Daytrip Ideas from Assisi (leaving this Saturday)
May 20th, 2015, 04:18 PM
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Daytrip Ideas from Assisi (leaving this Saturday)
Shamefully behind on trip planning this year. Two young kiddos will do that to one. For the latter part of our rapidly approaching trip, we will spend 8 days in an apartment in Assisi. We tend to do a daytrip one day, then a day in the town we are staying in, then another daytrip, then another "home town" day and so on.
For our daytrips, I have the following planned: Gubbio (see museum with Eugubine tablets), Perugia (have hired a guide to walk us through Etruscan Perugia and we will also see the Ipogie dei Volumni), and Torgiano (see the museum of wine and the museum of olive oil).
We are looking to plan one more daytrip. So many towns look interesting and beautiful... Spoleto, Spello, Todi...?? Help please!
We will have explored Lago Trasimeno area from Montepulciano over two separate daytrips (we spend the first 8 nights there).
Thank you greatly for any input!
Best,
TA
For our daytrips, I have the following planned: Gubbio (see museum with Eugubine tablets), Perugia (have hired a guide to walk us through Etruscan Perugia and we will also see the Ipogie dei Volumni), and Torgiano (see the museum of wine and the museum of olive oil).
We are looking to plan one more daytrip. So many towns look interesting and beautiful... Spoleto, Spello, Todi...?? Help please!
We will have explored Lago Trasimeno area from Montepulciano over two separate daytrips (we spend the first 8 nights there).
Thank you greatly for any input!
Best,
TA
May 21st, 2015, 02:10 AM
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Very near Assisi is the little town of Spello (which you can see from Assisi). It's one of the prettiest towns in Italy, in my opinion.
Spoleto is also very near Assisi; apart from the attractive centro storico, there is a large medieval bridge <i>cum </i> aqueduct over an abyss that it one of the most impressive works of medieval construction I've seen.
Perugia has a nice centro storico; it's famous for its chocolate, but the festival isn't at this time of year.
Gubbio is another beautiful Umbrian town not far from Assisi. There is a cable car that takes you up to the top of the mountain behind the town; it's worth doing if the mountaintop isn't socked in by clouds. You just missed Gubbio's "Festa dei Ceri", in which different quartiere race up the mountain carrying enormous "candles" (the size of tree trunks, and very phallic). In the civic museum you can see the "ceri". There is also in this museum an interesting group of ancient bronze tables describing official penances and ceremonies, written in Latin and the ancient Umbrian language, that served as a sort of Rosetta stone allowing the language to be deciphered.
Gubbio is on the border of Le Marche, and if you want to drive a bit further, through some gorgeous mountain scenery, you could visit the 9th century hermitage of Fonte Avellana, on the eastern slope of Mount Catria. This is a beautiful monastery that still preserves a lovely little chapel from the original structure in the crypt. There is also the great scriptorium where the monks copied out manuscripts. There are tours (obligatory) in Italian, but they'll give you a script with the English translation. The monastery has a pharmacy that sells all sorts of medicines, herbal teas, creams, lozenges, and the sort, made by the monastic order in their various monasteries. The bar sells souvenirs and some local products, such as cheeses.
Very near Fonte Avellana is the town of Frontone with a great view from the town wall of the upper town, and a nice castle (privately owned and rarely open). There is a good rustic restaurant with a roaring fireplace where they roast the meat, called Taverna della Rocca. When you get to Frontone, follow the signs to the "castello" to get to the upper town.
I seriously doubt that the flowers are blooming in the Piano Grande just yet. The "fioratura" is usually about a month from now, and the best fioratura I ever saw was in early July. There is a page that has several webcams in the area, which you can consult.
http://www.castellucciodinorcia.it/i...stelluccio.htm
Spoleto is also very near Assisi; apart from the attractive centro storico, there is a large medieval bridge <i>cum </i> aqueduct over an abyss that it one of the most impressive works of medieval construction I've seen.
Perugia has a nice centro storico; it's famous for its chocolate, but the festival isn't at this time of year.
Gubbio is another beautiful Umbrian town not far from Assisi. There is a cable car that takes you up to the top of the mountain behind the town; it's worth doing if the mountaintop isn't socked in by clouds. You just missed Gubbio's "Festa dei Ceri", in which different quartiere race up the mountain carrying enormous "candles" (the size of tree trunks, and very phallic). In the civic museum you can see the "ceri". There is also in this museum an interesting group of ancient bronze tables describing official penances and ceremonies, written in Latin and the ancient Umbrian language, that served as a sort of Rosetta stone allowing the language to be deciphered.
Gubbio is on the border of Le Marche, and if you want to drive a bit further, through some gorgeous mountain scenery, you could visit the 9th century hermitage of Fonte Avellana, on the eastern slope of Mount Catria. This is a beautiful monastery that still preserves a lovely little chapel from the original structure in the crypt. There is also the great scriptorium where the monks copied out manuscripts. There are tours (obligatory) in Italian, but they'll give you a script with the English translation. The monastery has a pharmacy that sells all sorts of medicines, herbal teas, creams, lozenges, and the sort, made by the monastic order in their various monasteries. The bar sells souvenirs and some local products, such as cheeses.
Very near Fonte Avellana is the town of Frontone with a great view from the town wall of the upper town, and a nice castle (privately owned and rarely open). There is a good rustic restaurant with a roaring fireplace where they roast the meat, called Taverna della Rocca. When you get to Frontone, follow the signs to the "castello" to get to the upper town.
I seriously doubt that the flowers are blooming in the Piano Grande just yet. The "fioratura" is usually about a month from now, and the best fioratura I ever saw was in early July. There is a page that has several webcams in the area, which you can consult.
http://www.castellucciodinorcia.it/i...stelluccio.htm
May 21st, 2015, 06:15 AM
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Thank you all so very much for the wealth of information! We spent a week in Orvieto in 2012. We did not see Civita do Bagnoregio however, and it looks like a nice stop to break up our drive from Assisi to Ostia Lido (spending the last couple nights there before heading home from FCO).
We visited Cortona last year in May as a day trip from Montepulciano. It's a lovely town and the museum is fantastic. Like San Gimignano, it's a place I'd like to visit in the off season someday.
Spello/Spoleto looks like a great option if we are wanting to stay closer to Assisi. The boys (age 2 and 4) are pleasanter fellows by far when not cooped up in the car for too long
We visited Cortona last year in May as a day trip from Montepulciano. It's a lovely town and the museum is fantastic. Like San Gimignano, it's a place I'd like to visit in the off season someday.
Spello/Spoleto looks like a great option if we are wanting to stay closer to Assisi. The boys (age 2 and 4) are pleasanter fellows by far when not cooped up in the car for too long
May 21st, 2015, 08:09 AM
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They might enjoy the funicular railway in Gubbio. It's about an hour from Assisi. You can also drive up the mountain, but it has a lot of hairpin turns. I wouldn't recommend driving up if anyone is prone to car sickness. We drove up only to find that the clouds had moved in and we didn't see anything.
May 21st, 2015, 10:33 AM
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The drive to Norcia from Spello took about an hour give or take and was quite scenic in itself. I just loved the area and the town felt a bit festive for some reason. The drive to the Piano Grande was also relatively easy and well marked.
You might enjoy a visit to the Cookie Lady in Norcia. Her shop is at Corso Sertorio 13. She keeps somewhat irregular hours, but hopefully you'll luck out. She's charming and her cookies are yummy.
Have a great time. I'm so envious; we just loved Umbria. We're already plotting a return trip!
You might enjoy a visit to the Cookie Lady in Norcia. Her shop is at Corso Sertorio 13. She keeps somewhat irregular hours, but hopefully you'll luck out. She's charming and her cookies are yummy.
Have a great time. I'm so envious; we just loved Umbria. We're already plotting a return trip!
May 21st, 2015, 11:09 AM
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I did Todi as a day trip from Perguia and found it nice enough but for an Italian hill town or any Italian town just too ritzy and gussied up - due to millionnaires from around the world I think having bought houses in the vicinity and use this town as a watering hole - streets look like fashion streets in Milan at times.
But it is in a gorgeous location and worth it if it sparks your interest. Gubbio I thought was really really neat - I almost got hit by falling tile from a roof so unlike manicured Todi Gubbio is like hill towns like I like em - slightly tattered and crumbling.
But it is in a gorgeous location and worth it if it sparks your interest. Gubbio I thought was really really neat - I almost got hit by falling tile from a roof so unlike manicured Todi Gubbio is like hill towns like I like em - slightly tattered and crumbling.
May 21st, 2015, 11:56 AM
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I haven't been to Todi in almost 20 years, but it didn't seem gussied up or ritzy to me. I was there in November, on a rainy day, when there was a billiards tournament going on. The centro storico is pretty unchanged since the middle ages.
Gubbio is a bit nearer to where I live, so I've been there more often. Again, I never thought of it as tattered or crumbling. In fact, I don't see much difference between the two towns. Todi is more austerely medieval.
Gubbio is a bit nearer to where I live, so I've been there more often. Again, I never thought of it as tattered or crumbling. In fact, I don't see much difference between the two towns. Todi is more austerely medieval.
May 21st, 2015, 12:07 PM
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It's subjective - what a tourist sees and what an Italian resident sees can be very different and I think in 20 years Todi has changed a lot perhaps or was always glitzy - I was there about 8 years ago - lots can change when the big bucks folks hit town - suggest you go back and take a current look.
I did not say Gubbio was crumbling as a whole - just that one of the things I like about Italy is a rather tattered state at times - like those scaffolds on churches that have been there so long that as one guidebook put it 'are now considered to be part of the facade'.
The thing I like about Italy vs say Germany or Switzerland or Austria is that it is not spic-and-span clean and every little thing kept in pristine condition - a little tattered but in no way did I mean Gubbio was literally crumbling - so frayed at its heels a bit like a typical Italian town - I did not see this at all in Todi.
Gubbio is not a hill town - if looking for an iconic Umbrian hill town look at a pristine one IME - Todi!
I did not say Gubbio was crumbling as a whole - just that one of the things I like about Italy is a rather tattered state at times - like those scaffolds on churches that have been there so long that as one guidebook put it 'are now considered to be part of the facade'.
The thing I like about Italy vs say Germany or Switzerland or Austria is that it is not spic-and-span clean and every little thing kept in pristine condition - a little tattered but in no way did I mean Gubbio was literally crumbling - so frayed at its heels a bit like a typical Italian town - I did not see this at all in Todi.
Gubbio is not a hill town - if looking for an iconic Umbrian hill town look at a pristine one IME - Todi!
May 21st, 2015, 12:19 PM
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Gubbio isn't an iconic hill town, but it's on the slope of a mountain, about 1500 ft. above sea level, and it looks out over the vast Umbrian plain, which you get a great panorama of from the principal piazza, whose name escapes me just now.
May 21st, 2015, 12:25 PM
#16
Your little kids might enjoy the Gubbio funicular ... or it might terrify them. I know some grown-ups who aren't comfortable making the Leap of Faith into that "bird cage." More interesting to them might be the ruins of a Roman amphitheater at the bottom of the town.
Not sure what they'd enjoy in Todi other than the modern funicular that connects the parking lot and the town. They would probably also enjoy the series of elevators in Spoleto from the bottom of the town up to the rocca/fortress at the top of the hill. There's a nice 1 km. walk around the fortress with beautiful views.
Not sure what they'd enjoy in Todi other than the modern funicular that connects the parking lot and the town. They would probably also enjoy the series of elevators in Spoleto from the bottom of the town up to the rocca/fortress at the top of the hill. There's a nice 1 km. walk around the fortress with beautiful views.
May 21st, 2015, 02:47 PM
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Perugia also has a funicular - two in fact - one to each train station if I recall correctly - I based in Perugia and loved the energy as well as the sweet looks of that town built on several ridges connecting in the city to make a hill town draped over tenatacles! I enjoyed walking thru the ancient university buildings - well uni is ancient and some of its buildings as well.
