3311 Umbria is not boring...

I feel that the contributions to the Umbria thread have been rather thin, and it could seem to potential visitors that it is a rather boring place.
Lavender's "F" thread - enhanced by Marc's photo - really tells a lot of the story of Umbria: it is almost without exception a region of great beauty both for the landscape and for its jewel like small towns - but there is little of the superficially "important" art and architecture which gets taught on an art history course. Perhaps this is why descriptions of "the sights" are a bit lacking.
Of the few contributors, I think every one has included the advice to mooch around, and get off the beaten track - that, to me, is really what Umbria is about.
It is also a very friendly region - people are willing, and still pleased, to talk to visitors. Umbrians are very fond and proud of their place, and like to show it off - frequently, chatting (even in pidgeon Italian) to someone in the piazza will result in a youngster being dispatched to collect a key so that 'the visitor' can be shown the historic communal bread oven, or some such parochial wonder, and entering a Church can magic up a local who will explain (sometimes very imaginatively!) the history of their particular Madonna. In the summer, the local festas (one in every hamlet) are "open house", entirely free of charge - just dive in and enjoy! If you have not figured out how the queue works just look bewildered, and someone will explain - in sign langage if necessary - the village would be deeply ashamed if it hadn't shown hospitality. Every festa has its own different atmosphere - Corciano is a bit arty, Fontignano is great food and open air ballroom dancing (wonderful people watching opportunities, 70 year old grandpa teaching five year old great niece to foxtrot, intercut by the local belles line dancing in perfect synchronisation!), Tavernelle - if you don't fully understand the nuances of Marxist theory just smile hard, Citta della Pieve, Narni and Asissi stage grand spectacles. What I want to get across is that doing just one festa/sagra isn't enough - do a different one every evening if you get the chance.
I don't want you to go away with the impression that Umbria is full of bucolic peasants: most of the organisers of the festas, while doing this voluntary job with great pleasure and professionalism because they really have a deep feeling for their village, are merchant banking or web designing as a 'day job', or managing a mixed estate of many thousands of hectares. But they do know how to enjoy life, and how to share - and to me that is what Umbria is all about.

Category
Umbria

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/18/2006 - 14:31

Relaxed

I agree entirely, there is no time to relax here, too much to see & do. I have been hoping to write about some of the towns, but I'm fighting for my existance at the moment. Now that we are having continious rain & I can't be doing some of my outdoor tasks, I will try to write a bit about the beautiful towns & the excitement of Perugia's bustling centre, with it's great contrasts, art, the legal trade & the vibrant young students. I too have enjoyed the festas, Fontignano being 1 of them. I can see the church tower from my house.

There is no shortage of cultural activities & Panicale, although small, has more than its share of concerts, lectures, plays & exhibitions, as does Perugia. If that's not enough, we have a wealth of archeological sites, many Etruscan in origin. Don't forget Europe's biggest jazz festival, Umbria Jazz.

Umbria is not boring in the least!!!

Lavender Field

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/18/2006 - 17:07

Great reading your suggestions, Relaxed and Lavender!

Keep on sharing those experiences ... ;)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/18/2006 - 17:38

Relax and Lavender, have been reading all your posts about Umbria, a region I dont really know, but after reading all the contributions I certainly will be making a visit, this is the whole idea of what this grand tour is all about , to learn about other regions of Italy,and by you guys sharing with us all your experiences of the places you know,we get to know alot more of Italy that we would not know about, so Umbria is not at all boring it sounds wonderfully Italian to me, and thats what counts, so thank you for sharing all this information with us.:) regards Francesca

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 06/26/2006 - 15:10

Christine and I love Umbria, it gets overshadowed by it's neighbour Tuscany but to us she has just as much to offer.

We did a day trip by Train to Perugia and we both agree that it's one of our favourite cities, Assisi was great and we loved the relaxed "no chip on their shoulder" attitude that the locals in Passignano had while we stayed there.

Umbria is a great region of Italy and we've been to quite a few.

We got there with Inghams, it was a flight from Newcastle to Heathrow then another plane to Roma where we were picked up by an Inghams rep and taken up the motorway to Lake Trasimeno.
However this year you can get to Trasimeno from Newcastle(and therefore other Provincial Airports i'd assume) with Inghams as they are using Easyjet.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 08/15/2007 - 10:13

However this year you can get to Trasimeno from Newcastle(and therefore other Provincial Airports i'd assume) with Inghams as they are using Easyjet.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for this info: we have friends close to Newcastle that we have invited to stay with us in our new abode by the lake, and wondered the best route for them, we thought easyjet to rome then the train, but do Inghams do flights/ travel or just package Holiday? {althought booking a package can sometimes be as cheap} do Inghams have a website?
Thanks