Umbria, Marche - where to add extra days

Old Mar 27th, 2015, 12:28 PM
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Umbria, Marche - where to add extra days

We just decided to spend 3 weeks in Italy in mid-May, so I need to hop on the trip planning.
We are active, early 60's, like to plan some hikes in our trips, prefer small towns and countryside, staying in smaller hotels and b'n'bs. Food and wine play an important part in our travels. We also prefer staying at least 3 days in any one place, unless we are going to visit one specific thing.

We are flying in and out of Rome, and our first thought was to head south to visit Pompeii, go to the Amalfi coast, perhaps head to Sardinia. A wonderful sounding trip, I know. But my husband wants to visit friends in the Marche, and once I began the research I hijacked my own trip! We now plan to spend our time in Umbria and the Marche.

We will have 17 days, once we leave Rome. I have two "musts" for this trip: there is a place outside of Gubbio that I want to stay at that only has availability toward the end our time; and we want to spend time around the Piano Grande. Third would be the friends who live in a small village near Ancona.

Please offer your opinions on where we might pad what is planned or if there is a town we need to stay in. For reference, on our 6 week trip to Turkey some of our stays were only 45 to 60 minutes' drive apart, so we don't mind moving slowly.

Orvieto - 2 nights
Montefalco/Bevagna area - 3 nights (visit Assisi, Spello)
Norcia - 2 nights (for Piano Grande)
visit friends near Ancona - 3 nights
Gubbio - 4 nights

The above plan leaves me with 3 more nights.
1. Should we add nights to Orvieto?
2. Should we add more time to Montefalco given the day trips and wine tasting we want to do?
3. Should we fit time in around Urbino?
4. Would Castelluccio be a better base for Piano Grande?
5. Our inn near Gubbio is way out of the way. Would you advise some time in Gubbio proper?

Note: we will already have spent time in Rome, and we have been to Tuscany many times so just Umbria and the Marche are on the table.

Many thanks!
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Old Mar 27th, 2015, 12:44 PM
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My suggestion is that you add the days to a spot that puts you in the best position to go to the Piano Grande when the weather is nice. Mid-May is still quite early for that elevation, and you don't want to go in the rain or very low clouds. I definitely would rule out Castelluccio as a base fo reasons of weather.

I think I might add 2 nights to Montefalco/Bevagna and 1 night to Norcia. You won't want to hang around Norica all that much, but you can use it as a base to not only see the Piano Grande if that's the optimal weather window but also visit some of the river towns of the Nera (where the local trout is an amazing food find) or head down to Amatrice to eat the true bucatini all'Amatriciana, one of Italy's most beloved pasta creations. If you are not planning to stop at Ascoli Piceno as part of your trip to Ancona, you can do it as a day trip from Norica.

I'm not a huge fan of Gubbio but most people are and I think you will find it almost irresistable to go have a look when you are in the area.
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Old Mar 27th, 2015, 12:48 PM
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I meant to add if you get rained out in Norcia, you can still visit the Piano Grande from Ancona. Not optimal, but doable. (Also, sorry my fingers kept slipping to misspell Norica so many times above).

If you mean to drink Sagrantino at meals, it is better to stay in Montefalco itself.
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Old Mar 27th, 2015, 01:28 PM
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Thank you, Sandralist. I had hoped to put the Piano Grande as late in the trip as possible, but it made for an inefficient route. I did add days to Montefalco/Bevagna after more thought, and I am considering time at Castello di Monterado.
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Old Mar 27th, 2015, 08:55 PM
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PJ - oh I just had to chime in after reading your last post about the Castello. We recently spent a few days there after reading suggestions from a poster here (bvlenci) and it was absolutely fabulous!! Here is my trip report from last year if you are interested :

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-marche.cfm?46
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Old Mar 27th, 2015, 09:30 PM
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Flame123, It was your trip report that put the Castello on my list. Many times I've planned a trip based on a lovely looking accommodation, and it has always turned out well.
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Old Mar 28th, 2015, 03:40 AM
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PJTravels - glad to read this. Hope the report was helpful to you and if you need any specific questions answered, I will be happy to try and help. DO spend a few nights at the Castello - it IS magical !!!
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Old Mar 29th, 2015, 12:11 PM
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I live about an hour north of Ancona, and we've several times visited the Piano Grande as a day trip, so Sandralist is correct in saying that a day trip from near Ancona would be perfectly feasible.

We've taken day trips to the Piano Grande three times. The first time it was absolutely, incredibly, splendid. This was in early July, and we thought we might have missed the peak of the flowering. We've never found it so colorful again. Once we were almost certainly too early, deceived by a web cam that must have been focused on one of the few patches of flowers.

It's very unlikely that there would be many flowers in May, unless there's a very warm and dry spring. (So far it's been cool and rainly, but things are supposed to look up next week.) The Piano Grande has a certain beauty even when there are no flowers, but not something I'd make a long detour for without them. I've seen more beautiful plains surrounded by mountains in other parts of the world, such as Ireland and Scotland. I've also seen scenic spots with mountain backdrops in other parts of Le Marche that, in my opinion, are more beautiful.

Not far from the Piano Grande, there is a beautiful mountain gorge called Gola dell'Infernaccio that's virtually unknow to tourists. This is beautiful even without flowers, although there were always at least some flowers, although not in profusion, every time I've been there. Here are some photos I took on one of our several trips there:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1039588...eat=directlink

If you want to stay in the area, Norcia would be a better base, as Sandralist says. If the weather isn't cooperative, there are other things to do in the area.

Norcia wouldn't be a bad base for Assisi and Spello, either, although if you want to spend multiple days in those towns, staying nearer would probably be better.

Finally, Bevagna would be a fairly good base for the Piano Grande, being only about an hour and a half away. Another place you might want to visit while you're in Bevagna is Colfiorito, or really the area around it, which is partly a natural park comprising what's know as the high plains of Colfiorito. It's another area of great natural beauty, with remains of ancient civilizations dating back centuries before the Romans conquered the area. These plains are really ancient lake beds, and a wetland. The cheeses of the area are highly regarded, and people come from miles around to buy cheese there. We spend part of every summer across the border in Le Marche, and one of our neighbors there took us to his favorite cheese merchant one day. We bought some excellent salamis there as well; Norcia isn't the only town in the area with great cured meats. The red potatoes of the area are also well known, as well as organic grains grown there. We saw signs marking a gastronomic itinerary, but I just did a Google search and can't find any information about it.

Here's a page in English (not well translated) about the Park of Colfiorito.

http://www.assisionline.it/parco_di_...to_umbria.html
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Old Mar 29th, 2015, 12:32 PM
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I visited the Piano Grande in October, so no flowers at all, and I thought it was immensely beautiful, and I've been to the beauty spots of Scotland, which are also beautiful, and many other beautiful places around Europe and the world. For me, the Piano Grande is right up there with top 5 natural wonders of Italy, and I take it over scenic Tuscany any day. For me, the only serious rivals to the beauty of the Piano Grande are the Dolomiti, Lago di Como, certain vistas of the Amalfi coast, Etna, and where I live on the Italian Riviera.
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Old Mar 29th, 2015, 07:30 PM
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Thank you for your replies and help. I hope to have our routing finalized in the next few days. One option has us splitting the last four days between Norcia and Spoleto in hopes for good weather in and around Piano Grande. Another option has us in Norcia mid-trip, with Spoleto at the end giving us two tries for good weather around Piano Grande.

Sandralist - the Piano Grande sound a bit like the mountain "parks" of Colorado, and I agree with you that I might not need to see flowers. It will all be different to us.

Bvlenci - thank you for the links to your beautiful photos, and the tips regarding Colfiorito and the Gola dell'Infernaccio. Two more spots to add to the itinerary!
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Old Apr 18th, 2015, 07:52 AM
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TT. Beautiful photos BV. Do you know which village is shown?
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Old Apr 18th, 2015, 11:54 AM
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We stayed in a small inexpensive but modern hotel in Montone, Umbria. Great food in that little charming town.

Our best day trip was to La Verna in Tuscany, which I would send anyone to. Gorgeous.

Montone
http://www.cmaltaumbria.it/comuni/montone.html

La Verna
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/skaonline/3528674323/

This particular trip to Italy was very memorable. A car was necessary.
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