Umbria is a perfect region for living, a land rich in natural beauties, but also in great and ancient civilisations and in creative energy; a melting pot where past and present mix with plans for the future, blending effortlessly. Just over 800,000 people live in an area covering 8456 km2 at the very heart of the Italian peninsula, spread out over the 92 townships which form the region's urban framework. Populated centres are evenly distributed throughout the region: there are no great agglomerations, and Perugia, the capital, has only 151,000 inhabitants. As there aren't any unpopulated areas.
All the towns lie close together within this compact region and it is for this reason that communications have always been good. The multi-centred structure of Umbrian settlement has its origins in the distant past.
The driving force behind the region is a system of independent towns, firmly established in antiquity and anchored on strategically important routes and trails across the land. In no other part of Italy is such a well preserved pattern of land and settlement, of people and environment to be found.
It is totally unique, the result of ancient and modem cultural factors which trace an unbroken line from past to present.

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.
These fabrics, inspired by Middle-Eastern culture, were produced in Umbria from the 13th century, decorated wich geometrie motifs, human or animal figures and weil - wishing expressions. They haue become known all over Italy as the famous Perugian veils.
The art of wood-carving is represented by magnificent works such as the carving in Perugia of the Sala della Mercanzia, the choirstall of San Domenico and the pulpit of the church of San Lorenzo in Spello. In fact it would be possible to draw up an itinerary which searches out the carvings and engravings in the cathedrals and palaces of Umbria. Iron forged in Perugia, Orvieto, Gubbio and in the Trasimeno area was employed to great effect in religious works such as the gate of the chapels of the "Gonfalone di San Francesco" and the chapel of St. Bernard in the Duomo of Perugia.
These crafts, after undergoing a period of decline caused by the expansion of industrial productions, started, at the beginning of the '900 a slow but significant renewal. At the beginning of the '70, the Umbrian Region has, through its promotional activities favoured the development of this sector, which has also been stimulated by the contemporary growth of the regional touristic activities. Ceramics modelled on ancient designs can be found in Gubbio, Gualdo Tadino, Deruta, Todi Orvieto, Città di Castello, Perugia and Umbertide whilst terracotta may be found in Ficulle.

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.
In the weaving, embroidery and lace seetors the revival of Medieval and Renaiscance techniques which embraced all the socalled minor arts, manifested itself in the reintroduction of hand-looming in Perugia (a fabric known as the "flame of Perugia") and Città di Castello. At Assisi a Renaissance stitch known as "double cross" was renamed "Assisi stitch". Lace revived in a crochet stitch known as "pizzo Irlanda", introduced in 1904 by Elena Guglielmi mainly on the island of Isola Maggiore in Lake Trasimeno and later in Panicale at the laboratory of Ars Panicalensis, also famous for its embroidery.
Famed the world over is Ars Wetana, a particular type of Irish lace still produced today in Orvieto. Cabinet-making and restoration differs nowadays with respect to the past, at times in small companies which produce reproduction or modern furniture or restore antiques. Città di Castello has laboratories, small companies making reproduction furniture, restoration workshops and antique shops. Todi has a group of engravers, cabinet-makers, sculptors, restorers and craftsmen producing reproduction furniture and antique shops whilst Orvieto specialises in modern woodwork.
Wrought iron is produced in workshops in Gubbio noted for their reproductions of antique arms, Assisi, Città della Pieve, Norcia and Villamagina, with a tradition in the production of files and rasps. In Magione the working of embossed copper is particularly important.

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.
You can see this in the towns' historical centres, marked by the events of land settlements: the passage of the Etruscans, of the Romans, the formation of communal centres of which there are traces everywhere, in Perugia as in Orvieto, in Spello as in Città di Castello. You can sec it too in the mystic architecture of Assisi, Todi and Gubbio.
It could therefore be said that Umbria consists entirely of towns, due to the number of settlements varying in size, but with all the characteristics of an identical urban model, whose historical and artistic features emerge and develop without a break to our times. The charm of this stability bestows on Umbrian centres an aspect of cultural stratification, in which pre-Roman, Roman and mediaeval elements can be identified.
Turning then to the relationship between the people and their environment, it is no longer possible to define territorial, economie and demographic boundaries which respect the geographical distribution of mountains, hills and plains: here too the elements have become integrated in the course of history. Indeed, agricultural structures have always been modelled on the urban ones.
This, land use has always been based on a relationship between town and country, supported by a balanced distribution network of small and medium-sized towns.

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.
The disintegration of the old patterns of settlement - the exodus from the countryside, the proliferation of suburbs - prompted by economie and industrial development, that affected other regions, only touched Umbria slightly.
The iran and steel industry, the metals and metallurgical industry and the chemicals industry are present in the area around Terni and Narni, where industrial plans developed at the end of the last century. Large-scale food and textile industries figure around Perugia. Less important today, San Giustino, Città di Castello, Foligno, Gubbio, and Gualdo Tadino all have an industrial tradition which stretches back in time.
Older still, but very much alive today, are che crafts, an important feature in both economie, artistic and cultural terms: firms making ceramics are to be found chiefly in Gualdo Tadino, Deruta, Gubbio, Orvieto and Città di Castello; furniture producers in the Upper Tiber region and in the Tuderte, manufacturers of wrought iran at Gubbio and Orvieto and lace-workers in Orvieto and the area around Lake Trasimeno.
The road system in the region consists of a network of fine roads which make communications very easy.

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.
The two main axes are the E45 in the Tiber valley, and the SS75 and 76 which wind along the Umbrian Valley and the Trasimeno basin. The Autostrada del Sole and the Sant'Egidio regional airport, 12 km from Perugia, link Umbria with che rest of the country.
Umbria is therefore characterized by the natural beauty of its countryside, by its great artistic and cultural traditions, and by the modem economie and communications structures. Everywhere the possibilities for holidaying and for touring are infinite. Perugia, Città di Castello, Assisi, Spoleto, Gubbio, Orvieto, Todi, Terni and its environs can all claim to be true tourist centres due to their location, their pleasant climate and their artistic beauties.
So too can the smaller towns, just as rich in artistic treasures; places like Montefalco, Spello, Trevi, Narni, Umbertide, Amelia, Gualdo Tadino, Norcia, Cascia, Nocera Umbra, Città della Pieve, Sangemini and Ferentillo. The resorts of Passignano, Castiglione del Lago, Tuoro and Magione on Lake Trasimeno are particularly well suited for summer and family holidays.

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.
From ancient roots to new directions

Umbrias three thousand years of history have seen it play a highly active role; its cultural backdrop is of the strongest weave. In the Middle Ages the Benedictine monasteries had become the cornerstones of the conservation of the ancient classical culture and of the new Christian one, philosophical and mystical. These were centres for the arts, and for technical and scientific investigations in the fields of medicine, science and agriculture.
Perugia, for example, was a lively cultural centre first in the mediaeval period, and later during the Renaissance, just as it is today. Its university, founded at the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries, is one of the oldest in Europe. Orvieto was one of the pope's official residences for many years, attracting artistic and literary geniuses. Culturally as weil as politically it was quite self-reliant. This was then the fertile ground from which Umbrian culture sprung and continued to flourish across the centuries, supported by its commitment to ancient cultural institutions and to new, bold investments in humanism as weil as science and experiment. Its university, its schools of art, and its music courses are today famous not only throughout the land, but also across Europe, drawing thousands of students each year.
Moreover, cultural initiatives of the highest standards have sprung up - and are still springing up - everywhere, bringing together many people from all over the world. The best-known events are the Two Worlds Festival in Spoleto, the Umbrian Festival of Sacred Music and Umbria Jazz. Alongside these initiatives, the most authentic expressions of the region's old popular culture have been restored or given new life: popular celebrations such as the Candle Race and the Crossbow Contest in Gubbio, May Day in Assisi, the Quintain Joust at Foligno, the Ring Race at Narni or the historical procession on Corpus Christi day in Orvieto. Once more Umbria is boldly expressing its ancient and modern spirit, preserving its traditions and a many-facetted image of a highly composite reality.

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.
Umbrian Cuisine

Umbria has always been a rural region and its cuisine refleets this with simple, flavoursome dishes made from genuine ingredients.
Local agriculture produces fresh fruit and vegetables, high quality olive oil, pork products and tender beefsteaks, whilst the rivers furnish carp, trout, pike, tench, mullet and perch, and the woods mushrooms of prize quality.
Black truffles, lentils and cheese come from Valnerina and white truffles from the Upper Tevere valley and Eugubino Gualdese. The hills are covered with vineyards which produce a fragrant wine to complement the healthy and appetising food.
The main cooking implements are griddles and spits, while aromatic herbs, marjoram and fennel lend an unmistakeable flavour to the food, and olive oil is an exclusive dressing.
All over the region exceptional pork antipasti can be tasted: firm, lean harn, neck flavoured with garlic, pepper and salt and fresh or dried pork sausages.

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.
The pork dishes are accompanied by flat-loaf based on the typical Perugian recipe, sandwiched with harn or sausage or eise with the sweet flavour of sage and onion; liver or minced truffles canapes with filetted anchovies; pancakes ("arvoltolo") eaten hot and sprinkled with salt or sugar.
With the antipasti, but mainly with an aperitif, black olives flavoured orange are served. In the range of first courses at least three are local specialities: "ciriole", home-made tagliatelle dressed with browned onions, oil and garlic; "strascinati", macaroni with sauteed sausage and eggs mixed with Parmesan cheese; "umbrici", hand-made spaghetti.
Spaghetti or risotto can be served grated black or white truffles. Amongst the other dishes roast suckling pig stands out. Though typical throughout Central Italy its origins are Umbrian. Cooked on the spit in a wood oven, it is stuffed wich liver, heart Trasin and lungs diced with pepper, garlic, salt and wild fennel.
Also cooked on the spit is a dish common to Norcia and the whole of Valnerina - "beccacce alla norcina" - woodcock filled with giblets, sausage, butter, marjoram, thyme: and black truffles when in season. Smoked on the griddle are "budellacci" - pork intestines and offal washed and treated with salt, spices and fennel seeds.

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.
Hare, on the other hand, is stewed wich olives, whire wine and aromatic herbs, whilst sausages are casseroled with fresh grapes.
The main fish specialities of Lake Trasimeno, where carp as large as 15 kg are to be found, are the "regina in porchetta" - carp cooked in a wood oven in the same way as "la Porchetta", and "tegamaccio" - a cross between a fish soup and a rich stew, made from all the types of fish to be found in the lake, cooked in best quality olive oil, white wine and aromatic herbs.
Among the many delicious desserts of note are "torciglione" - a turban-like dish from the mountains made of ground almonds, flour and sugar; "brustengolo" - a kind of simple maize pudding (polenta) with chopped apples, pine nuts, walnuts, lemon rind and sugar; macaroni with almonds; homemade tagliatelle served with sugar, cinnamon, ground almonds and lemon rind, a Christmas speciality; Easter "ciaramicola" - with flour, eggs, lard, sugar and alkermes liqueur, baked and decorated with whisked egg-white and sugar, "pinoccate" - a mixture of sugar, pine nuts and "panpepato" (spice cake).

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.
The Crafts Industry

The cultural and economic importance of craft activities in Umbria has ancient roots. The various craft activities began in Mediaeval times. In the Renaissance, development of the major guilds influenced the minor guilds which reached the height of their splendour. The ceramics of Deruta, Perugia, Gubbio, Gualdo Tadino, Orvieto and Città di Castello asserted themselves all over Italy.
The magnificence of the bright, white enamel work in Deruta became renowned for the nimble graphic curves of its golden-yellow decorations and the firm line of its figures. The ruby reflections of the majolica earthenware in Gubbio by Giorgio Andreoli and his sons and the sober geometry of the ancient decorations of Orvieto were extremly famous, as the highly acclaimed ware production, as also the bright enamels of Gubbio and Gualdo Tadino and the heraldry and the reliefs of works found in Città di Castello. Textile crafts have been plied in Umbria at least since the 12th century. The works were influenced by French production, particularly the tapestries from Lilie by Giacomo Bergieres.
Over the centuries various typical forms created in Perugia were to develop: the textiles of the Donino workshop whose production lasted up until the 18th century, and the famous table - cloths of Perugia woven for both religious and everyday purposes.

Umbria is a place with a great tradition for hospitality and offers a large variety of accommodation possibilities: hotels, farm holiday, farmhouse, residence self-catering accommodation, b&b, rooms for rent, holiday homes, camp sites and tourist villages: there remains only to choose and undertake an interesting journey amidst myth and history. Umbria may also be discovered at any time of the year.