Orvietto in December for 10 days
 

My parents and my husband and I are planning a trip to Italy in December. We wanted to stay in one place, and heard Orvieto in Umbria would be nice. We're the type of travelers that enjoy exploring one region very thoroughly. Has anyone visited that region of Italy in winter? Any suggestions for day trips or activities? Everyone in the family loves good food and good wine, and the men are both into cooking. Thank you!

I went to Umbria twice: once in summer and once in winter and I really loved it. In summer it has such bright colours and so many scents from nature, but also in winter it has its charm: the sounds are abated, you are likely to find some fog in some areas and almost surely some snow, but the landscape is eerie and beautiful. Orvieto is a lovely town, the dome especially is a piece of fine art. The town unwinds around a hill and there are lots of lovely pottery shops. If you like food and wine I advise to visit NORCIA (even if it is on the east side of Umbria, Orvieto is on the west, if you have a car it will be easier to tour the region), famous for its SALAMI (deer salami, budellaccio di Norcia), its truffles and all the truffle-flavoured products (truffle oil, truffle sauces and creams), olive oil (very good all around the region) and its PECORINO CHEESE (Pecorino di Norcia). Other places I LOVED in Umbria and worth to be visited are: Spello, Gubbio (there is an incredible way to reach the top of its hill, hope you are not giddy!!), Todi (a little jewel), Perugia (always lively! this is the city where they produce the well known BACI chocolates that are to be found in the States too, I saw them once!), Deruta (if you love pottery THAT is your place), Assisi (very beautiful!), Spoleto and Cascate delle Marmore (impressing waterfalls near Terni). I also visited Lago Trasimeno and its island that is a natural park (Castiglione del Lago, the little village on the edge of the lake is nice). When I last visited Umbria it was summer and I was staying in a camping near Castiglione del Lago, but we had a car and every day we would go and see a town or village (if not two in a day, depending how much there was to see in one), so having 10 days to visit Umbria, you will have the possibility to know pretty well this beautiful region. Last but not least, the WINES: the most known wines from Umbria are: rosso di Torgiano, Rosso di Montefalco and Sagrantino di Montefalco (Montefalco is an important winery centre). Here you are a list of some wineries in Montefalco area which I believe might interest you for the wines production (it is in italian though but there are addresses, phones and web sites : http://www.consorziomontefalco.it/aziende.htm
Alla salute!

We had 3 nights in Orvieto in March and thought it was a really interesting hilltop town. If you catch the train, you get off at Orvieto Scala then catch a funicular straight up the side of the city wall to Orvieto at the top. The Duomo is spectacular and can be seen from miles away. There is a small chapel inside on the right that is free before 10am, most tour groups seem to arrive after that. The chapel is beautiful. The underground tour was fascinating, book at the tourist office near the Duomo. There is also a tour of the old wells at the other end of town. You can climb up the clock/bell tower for a view over the town. We came across a market in one of the squares where we were the only tourists. It was mainly fruit & veg, salami, cheeses etc with some clothes, homewares etc.
Kay

Orvieto is a treasure, but I'm not sure I'd want to stay there for ten days. Considering your interests, I'd rent a home in the countryside near Orvieto so your guys can cook. You'd also be near the Umbria-Tuscany border for easy day trips to either area. Check out www.slowtrav.com and www.slowtalk.com, two non- commercial websites frequented by many very knowledgable people who have rented in Italy. Also, if you type Orvieto into the text search box at the top of the page, then press find, many information-loaded messages will appear from the archives.

Orvieto is too small for a 10 day stay. I'd recommend Spoleto, a city we loved. I think Spoleto is a good location from which to explore and it's large enough to be a good home base.

Thanks for all your interesting and thoughtful suggestions. One of my Italian friends said that Orvieto is on the train line to Rome, and it is only an hour. Do you think that we can do day trips into Rome? I'm from Chicago, and my daily train commute is well over an hour, so train rides are really normal for us.

Just reading about the food and wine suggestions make me drool! I'm so looking forward to tasting some good wines! What are some other favorite wineries in the region? Does anyone know how much you can bring into the country before taxes kick in?

cabasaan, you can definitely do day trips to Rome from Orvieto. It's actually just over an hour.

10 days in Orvieto might be a bit long unless you have a car for part of the time, in which case you can get to more places than you will have time for. We have done this several times, visiting southern Tuscany, Arezzo and Assisi among other places.

Orvieto is a charming town, with many excellent restaurants and quite a few sights to see. The market KayF mentioned is on twice a week in summer -- not sure about winter.

Orvieto is 1 hr 45 mins away from Rome.
I would not stay in Orvieto for 10 days. IMO, making Perugia (the capital of Umbria) your base would make more sense since it is in the heart of Umbria with all the other towns right around it. I stayed there for 5 days end of August and took day trips to Assisi (15 mins away), Gubbio (45 minutes away), Deruta (definitely worth visiting and buying some famous Italian ceramic-ware, Spello, etc. You could visit Orvieto from there (much closer). Perugia is also close enough (1 hour) to Cortona in Tuscany - overlooking beautiful Lake Trasimeno. Cortona is the lovely town that is home to Francis Mayes of "Under the Tuscan Sun" fame. In addition, Cortona was the site of many movie scenes from 'La Vita e Bella' (Life is Beautiful). We found Cortona to be very quaint and personable -- not over-run with tourists (as we had thought it would be).

Have a great time. Buon viaggio!

I'd split my stay between, say Orvieto, and a second town, say Spoleto, to take advantage of geography and travel distances.

From Orvieto, you could visit (by rental car OR public transportation), Cortona, Arezzo, Chiusi, Montepulciano, Amelia, Narni, Civita di Bagnoregio and Viterbo, (as well as Rome of course).

From Spoleto, you could visit (by rental car OR public transportation), Narni, Amelia, Norcia, Trevi, Spello, Assisi, Perugia, Montefalco and Bevagna.

If you have a car I recommen that you look up Locanda Rosati on the web. Wonderful place to stay. Communal dinners that don't quit. Wine, grappa, the works. When in Orvieto try I cette Consoli for a memorable feast. Yes, Rome is only an hour from Orvieto. An easy day trip.

After doing a search I found this thread, hence the late response. My wife and I stayed at Locanda Rosati last year and it is a wonderful place to stay.

We were planning on staying there again this September, but unfortunately it is already booked for our dates.

Does anyone know of a similiar place in the Orvieto area? We would need three rooms.

Thanks