popes alike. Its finest medieval city is Viterbo, known as the ‘City of the Popes’, and our morning is devoted to a walking tour, taking in traces of its Etruscan past, the streetscapes of the San Pellegrino district, the Papal and Priori Palaces and the Romanesque Cathedral of San Lorenzo. After time at leisure in the city, we continue to the neighbouring town of Bomarzo and the ‘Parco dei Mostri’, or Garden of Monsters, where the 16th-century aristocrat Pier Francesco Orsini filled a wooded valley with otherworldly sculptures of monsters and mythical beasts – a garden unlike any other of the Renaissance and a precursor to Surrealism. Back in Orvieto, we gather this evening for an apericena, the Italian ritual of early-evening drinks and a generous spread of local dishes. Overnight Orvieto (B, Apericena)

Day 13 | Monday 3 May
Civita di Bagnoregio & Bolsena
Lake Bolsena, Europe’s largest crater lake, was formed by volcanic eruptions some 750,000 years ago that shaped the geology of this whole region. Now peaceful and idyllic, the lakeside town is our first stop, where we visit the historic centre and the church of Santa Cristina, scene of the miracle of Bolsena in 1263, which gave the Church the Feast of Corpus Christi, before embarking on a private boat trip on the lake. We then make our way to Civita di Bagnoregio, considered one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, perched on a crest above a vast canyon carved by wind and erosion. The saddle of tuff that once connected Civita to the outside world has worn away, and today the only way in or out is by footbridge, through a towering stone entrance cut by the Etruscans 2,500 years ago. On our return to Orvieto, we reconvene this evening for our farewell dinner. Overnight Orvieto (B, D)

Day 14 | Tuesday 4 May
Depart to Rome
The tour ends this morning after breakfast. There will be a group transfer to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport. (B)