Planning a trip to Le Marche and Umbria

[Pauline]

It seems like all I am doing these days is figuring out flights and vacation rentals for short trips to Europe! I have my April trip to Puglia and Basilicata booked. Our July trip to Switzerland is half booked. Now I am planning two weeks in Italy in September.

The plan so far: One week at Valle Nuova in northern Le Marche, near Urbino. I know Giulia from ST and we met at the 2007 Assisi GTG. I have long wanted to stay there to see the farm, the countryside, see more of Urbino (were there once on a day trip to see the last painting on the Piero della Francesca trail). There are also parts of the old Roman road Via Flaminia to explore. Her website has good local information.

For the second week I was thinking of Spoleto. Umbria Holiday Rentals has some good looking apartments in the center of town. We spent three nights in Spoleto in the late 1990s and have not been back since. I liked the town, even though you always seemed to be walking uphill, and there are interesting historic sites in town - churches, ancient Roman remains. Plus you can walk across the Ponte delle Torri (13th-century aqueduct, possibly on Roman foundations) and get onto walking trails up into the forest.

Spoleto is on the eastern branch of the Via Flaminia, so maybe that can be the theme for the trip. The ruins of Carsulae are nearby (we saw them years ago and would visit again). We can get up to Spello (we spent a couple of weeks there years ago) and even drive to Norcia (we have not been there).

I spent all day yesterday thinking should we go to Lucca instead? Southern Tuscany? The mountains north of Florence?

We could either fly in and out of Bologna, or into Bologna and out of Rome if we end up in Spoleto. Since we would be so close at Bologna airport, we could go to Ravenna to see the mosaics. We were there in the late 90s, but would love to see them again. We probably should spend a couple of nights in Bologna - have not been there - but I don't know.

Any ideas, comments, advice?

 

[ItalophileNJ]

It all sounds good, especially the week at Giulia's. As for Bologna, maybe I didn't give it a fair shake but it seems to me that the people who love it are foodies who are meat eaters. If you are vegetarian, and you want to eat in restaurants, picking your way through a menu can be difficult. Not impossible, but not great. Of course if you are planning to cook, that's not a problem.

Ravenna, loved it!

 

[Valerie]

You're going to love Le Marche, and Giulia's is a great homebase. We really enjoyed the nearby town of Urbania. Urbino is very steep but beautiful. San Marino and less-known San Leo (discovered thanks to Giulia's suggestion) are dramatic and very cool to see. Central Marche with its rolling hills is similar to Tuscany. Bryan recommends the Caverns of Frasassi. The Gargano promontory near Ancona offers beautiful seaside atmosphere.

I'd of course recommend Ascoli Piceno instead of Spoleto or Tuscany to also explore southern Marche and northern Abruzzo. But Spoleto is lovely and lots of pretty towns in the area. How long since you've been to Lucca or southern Tuscany? Are there still things you haven't seen there? Or you're mainly wanting to revisit some spots that you haven't been to in a long time? Like Italophile NJ, I wasn't overly impressed with Bologna, though I thought I would be. It was kind of a let-down. And since you don't eat meat, it will harder than other spots, I think.

You could consider Ancona and Pescara as possible airports, too.

 

[Pauline]

Thanks @Valerie - I am still working out the details.

 

[Roz]

We liked Bologna, but one of the best things about it was how easy it was to day-trip to other towns from there because the train station in Bologna is so central to the region. We really spent more time in other places while staying in Bologna. The mosaics in Ravenna are definitely a must-see.

 

[Pauline]

Bologna is off my list for this trip - thanks for the information. We are booked into Guilia's Valle Nuova for 9 nights. I still have not decided on Spoleto or Lucca for the next week.

If we fly in and out of Bologna, we will spend a couple of nights in Ravenna at the end of the trip. I loved those mosaics and would like to see them again. Plus we thought Ravenna was a fun town.

 

[Madonna del Piatto]

what a surprise, come to see us!

 

[Pauline]

It would be great to see you again @Madonna del Piatto ! I was looking at your lovely apartment but since our first week is out in the countryside I thought our second week should be in town so our friend can venture out on her own easily.

I will email you closer to the time.

 

[Madonna del Piatto]

Yes, please do Pauline, it's been such a long time ago we met!

 

[Pauline]

I booked our apartment in Spoleto - Terrazza Mercato.

Usually when I email an agency or owner and have questions, the questions are only answered when I ask them a second time. Or not at all. Norma who runs Umbria Holiday Rentals was the most attentive person I have ever dealt with! All my questions answered! Opinions on how to choose offered! Great details on the apartments I was choosing between. Deposit paid via Paypal and the Euro is low today

Now - the big decision - do we fly to Bologna and rent a car or drive our UK car to Le Marche and Umbria? Currently Steve votes fly/rent and I vote drive. Maybe we will do a trial drive in France this summer.

 

[Steve R.]

Not sure whether or not this is needed or of interest, but several years ago we wound up with Alessandra, owner of http://www.discoveringumbria.it/index.html for a day of touring small, family run olive oil frantoias and groves. It was free to us, arranged by a friend here in NYC who imports olive oil, so I'm not at all sure of whether its worth the cost or whether we got a standard tour or something meant to impress our friend's Italy friends (who sub-contracted her for us). At any rate, we loved driving around with her in the Todi area. She's extremely adaptable to whatever you're interested in. Also, not sure if you care about wines but I think the place to go would be Paolo Bea http://www.cellartours.com/italy/italian-wineries/paolo-bea-winery.html not far from where you're staying. We went to the Caprai vineyards, since we like their wines, but I think that they may be a little too glossy/businesslike in their approach to tourists. The Sagrantino in Montefalco is high in alcohol but very good.

Btw, I'd love to go back to Ravenna. It remains one of my favorite places to really see mosaic work up close and in its glory. Have a great trip.

 

[Pauline]

Thanks for the recommendation Steve! As you guessed, we are not interested in wine and wineries, but are interested in olive oil.

I think we will work in a return trip to Ravenna. It would be nice to spend a few days there and see the mosaics again.

 

[Madonna del Piatto]

Sadly, this is not a good year for oil as the olive fly has ravaged most groves in Central Italy and we had no harvest. You could however go to Romina Decimi http://www.decimi.it/ . They still have some of their spectacular oilive oil from last year and while not as brillian as fresh oil, it is still top quality because of their exceptional care in harvesting and processing.

 

[Pauline]

@Valerie found a local place in Basilicata with good organic oil and we will get some from there next month.

Thanks for the recommendation @Madonna del Piatto - we will check them out in September.

 

[Massir]

I can suggest also to visit the Amerino area in Umbria. Beautiful countryside and beautiful medieval little cities as Amelia and its sourrounding. Cheap accommodation as well!!!

Worth a look and in the area there is a big cooking tradition also.

 

[Pauline]

I can suggest also to visit the Amerino area in Umbria. Beautiful countryside and beautiful medieval little cities as Amelia and its sourrounding.

We visited the town of Amelia on a day trip 14 years ago and loved it! I remember ancient city walls, a beautiful village and a wonderful restaurant. I can't remember why we visited the town - probably for the city walls.

I found an old restaurant review on ST. We had lunch at Ristorante Il Carleni. It looks like they are still there but with new ownership - website.

I looked up my old photos (September 2001). Here are the walls. The lower part is Etruscan!

 

[Pauline]

Today I booked our flights for this trip. I had thought about driving in our UK car, but the reality of that sunk in finally.

We are flying Heathrow to Rome. It is a 3 1/2 hour drive up to Valle Nuova in Le Marche, so we will spend the night somewhere fun on the way. Last year when we had our week in Tuscany, we spent two nights in Orvieto (and our arrival there was a disaster - horrible rain and lightening storm, one very wrong turn, the GPS stopped working because it could not get a signal on the narrow lanes of the town but we were saved by some very friendly staff in a pizza restaurant). This time it will just be one night. The next day we can take our time driving north.

I am thinking of trying to do the Piero della Francesca trail on that driving day. Arezzo - Monterchi - Sansepolcro. The final painting is in Urbino, near where we are staying. I would book the Arezzo church for the morning. We have done this once before but it was almost 20 years ago.

Our second week is in Spoleto, so we can easily drive from there to Rome airport and fly out the same day.