Many small Italian towns feel deserted in the afternoon. The locals have closed their businesses and gone home for lunch and the siesta. But if you're there in the morning or around passegiata time....

I've tried to stay out of this discussion but this "deserted" theme is just too much. Umbria is never thronged like some other parts of Italy--except Assisi and any other venue that has a festival, concert or special occasion going on. My sense is that the towns are a slice of real italian life, not some made up carnival to entertain tourists. The Piano Grande will be deserted--so what? Stores will be open during regular "italian hours" and likely those will include long mid-day breaks. Lunchtime is quiet time in traditional towns and you just have to adjust--find your restaurant or picnic spot.

I can't imagine traveling in the area during the hot summer months and have always been glad to have the opportunity to visit in the spring and fall-we'll be back the end of September. Spello will be fine as well as your other destinations---cheer up!

Maybe it's had something to do with the economic woes in Europe the last few years or so? Less local ie within Europe, tourism?
Someone mentioned real estate prices going up tenfold in Spello after its Unesco designation. Here in Vancouver, we have a little experience with getting priced out of the market in our own home town.

I wonder if that is happening in some places in Italy. Not sure about the small towns, but if home prices have historically been low, it might make a hardship for young families to stay in some of those tourist destinations....I hate the feel of a town with hardly any local people living there...

Myer, the places you mentioned that were busy all have tourist buses arriving there. Give me peace and quiet any day

Macanimals you were posting while I was ruminating. Thanks for the reassurance.

That's exactly why we like Puglia, it is quieter, but it's real people that really live there! And you do have to adjust in the south for a long mid-day break, but the evenings are great!

I am cheered up already! Thanks

I think there's a difference between not having throngs of people and a town having an abandoned feel.

I agree some of the towns I mentioned are strictly for tourists and have buses arriving.

Quiet but with locals walking around doing their thing is enjoyable.

One of my favorite memories in a small Italian town was Bevagna on a weekday in October at lunchtime. We chose to eat at a small, family-run restaurant on a piazza because we could sit outside on a nice, sunny day. We noticed that a few policewomen (great uniforms BTW) were very efficiently closing ingress of all vehicles to this piazza. The piazza was absolutely devoid of all activity for about 5 minutes. Suddenly, children poured out of several buildings nearby, some wearing blue smocks, most wearing little decorated backpacks (Snow White! Superman!). Lots of laughter and "kid noise." Adults walked into the piazza, collected their kids and left. Within 15 minutes the piazza was empty, and the policewomen opened the streets to vehicles again.

If you decide to stay in Perugia and use only public trans, below is a great link for Umbria. Contrary to a comment upthread aways, there is no train service Perugia-Gubbio, and Perugia-Orvieto would be too long for a day trip. Yes, you can see a lot of Umbria by public trans, but there is much more that you can't see easily in a day without a car and some places you can't reach at all.

http://www.umbriamobilita.it/it

A day trip to Verona from where??

IMO, Milan is "worth it" for a day or so.

We very much liked the town of Città della Pieve near the Tuscan border. Not touristic at all but with a few very nice wine bars and restaurants. Market day on Saturday is a wonderful experience.
Near Panicale you will find country house Montali which was voted best vegetarian restaurant in the world. Even if you are not a vegetarian like us, this is worth your wile. http://www.montalionline.com/

Jean, FYI, we took bus from Peruggia to Gubbio and it was easy. We trained from Spoleto to Orvieto. But your post makes a good point that people need to figure out distances. We had to do it from 2 different bases to make distances reasonable.

I imagine if we arrive or depart from Rome we'll visit Orvieto from there.

I'll also check out the distances from ZRome to some of the other towns.

I spent a lot of time on our previous Tuscant & Provence trips figuring out what worked and what didn't.

Thanks so far. Once I consolidate this thread I'll have a lot of valuable info.

Some restaurants we LOVED for excellent mid-day meals:

Todi: Sunday Lunch www.panevinotodi.com Grilled veggies w/pine nuts, smoked pork chops w/truffles

Spoleto: a magnificent week-day lunch of fresh grilled trout, with rosemary potatoes and grilled zucchini at Ristorante Taverna dei Duchi www.tavernadeiduchi.it via Aurelio Saffi, 1 Tel 0743 40323

Perugia: Osteria Lanterna - Taglitella Lanterna

Trevi: Ristorante Maggiolini via San Francesco n 20, Tel 0742 381534 - the food was wonderful and the local artwork on the walls was fantastic

>>>I wonder why these towns would be deserted? Is it because they're just not popular?<<<

I think many just don't have the attractions that bigger towns have so there are very few visitors. Some towns we encountered no other tourists at all and only a few locals. Many piazzas would be empty (no people). We could wander streets and not encounter another person. Bigger towns like Gubbio had more people/tourists, but were far from crowded.

I'm not a fan of Perugia, but I guess it makes sense for you since you aren't renting a car.

Sorry I haven't been back in a couple of weeks.

I've been concentrating on a delayed shoulder surgery and a trip to Glacier National Park next Aug.

Now I'll get back to Umbria.

Thanks for the additional information. More to consolidate.
Very much appreciated.

Sorry I haven't been back in a couple of weeks.

I've been concentrating on a delayed shoulder surgery and a trip to Glacier National Park next Aug.

Now I'll get back to Umbria.

Thanks for the additional information. More to consolidate.
Very much appreciated.

Well, I've started looking at things and this trip is starting to suffer from "project creep".

I was thinking we'd use Perugia as our main Umbria base since we won't be renting a car so we'll get around bt bus and train.

It made sense to either arrive in or leave from Rome so we'd spend a few days in Rome in addition to visiting some of the southern towns such as Orvieto, Terni and maybe (though probably not) Spoleto.

Now Venice (we've been there twice but always more to see) and Verona (haven't been) is entering the conversation. Obviously, this would change one end of our flights.

Does this make sense?

Myer,

How much time do you have? I know you tend to move fast.
I loved everywhere I went in Umbria (so far)! But you know me, I like to drive in the countryside.

Ciao, Dayle

Hi Dayle,

I don't really move fast though we tend to get a lot done. We just don't sit around very much. We walk a lot and much of the day.

We're not really restricted by time though we tend to keep our trips to two weeks or s dsy or two under.

We often face the dilemma of relying upon public transportation vs. renting a car, because we don't like to be hindered by public transportation logistics but also like to leave the driving to someone else to preserve marital harmony. For us, often the best compromise is to hire a private driver for occasional day trips when the destination is not convenient to public transit.

On our last trip, we were primarily focused on Tuscany but spent two nights in an agriturismo near Deruta (we did have a rental car at that point). We met an American expat tour guide based in Assisi, and on a return trip I'd consider hiring her to delve deeper into the small Umbrian towns and might even use Assisi as a home base. You might check her website for more information, if for nothing else than to get some ideas - www.annesitaly.com. Incidentally, we weren't that excited about going to Assisi because we are not religious and we know it is a tourist mecca; however, it turned out to be a highlight of our trip for several reasons (including having shared a homecooked meal with Anne and another couple after touring the city).

Orvieto is an interesting city for a day trip and it is very convenient via train from Rome and Perugia.

We stopped in Perugia for a few hours and it is an attractive hill town. Our experience was stilted because it was during the annual October chocolate festival so the streets were bustling, but for some reason we didn't get the feeling that there were alot of museums/cultural venues. Still, it might be a good base for a hub and spoke approach to exploring Umbria. The negative is that the area outside the central town is relatively industrialized and not that attractive. Further east toward Assisi and beyond, it starts greening up and is much more beautiful. Also, the beautiful Umbrian towns are a good distance to the south and east of Perugia and you'll burn alot of time just getting back and forth.

We also stopped in Cortona and were underwhelmed after all of the Frances Mayes hype. We dropped off the rental car at the Cortona train station to head back to Florence and I recall that it was downhill and some distance from the town. For that reason alone, Cortona is not a good home base for travelers relying upon public transportation.

I really fancied Sicily for next year, but my travelling companions won't go there because they're afraid the Mafia are around every corner. Sigh.