Discover Umbria

Introduction

Umbria is the only Italian region with neither a coastline nor an international border — landlocked in the centre of the peninsula, and shaped by that isolation. It is small, hilly, and green enough to be called il cuore verde d'Italia, the green heart of Italy, without much exaggeration.

Its towns sit on hilltops because they had to: Etruscan foundations, medieval walls, and centuries of conflict between rival communes and the Papal States left almost every settlement fortified and looking outward. Perugia, Assisi, Orvieto, Spoleto and Gubbio are each a short drive apart and each recognisably its own place.

Umbria is often described as a quieter Tuscany, which undersells it. The Basilica of St Francis holds one of the most important fresco cycles in European art, Orvieto's cathedral façade is among the most elaborate in Italy, and the region's food and wine owe nothing to anywhere else.

Geography

Umbria is the only Italian region with neither a coast nor a foreign border. It is hill country drained by the Tiber, closed to the east by the Apennines, and green because it rains more here than in most of central Italy.

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History

Umbria was Etruscan in the west and Umbrian in the east, then Roman, then a patchwork of warring communes absorbed one by one into the Papal States — which ruled most of it until 1860 and left it poorer and more intact than its neighbours.

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Culture

Umbrian culture is quieter and more inward than its neighbours' — shaped by Franciscan spirituality, by centuries of papal rule, and by towns that still stage medieval contests they take entirely seriously.

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Climate Patterns

A temperate inland climate with hot summers and cool, damp winters. Rain falls mainly in autumn and spring, which is what keeps Umbria green when central Italy browns.

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Food & Traditional Cuisine

Umbrian cooking is plain in the best sense — grilled meat, pulses, bread without salt, and olive oil of exceptional quality. Its luxuries are wild: black truffle from Norcia, and game from the hills.

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