Umbria

Overview

Umbria is the only Italian region with neither a coastline nor a foreign border. It is greener and quieter than Tuscany, its neighbor to the west, with hill towns built of pink and gray stone, olive groves on every slope, oak woods full of truffles and some of Italy's most important religious sites. Prices are lower and crowds thinner than in Tuscany, except in Assisi.

Orvieto sits on the main Rome–Florence rail line, with Assisi and Perugia a short detour away, so you can break the trip between Rome and Florence with a night or two. With more time, base yourself mid-region and drive out to Spoleto, Montefalco and the mountains around Norcia.

This page also covers Urbino, across the Apennines in Le Marche, which is usually visited from Umbria or from the Adriatic coast.

Assisi

Assisi is the hometown of St. Francis, Italy's patron saint, and one of the most visited pilgrimage towns in the world. It spreads along the slope of Monte Subasio above the plain, all pale pink stone, with the great double basilica at the west end of town and the castle (Rocca Maggiore) at the top. Day-trippers and tour groups come between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. In the evening and early morning it is quiet and lovely.

2026 marks the 800th anniversary of Francis's death in 1226, and Assisi has been busier than usual with pilgrims and events, especially around his feast day on October 4. Since September 2025 it has also drawn crowds for St. Carlo Acutis, the young Italian canonized that month, whose body lies in the Santuario della Spogliazione (the church of Santa Maria Maggiore) in the old town.

The Basilica of St. Francis

The basilica is really two churches stacked one on top of the other, built over Francis's tomb. The Lower Church is dim and vaulted, covered in frescoes by Cimabue, Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti; stairs lead down to the crypt with the saint's tomb. The Upper Church is high, bright Gothic, lined with the 28-scene fresco cycle of the life of Francis traditionally credited to Giotto. Parts of the upper vault collapsed in the 1997 earthquake and were rebuilt; you can still see where fragments of fresco were pieced back together.

Entry is free. At the time of writing, the basilica's official site lists the Lower Church as open from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and the Upper Church from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the tomb open for most of that time. Hours change for services, feast days and the season, so check basilica.sanfrancesco.org on the day. The friars offer guided visits and Mass bookings for groups through the basilica's reservations service.

The rest of Assisi

Perugia

Perugia, Umbria's capital, is a lively university city on a hill, with a large international student population and a real working life. Its spine is the Corso Vannucci, a broad pedestrian street from the Piazza IV Novembre (with the 13th-century Fontana Maggiore and the cathedral) to the Carducci gardens, where the evening passeggiata (stroll) is a citywide event.

• Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, in the Palazzo dei Priori, has the best collection of Umbrian painting, including Perugino, Raphael's teacher, and Piero della Francesca.
• Rocca Paolina, the buried ruins of a papal fortress built over a medieval neighborhood, which you pass through on the escalators that connect the lower town to the center.
• The Etruscan Arch and the underground Etruscan well show how old the city is.
• Chocolate: Perugia is the home of Perugina and its Baci, with a factory visitor center outside town, and of Eurochocolate, a big chocolate festival every October.
• Umbria Jazz, one of Europe's major jazz festivals, fills the city for about ten days every July.

Getting up the hill is part of the fun. The Minimetrò, a small automated cable-car line, runs from the Fontivegge area near the main station up to Pincetto, just below the center. Drivers can park in the lots below town and ride escalators and elevators up through the old walls.

Orvieto

Orvieto stands on a sheer block of volcanic tuff above the A1 autostrada and the Rome–Florence railway, which makes it the easiest Umbrian town to reach. A funicular climbs from the station to the edge of the old town in a few minutes, and a shuttle bus continues to the cathedral square.

The Duomo has one of the most dazzling facades in Italy, all mosaics and carved marble, and inside, the Cappella di San Brizio, where Luca Signorelli painted an apocalyptic Last Judgment around 1500 that Michelangelo studied before he painted the Sistine Chapel. The cathedral charges a modest entry fee, and for €3 (about $3.40) more you can add the Etruscan collection of the Museo Claudio Faina across the square; check current prices, hours and what each ticket covers at duomodiorvieto.it. If you plan to see several sights, the town's Carta Unica combined card starts at €25 (about $28). The cathedral has announced it will close to visitors on January 1, 2027 and on May 30, 2027 (Corpus Domini).

Beyond the cathedral, Orvieto is full of holes. The Pozzo di San Patrizio is a 16th-century well with two intertwined spiral staircases, so mules could go down and up without meeting. Guided tours of Orvieto Underground show some of the hundreds of caves, cellars and pigeon roosts the Etruscans and later residents carved into the rock. Orvieto Classico, a crisp local white, is on every wine list in town.

Orvieto makes an easy base for Civita di Bagnoregio, the crumbling village on a clay pinnacle about 12 miles (20 km) away in Lazio, which charges an entry fee and has very limited bus service.

Spoleto and the hill towns

Spoleto is an elegant small city famous for the Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of Two Worlds), a performing-arts festival held every summer, roughly late June to mid-July. Its cathedral has Filippo Lippi's last frescoes in the apse, and the Ponte delle Torri, a 13th-century aqueduct bridge 260 feet (80 m) high, spans the gorge behind the Rocca Albornoz fortress. Trains from Rome take about 1 hr 30 min.

Lakes, falls and mountains

Lake Trasimeno, west of Perugia, is a big shallow lake with lakeside towns such as Castiglione del Lago and Passignano, and ferries to Isola Maggiore. Hannibal destroyed a Roman army along its shore in 217 BC. It is good for a slow afternoon or a summer swim.

The Cascata delle Marmore, near Terni, is a waterfall the Romans made by diverting a river, about 540 feet (165 m) high in three drops. Most of the time its water feeds a hydroelectric plant, and the full falls are switched on at set times, so check the schedule and buy tickets before you go.

In the east, the Monti Sibillini national park rises above Norcia. Norcia gave its name to the norcineria, the Italian pork butcher's shop, and is the center of black truffle country. The plateau of Castelluccio is famous for its lentils and for the fiorita, when the fields bloom in stripes of color, usually from late May into July. The 2016 earthquakes caused heavy damage here; reconstruction continues, so check which buildings and roads are open. The old Spoleto–Norcia railway line is now a cycling and walking route through tunnels and viaducts. See outdoors.

Eating and drinking

Umbrian food is earthy and inland: pork, game, legumes, olive oil and truffles. Look for strangozzi or umbricelli (thick hand-rolled pasta) with black truffle, Castelluccio lentils, porchetta (herb-roasted whole pig, often sliced into sandwiches from market vans), and torta al testo, a griddle flatbread stuffed with greens and sausage. Black truffles peak in winter; white truffles appear in some towns in fall.

For wine, Sagrantino di Montefalco is a deep, tannic red, Montefalco Rosso is softer, and Orvieto Classico and Grechetto are the whites. Umbrian olive oil, especially from the hills between Assisi and Spoleto, is excellent; the new oil is pressed from late October through November, when mills and farms hold tastings. See food and wine.

Urbino and Le Marche

Urbino, in the hills of Le Marche, was the court of Duke Federico da Montefeltro in the 1400s and one of the great centers of the Renaissance. Raphael was born here. Its Palazzo Ducale is a model of Renaissance palace design and now holds the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, with Piero della Francesca's enigmatic Flagellation and Raphael's portrait known as La Muta. You can also visit Raphael's birthplace. The whole center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a busy university town.

The gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. (ticket office until 6:15 p.m.), with limited Monday opening only in summer; buy tickets on its official site, gndm.it. From October 21, 2026, the second-floor Appartamento Roveresco rooms are closed for renovation, so part of the collection may be off view.

Urbino has no train station. The usual route is by train to Pesaro on the Adriatic coast, then a bus of about an hour up into the hills. By car, it is roughly 2 hours from Perugia and about 2 hr 30 min to 3 hours from Florence. Stay a night if you can; the light on the brick palaces at sunset is the reason to come.

On a longer trip, Le Marche also has the Conero coast south of Ancona, the shrine of Loreto and Ascoli Piceno, home of fried stuffed olives.

Getting around

Arriving

Most Americans arrive through Rome. From Rome Fiumicino, it is about 2 hr 30 min by car to Assisi or about 1 hr 45 min to Orvieto; by train you go via Roma Termini. Perugia's small airport, San Francesco d'Assisi (PEG), has seasonal flights from a few European cities. From Florence, regional trains reach Perugia and Assisi in about 2 to 2 hr 30 min, often with a change at Terontola. See flights.

Trains and buses

Trenitalia regional trains connect Orvieto, Perugia, Assisi, Spello, Foligno, Spoleto and Terni. Paper regional tickets need validating before you board. Assisi's station is in Santa Maria degli Angeli, about 2.5 miles (4 km) below the old town; Busitalia's Assisi Link bus runs from the station up to the Basilica of St. Francis, and taxis wait outside. The same service connects Assisi and Perugia with the airport.

Regional and town buses in Umbria, and the Lake Trasimeno ferries, are run by Busitalia (fsbusitalia.it). You can buy bus tickets in the Trenitalia app, at ticket outlets such as tobacco shops (tabacchi), or pay contactless on buses with a card reader. Service is thin on Sundays and holidays, so check the return trip before you set out.

Driving

A car opens up Montefalco, Bevagna, Todi, Norcia and the countryside. Roads are good and much less crowded than Tuscany's. Every town center, including Assisi, Perugia, Orvieto and Spoleto, is a camera-enforced ZTL: park in the lots below town, many of which have escalators or elevators up to the center. US drivers need an International Driving Permit. See driving in Italy.

Where to stay

Assisi, Perugia, Orvieto and most other towns charge a tourist tax of a few euros per person per night, paid at the hotel. Book Assisi well ahead around Easter, October 4 and other Franciscan feast days.

Sample days

1. Day 1

   Rome to Orvieto

   Regional train from Rome (about 1 hr 15 min). Funicular up, lunch, the Duomo and San Brizio chapel, then the Pozzo di San Patrizio or an Orvieto Underground tour. Sunset from the walls and dinner with a glass of Orvieto Classico.

2. Day 2

   Orvieto to Assisi

   Train via Terontola or Orte and Foligno, or drive about 1 hr 30 min. Check in, then the Basilica of St. Francis in the late afternoon, when the groups have left. Evening in Piazza del Comune.

3. Day 3

   Assisi and Spello

   Early visit to the Lower Church, Santa Chiara, then walk down through the olive groves to San Damiano. Afternoon in Spello, 10 minutes by train. Back to Assisi for dinner.

4. Day 4

   Perugia, then onward

   Train to Perugia (about 25 minutes) and the Minimetrò up to the center. The Galleria Nazionale, the Corso Vannucci and lunch. Continue to Florence by train in the afternoon.

5. Day 5

   Optional, with a car

   Montefalco for Sagrantino tasting, Bevagna for lunch, and Spoleto for the Ponte delle Torri at sunset. Or head east to Norcia and the Castelluccio plateau.