yestravel

I think Perugia is a great little city. Spent a Satruday there and enjoyed it. I think if you prefer a larger destination to stay, than Perugia would be my choice. However if you prefer a smaller more charming town, I'd pick SPello. You wont go wrong with either.

uktravelover

I have been going to Umbria on holiday for 30 years and agree that having a car will be an advantage if you want to use somewhere as a base and go off for the day or half a day. I use Castiglione del Lago on Lake Trasimeno as a base, but it will be quiet in March particularly as Easter is on March 31 in 2024. I have been able to visit all the Umbrian hill towns from there and some of the southern Tuscan towns such as Arezzo, Cortona, Montalcino and Montepulciano. I think your itinerary is fine. You can transfer from Orvieto to Perugia by train and then use trains from Perugia to various places of interest, should you not want a car until the second half of your trip.
For your stay in Le Marche, I suggest staying in Urbino or Pesaro. The city of Urbino is home to the National Art Gallery of Le Marche and the city was one of the cultural centres during the Renaissance. Pesaro is a lovely small town on the coast and the weather is likely to be slightly milder than Urbino in March.
I think your choice of Spoleto is the right one as there is more to do and see than Spello, plus you can get to Spello in about 30 minutes by train from Perugia.
Good luck with your planning.

bvlenci

There is an elevator in the parking lot of Urbino to take you up to the center. It's not terribly steep once you're up there. There's another parking lot, near the former train station which has a shuttle bus to take you up to the center.

I don't remember how steep Todi is. I was young enough not to notice that.

One problem with hill towns on high hills is that It's a bit time-consuming to drive in and out.

Macerata probably wouldn't be my favorite place to spend two weeks. I would prefer to go a little further inland, to Matelica. It isn't a hill town, having an origin much more ancient than Italy's hill towns. This means it's easier to get in and out of town, and there is easier access to some other interesting places to visit, such as Fabriano and San Severino Marche. There is a beautiful cavern system (Le Grotte di Frasassi) in Genga, near Fabriano. Fabriano has a very interesting museum of paper making; it was one of Europe's earliest center of paper manufacture. Fabriano artists' papers are known worldwide; they've now manufactured in the nearby town of Pioracco. San Severino has a very beautiful piazza, and in the old hilltop city you can visit the 10th century cathedral (largely reconstructed in the 13th century).

Matelica is not far from the Umbrian border, and Assisi and Gubbio, as well as other places in eastern Umbria, are within easy day trip range from there, allowing you to make your Umbria base further West.

Camerino, a beautiful Renaissance city, with a university that was founded in the 15th century, is near Matelica. It was badly damaged by an earthquake in 2016, and much of the center is off limits. However, there's an excellent restaurant, Pappafò, in a scenic spot just outside Camerino. They also have rooms, but I've never stayed there, because we have a little summer house nearby. There's another excellent restaurant near Pappafò, but I don't remember the name. We'll be in the area in a few weeks, and I'll try to remember to get back with more information.

Just outside CasteIraimondo, there is a hotel/spa called Borgo Lanciano which also has a very good restaurant. You might even want to stay there if you can't find a suitable lodging nearer Matelica. There's a castle in the same complex, but it was damaged in the same earthquake and can't be visited now. The hotel/spa/restaurant complex was originally the service quarter for the castle.

This whole area is a popular summer retreat for inhabitants of Rome, many of whom have ancestral roots here. The little village of Pioracco, on the site of an ancient lake, is charming. Nearby Fiuminata, and Sefro are also favorite places, although they have nothing of touristic interest. There are numerous hiking paths in the area; there's a mostly unpaved level path from Fiuminata to Pioracco. Other paths involve climbing.

Two typical products of this area are ciaiuscolo, a spreadable salame (very tasty) and crescia sfogliata, a strudel-like sweet. You can find both in Fiuminata, which claims to be the birthplace of the crescia sfogliata. The little bakery in Fiuminata has an excellent crescia sfogliata, as well as other local goodies, and the two little supermarkets in the center of town have excellent local ciaiuscolo.

betka

SusanP — Wonderful, thank you so much for Carlo's info. I definitely like the idea of hiring a driver for trips to wineries and smaller towns.

indyhiker — We’re committed to being carless for 75% of our visit, so if we did base in Spello, it would have to be without a car.

Leely2 & yestravel— Yes, I’m starting to think this trip needs to be two weeks in each region. Urbino is high on the list, and Ascoli Piceno looks super appealing. Thanks!

just_tina — Appreciate your thoughts and the link to your great blog! We live in a rural part of our state, so small cities like Perugia tend to appeal to us when traveling.

uktravelover — Thank you, thank you! I appreciate all of your thoughts.

bvlenci — Crescia sfogliata and ciaiuscolo both sound great. You are definitely speaking my food language. Thanks for all the other great suggestions!

bvlenci

You could probably spend a carless week or more in Spello. By train you can easily reach Assisi, Perugia, and Spoleto. Both Assisi and Spoleto have connecting buses to take you uphill into the town center. I don't know about Perugia.

There is a direct, very slow, train from Spello to Florence which should follow a scenic route. It wouldn't be worth the trip unless you leave very early in the morning and come back late. The interesting Tuscan city of Arezzo is at an intermediate station. The Church of San Francesco in Arezzo has a beautiful fresco cycle by Piero della Francesca, called the Legend of the True Cross. On the first Sunday of every month and the day before, Arezzo has a nice open-air antiques market. The city is not on a hill, and I believe the station is an easy walk from the center.

Spello is on a hill, and you may find it tedious walking back and forth from the station. Spoleto might be a more convenient base

You could also visit Genga and Fabriano in Le Marche from Spello (or Spoleto). The two are only about 20 minutes apart by train, so you could visit both in one day if you leave early. Genga is the location of the caverns of Frasassi, which I mentioned earlier. I'm not much interested in caves, but this cavern has some really spectacular sights. It's lo

In the nearby village of S. Vittore Terme there is a thermal spa (not as luxurious as today's spas) mostly frequented by elderly people taking "the cure". There is a beautiful small Romanesque church next to the spa, which is now a speleological museum. Your ticket to the caverns includes entrance to the museum. There is a good restaurant on the road leading into the little village, whose name I don't remember.

The train station of Genga is right at a parking lot, where a shuttle leaves to take you to the caverns. There's a little market in the parking lot. The thermal complex is in the hamlet of San Vittore Terme, an easy walk from there.

I mentioned Fabriano earlier; the museum of paper making has tours in English, and usually includes a hands-on paper making session. There is a great gift shop there, with hand-made paper and all sorts of writing paraphernalia, including artisanal pencil cases, agendas, and he like. There is also an attractive Centro storico in Fabriano, not far from the museum. The museum is a 20-minute level walk from the station, but I believe there's also a bus.

bvlenci

Ascoli Piceno and Urbino are both beautiful and interesting cities, but Ascoli is in the far south of Le Marche and Urbino is in the far north. Neither is a great base for visiting Le Marche. I believe you said you planned to have a car in Le Marche.

Urbino is on a fairly high hill and reached by twisting hairpin turns. You might want to leave your car in the lot at the foot of the hill and take the elevator up, but I'm not sure I would want to leave a rental car there overnight. It might be better, if you'll have a car, to stay in an agriturismo or country house outside of the city, preferably to the south if you want to visit places in Le Marche.

Near Urbino, the Gola del Furlo, in a very scenic gorge, is worth a visit. There is a tunnel there which was carved in the rock during the Roman Republic. Until recently the road passed through this tunnel, but the road was closed after a flood damaged it. The tunnel was undamaged, and has resisted floods and earthquakes for over 2000 years. The last time we were there, you had to park your car and walk to the tunnel. I don't know if they've opened the road that passes through the tunnel, or even if they intend to. On the map it looks to me as though it's still closed.

Near Furlo, the town of Acqualagna is known for its prized white truffles, but the season is over by March. White truffles are usually used raw but surely you would find some restaurants offering pasta with white truffle sauce. I'm sure you could also buy some truffle sauce to take home.

Between Acqualagna and Furlo, there is a little Romanesque church, San Vincenzo al Furlo, that's usually open to visitors, although unattended. Beside the church is a little park which has the remains of an ancient Roman flood control system. The Romans may have been better at flood control than we are.

Southeast of Urbino you could visit the medieval walled town of Corinaldo, with its original gates and 100 steps leading up to the town. (Another 100 steps lead to the upper part of the town.) A very good restaurant, La Nova Taberna, is situated halfway up the steps. Another good restaurant, I Tigli, is in a former Bendectine convent.

On the way to Corinaldo, the town of Mondavio has a small medieval fortress, now a museum, that's worth a visit. It has a collection of medieval armaments, and great views from the top level.

The town of Fratte Rosa has a well-known artisanal ceramics industry. The style is unique, and the products are meant for domestic use. Traditionally, the vessels were glazed on the inside with a deep eggplant purple glaze. Some of the glaze was allowed to drip down the outside, and the rest of the outside was left unglazed. I've been using one of their casseroles for years, even on the stovetop, with a cast iron plate underneath to diffuse the heat.

​​​​​There are some nice towns to the west of Urbino. Urbania is known for its decorative ceramics, very different from those of Fratte Rosa. Sant Angelo (also a center of truffle hunting) in Vado and Mercatello sul Metauro are attractive little towns near the Tuscan border.

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bvlenci

Ascoli Piceno is on a plain at the foothills of the Sibilline mountains. Almost anywhere you go from Ascoli involves a long drive over narrow twisting roads. To the east is the National Park of the Sibilline Mountains, where there are lots of hiking opportunities. In March, any hikes might be a muddy slog, though. We have hiked into the Gola dell'Infernaccio, in a gorge with a little brook, little cascades, and lots of butterflies, but that was in the summer, and it was muddy even then.

The city of Offida, to the east of Ascoli, has a long lace making tradition. We were there about 10 years ago, and we saw demonstrations of lace making. There's also an attractive theater you can visit, and a very interesting medieval church cum fortress, Santa Maria della Rocca, on the edge of a cliff.

From Ascoli, you could visit Castelluccio, mentioned by Zebec above, and the Umbrian town of Norcia, famous for its cured meats. In fact the Italian word for someone who produces and sells salamis and other cured meats is "norcino". Unfortunately, you can't bring cured meats into the US. (I don't know if that's where you live, but I thought I should warn you.)

On the Adriatic coast, there is a tiny walled cliffside town overlooking the Adriatic, called Torre di Palme. We stayed there once for a few nights in spring. It's a lovely little town, but it was very cold and windy and we hadn't brought enough warm clothing. It took us three days to warm up when we got home.

Fermo is an attractive city, capital of Le Marche's smallest province. There is a library of antique books and manuscripts. It was closed both times we were in Fermo, but I read that it now is open most days. I don't know how much of the material is in display.

bvlenci

The National Park of the Sibilline Mountains is west of Ascoli Piceno, not east.

Remembering that you live in Maine, maybe you would find Torre di Palme pleasantly balmy in March. I was in Maine two weeks ago, at the beginning of August, when the rest of the northern hemisphere was suffocating from a heat wave. I has sense enough to bring a sweater and a rain jacket, but one some days I froze while wearing both together,

ekscrunchy

BVLenci, Myself, and all others hankering to travel to Italy, are MOSt grateful to you for taking to provide all of this information. I do not even need a guidebook now!! I hope to be able to visit in 2024, preferably in the fall (better local food choices??) or in springtime. As far as food is concerned, do you think I would be missing out on much, apart fro new oil and truffles, if we visited in May?

yorkshire

This takes me back to 2018, when I made my husband stop in Fratte Rosa with hopes of buying some pottery. I believe everyone in town was at the wedding we passed, as no one answered the phone of the shop I tried in town. Alas, will hope to return one day!

eks, my visit was in May and I did not feel like we missed out on anything food-wise--it was a lovely time to be in Italy, as it usually is (except this May!).

Here is my trip report: Marche-ing On, From Mountains to Sea

ekscrunchy

Yorkshire, super! I now have my evening reading in place!

For anyone looking for an agriturismo near Ascoli, I would like to mention this place. We had lunch there; did not spend the night. But I would drive a long way just for a meal, and to meet the charming owner, Elena, who has inherited the property from her family.

She offers cooking classes, and it was among the best food experiences we had on that trip, or any other in Italy. I wrote a review on TripAdvisor, which I do not often do:


https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser...no_Marche.html


https://www.villacicchi.it/

indyhiker

This is the apartment we’ve thrice rented in Spello. It is near the base of the town inside the old walls. You do have to climb further into the town to reach most restaurants but you do not to reach the train station, the grocery, the laundromat or parking.

https://www.vrbo.com/6224524ha

it’s not fancy but the owner is lovely and right next door And the price is budget friendly.

TDudette

Hi betka, Lovely to read about another Italy lover! I have no help with Le Marche, but my two TRs below cover many of the other towns you mentioned. My late hub and I usually traveled in March and used public transportation. For time saving, we hired a driver for Montepulciano and Montelchino... Please share your experiences!

Perugia and Rome by train and bus

Turin, Spoleto, Bologna and Bellagio TR

bvlenci

The summer black truffle, comonly called scorzone, begins to be available in May. It's very good, but not as prized as the white truffle or the winter black truffe. It has a milder flavour.

I don't have a particolar preference for new olive oil. It usually is somewhat bitter, and irritates the throat. Perhaps that's what people like about it.

We buy our olive oil in bulk, and my husband usually insists on buying too much, so we end up keeping it for more than a year. We just recently finished our 2021 oil and are just beginning to use the 2022 oil. Olive oil keeps very well in a cool, dark place.

bvlenci

For betka, who will be in Italy in March, there should still be black winter truffles available. They are excellent, but not as highly prized (or expensive) as the white truffles.

uktravelover

I much prefer being in Umbria in May as you get the light evenings. You can also travel back from day trips later in the day feeling less tired.