Colle San Paola, What's near by?
 

We're joining friends for 5 days in this town. We want to explore Umbria, find some great spots to eat, visit a few wineries, and maybe hike. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Sorry, that must be the address, the town must be Panicale. Obviously I'm not familiar with the area.

"Town" might be too generous a term for Colle San Paolo (it's masculine, not feminine), seeing as it is described as a "localita," which is the term used for the tiniest village in Italy. But it is not simply an address. It is five minutes away (I assume by car) from Tavernelle and 15 minutes away from Perugia, probably the largest town in Umbria.

Which means that Assisi, Spello, Spoleto and probably half a dozen other Umbrian hill towns are within easy driving distance.

Without knowing your dining preferences -- plain or fancy, to put it simply -- I would not venture to recommend restaurants.

Monte Subiaco (which would hardly qualify as a mountain in North America) is directly above and behind Assisi. I don't hike, but I think you can walk from Assisi to Spello or vice versa.

Probably the best known winery in Umbria is Lungarotti, but it's in Torgiano, in the southeast corner of Umbria near Tuscany. It has a restaurant that is highly regarded -- Le Tre Vaselle -- as well as a wine museum. In Montefalco, which would probably be closer to Colle San Paolo, they produce two red wines that are relatively little known in North America: Sagrantino di Montefalco, which is wonderful -- I'm not going to try to go for oenological description -- and the plainer Rosso di Montefalco. They also make a Passito di Sagrantino, which is a red dessert wine. Presumably, these are made in wineries, but I don't remember the names of any...

Sorry, make that the southWEST corner of Umbria for Torgiano.

And please make that Monte SubASIO instead of Subiaco -- I should look things up instead of relying on my memory...

As other corrections occur to me, I'll add them.